UCSC-EART 110C
Spring 2002
Download PDF version of Syllabus
The Dynamic Earth
Earth Sciences 110C

Instructor: Andrew Newman, anewman@es.ucsc.edu

Office Hours: Wed. 2:30-3:30 pm and Fri 10:30-12 noon, and by appointment
Lab: C317-B (Check here first), Office: C312
Phone:459-4426 (lab), 459-5318 (office)
TAs:
Heather DeShon, hdeshon@es.ucsc.edu, (Tuesday Lab)
Office Hours: Th. 9-9:45, 3:45-5 pm
Office: C339, C317C (lab)
Phone: 459-4426
Lise Whitfield, lisew@es.ucsc.edu, (Thursday Lab)
Office Hours: Tu. 12-2 pm*,
Office: C441
Phone: 459-4132
Lecture: Tu., Th. 2:00-3:45, E&MS room B214
Labs: Tu. 6-9 pm and Th. 9 am-12 pm, E&MS room D250

Text:

Required: Dynamic Earth, Geoffrey Davies (DE)
Not required: Geodynamics, Turcotte and Schubert (GD);
An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure, S. Stein and M. Wysession (SEE)
Grading:
30 Homework (3 @ 10% ea.; late assignments are docked 10 pts./weekday) Histograms of : Homework 1; Homework 2 & Homework 3
30 % Midterm Exam Histogram of scores
40 % Final Exam Histogram of scores

Histogram of course scores Note: This does not represent actual grade because the curve has not been applied

Syllabus (subject to change):
 
Week
Topics
Reading (before lecture)
Labs and Homework
03/25/02
Overview of dynamic earth; temperature of planet, the heat equation, conduction, convection, radioactivity
Outline of Lecture 1, Lecture 2
DE Chapters 1 and 2; skim, chapter 3; +handouts, DE 178-196
No Lab this week; Problem set 1 handed out.
Histogram of scores
04/01/02
More conductive heat problems. Periodic forcing and instantaneous heating/cooling  Outline of Lecture 3, Lecture 4 Derivation of Z* for sinusoidal temperature change 1, 2
DE 178-186, 192-198 +handout
Lab 1: Heat conduction
04/08/02
What is meant by a plate in plate tectonics? Plates as thermal boundary layers. Oceanic bathymetry Outline of Lecture 5, Lithospheric thickness with age; Lecture 6, Sea floor age, World Topography and Bathymetry
DE 189-192
Lab 2: Thermal borehole data manipulation*; Problem set 1 due 4/11;
04/15/02
Earth Magnetism and measurements along the oceans*. Other heat transfer problems: Applications to volcanic problems. Lava bombs, lava lakes, volcanic ash heat transfer; Outline of Lecture 7, Lecture 8
handout
Lab 3: Sea floor spreading and magnetic anomalies*;
Problem set 2 handed out*
Histogram of scores
04/22/02
Principals of fluid mechanics; navier-stokes equation. statics
Outline of Lecture 9, Lecture 10
DE 122-140, 147-149*
No Lab this week; Problem set 2 due 4/25*
04/29/02
Midterm (4/30) Histogram of scores; Fluid mechanics applications: glaciers, lava and debris flows; dikes, pipes and bubbles;
Outline of Lecture 11
handout
Lab 4: Fluid dynamics. Magma bubble
05/06/02
Constraints on mantle viscosity from isostacy; Plate flexure: volcanic, glacial loads; mantle convection. Plate tectonics;
Outline of Lecture 12; Lecture 13
DE 149-152, 157-163, 211-228
Lab 5: Supporting mountains (Isostasy); Problem set 3 handed out
05/13/02
Solid Mechanics: elastic rheology, geodesy and crustal dynamics 
Seismogram of 5/13/02 Earthquake, Felt area, Event with other regional seismicity
Outline of Lecture 14, Lecture 15
DE 166-75, SEE -Handout
Lab 6: Hawaiian Hotspot
05/20/02
Seismology
Outline of Lecture 16, Lecture 17
Focal Mechanism Diagrams; Focal Mechanism of 5/13/02 Gilroy Earthquake;
SEE -Handout
Lab 7: Earthquakes
Problem set 3 due 5/23
05/27/02
Whole earth structure
Outline of Lecture 18; Lecture 19
Handout
No lab this week
06/03/02
Final Exam
(MONDAY, 4 - 7 pm)*
  
No lab this week


Handouts
    Week 1
  • Gurnis, Michael, Sculpting the Earth from Inside Out, Scientific American, pages 40-47, March 2001
  • Harte, John, How Hot is Planet Earth?, Pages 69-73 from: Consider a Spherical Cow, University Science Books, 1988
  • Harte, John, Useful Numbers, Appendix from: Consider a Spherical Cow, University Science Books, 1988
    Week 2
  • Turcotte, D.L., and Schubert, G., Geodynamics, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, pages 149-161, 2002
    Week 4
  • Fowler, C.M.R., The Solid Earth, Cambridge University Press, pages 32-48, 1990
    Week 6
  • Middleton, G. V. and Wilcock, P. R., Mechanics in the Earth and Environmental Sciences , Cambridge University Press, pages 320-329, 1994
    Week 8
  • Stein, S. and Wysession, M. An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure, Blackwell Publishing, pages 349-366, [In Press].
    Week 9
  • Stein, S. and Wysession, M. An Introduction to Seismology, Earthquakes, and Earth Structure, Blackwell Publishing, pages 251-256 & 216-228, [In Press].
    Week 10
  • Masters, T. G and Shearer, P. M., Seismic Models of the Earth: Elastic and Anelastic, In Global Earth Physics: A Handbook of Physical Constants, Editor: Thomas J Ahrens, AGU, pages 88-96, 1995.
* Denotes changes from original syllabus handed out on first day of class
Updated: Thu Jun 6 14:05:21 PDT 2002