Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Evolution of Planet Earth (G 203) is intended for both geology majors and non-majors, and is one term of a three course group of foundational  college geology courses. G 203 introduces students to the principles of historical geology and the geologic evolution of the Earth.

Students are expected to be able to read and comprehend college-level science texts and perform basic mathematical operations in order to successfully complete this course.

Earth and space sciences are based on observations, measurements and samples collected in the field. Field-based learning is recommended by numerous professional Geology organizations, including the American Geological Institute and the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Field-based learning improves both metacognition and spatial/visualization abilities while helping to transfer basic concepts to long-term memory by engaging multiple senses at the same time. Spatial thinking is critical to success in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines. Field work may include:

• Developing skills in site characterization
• Application of key terms and concepts
• Measurement and data collection
• Interpretation of data and observations, and fitting them to a larger context

Field work may be physically challenging and may require overland travel on foot or other means to field sites, carrying equipment and supplies, and making measurements in unusual or awkward positions for a length of time.  Field work may include inherent risks (uneven terrain, variable weather, insects, environmental irritants, travel stress, etc.). Field work can be adapted to individual abilities.

Regarding the teaching of basic geologic principles (such as geologic time and the theory of evolution), the Portland Community College Geology/General Science Subject Area Committee stands by the following statements about what is science.
 

• Science is a fundamentally non-dogmatic and self-correcting investigatory process. A scientific theory is neither a guess, dogma, nor myth. The theories developed through scientific investigation are not decided in advance, but can be and often are modified and revised through observation and experimentation.
• “Creation science,” also known as scientific creationism, is not considered a legitimate science, but a form of religious advocacy. This position is established by legal precedence (Webster v. New Lenox School District #122, 917 F.2d 1004).
• Geology/General Science instructors at Portland Community College will teach the generally accepted basic geologic principles (such as geologic time and the theory of evolution) not as absolute truth, but as the most widely accepted explanation for our observations of the world around us.
• Because “creation science”, “scientific creationism”, and “intelligent design” are essentially religious doctrines that are at odds with open scientific inquiry, the Geology/General Sciences SAC at Portland Community College stands with such organizations as the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the American Geological Institute in excluding these doctrines from our science curriculum.

Upon successful completion of the course students should be able to:

1. Explain the past environments recorded in specific geologic areas using an understanding of sedimentary rock and fossil characterization and classification.
2. Analyze how relative and absolute dating have been used to construct and refine the geological time scale.
3. Explain major events in the geologic record using an understanding of earth systems and biological evolution.
4. Explain how past geologic events have set the stage for current issues impacting our community and the environment using scientific reasoning based on field and/or laboratory and/or remote measurements and observations. 
5. Assess the contributions of historical geology to our evolving understanding of global change and sustainability while placing the development of historical geology in its historical and cultural context.

The material in this course will be presented in a lecture/discussion format accompanied by laboratory exercises. Other educationally sound methods may be employed such as guest lectures, field trips, research papers, presentations, and small group work.

At the beginning of the course, the instructor will detail the methods used to evaluate student progress and the criteria for assigning a course grade. The methods may include one or more of the following tools: examinations, quizzes, homework assignments, laboratory write-ups, research papers, small group problem solving of questions arising from application of course concepts and concerns to actual experience, oral presentations, or maintenance of a personal work journal.

1. Discuss the evidence supporting the theory of plate tectonics
2. Explore the geologic and fossil record for each of the major geologic eons and eras
3. Discuss the evidence supporting the theory of evolution
4. Describe and use the geologic time scale
5. Explore the basic concepts involved in radiometric dating
6. Discuss the principles used in relative dating
7. Examine common invertebrate fossils

Topics to be covered include:
 

1. Plate Tectonics (may be covered in G201)
   1. Alfred Wegener and evidence for continental drift
   2. Magnetic reversals and sea-floor spreading
   3. Using hot spots to determine plate motion
   4. Rifting and the origin of ocean basins
   5. Features associated with each type of plate boundary (divergent, convergent, transform)
   6. Ophiolites
   7. Subduction and related volcanism
   8. Continental collisions and relationship to mountain building
   9. Convection as a driving force of plate tectonics
2. Geologic Time
   1. Uniformitarianism
   2. Principles of relative dating (horizontality, superposition, cross-cutting relations, inclusions, faunal succession)
   3. Unconformities (angular unconformity, disconformity, nonconformity)
   4. Correlation
   5. Radiometric Dating (isotopes, half-life, parent and daughter isotopes)
   6. Other absolute dating techniques (tree-rings, varves, lichenometry)
   7. Geologic time scale
3. Statigraphy
   1. Stratigraphic units (formation, group, etc.)
   2. Time-rock unit
   3. Evidence for changing sea level
   4. Fossils and evidence for evolution
   5. Index fossils
4. Precambrian
   1. Divisions of Precambrian time (Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic)
   2. Formation of the Earth and Moon as members of the solar system
   3. Speculation on the conditions on the Earth during the Hadean
   4. Archean crust
   5. Origin of continents
   6. Granulite gneiss/greenstone belts
   7. Crustal provinces of North America and assembly of Laurentia and Rodinia during the Proterozoic
   8. Wilson cycles
   9. Early atmosphere
   10. Precambrian ice ages
   11. Origin of Life
   12. Indirect evidence of Life through carbon isotopes in Isua formation ~ 3.8 by ago
   13. Cyanobacteria in 3.5 by Australian cherts
   14. Stromatolites
   15. Prokaryotic vs. eukaryotic cells
   16. Ediacaran Fauna
5. Paleozoic
   1. Divisions of the Paleozoic
   2. Transgressions and Regressions (Sauk, Tippecanoe, Kaskaskia, Absaroka)
   3. Orogenies (Taconic, Caledonian, Acadian, Antler, Ouachita, Allegheny/Hercynian)
   4. Assembly of Pangea
   5. Clastic wedges
   6. Cyclothems
   7. Cambrian Explosion
   8. Burgess shale
   9. Trilobites
   10. Brachiopods vs. Mollusks
   11. Foraminifera
   12. Paleozoic Reefs (archeocyathids, corals, sponges, bryozoans)
   13. Emergence of Fish (jawless, jawed, ray- and lobe-finned)
   14. Emergence of amphibians and reptiles (amniotic egg)
   15. Plants invade land
   16. Great Permian Extinction
6. Mesozoic
   1. Divisions of the Mesozoic
   2. Orogenies (Sonoma, Nevadan, Sevier, Laramide)
   3. Breakup of Pangea
   4. Cretaceous transgression
   5. Dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and flying reptiles
   6. First birds and mammals
   7. Angiosperms (flowering and deciduous plants)
   8. K-T extinction
7. Cenozoic
   1. Divisions of the Cenozoic
   2. Alpine-Himalayan Belt
   3. Laramide orogeny
   4. Colorado Plateau
   5. Basin and Range
   6. Pleistocene ice ages
   7. Radiation of mammals
   8. Human origins