January 24, 2013 – Writing Assignment 2 (WA 2):  Writing Assignment 2 should include topics in Chapters 5 through 8 in the textbook.  Except for the topics, the instructions for completing Writing Assignment 2 are the same as for Writing Assignment 1.  See the Due Dates file (on the Course Contents page) for due dates of all assignments.  Be sure to read the instructions in the WA 1 assignment.  Please pay particular attention to the plagiarism discussion!   

 

Suggested topics for Writing Assignment 2:

 

Alfred Wegener	Continental drift
Evidence for plate tectonics	What drives the plates?
Statistics of earthquakes	Earth’s magnetic field
Paleomagnetism	Elastic rebound theory
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake	The Mar. 11, 2011 Japan earthquake
Seismographs	Locating an earthquake
Earthquake magnitude scale	Largest historical earthquakes
Tsunami	Earth’s interior structure
Rock deformation	Faults
N. Anatolian fault (Turkey)	Volcanoes
Intrusions (batholiths)	Hawaii volcanism
The eruption of Mt. St. Helens	Calderas
Crater Lake volcano	Yellowstone volcano
Super volcanoes	Plateau basalts (flood basalts)
Fossils	Radiometric dating
The geologic time scale

 

Suggested topics and Example References (links) for WA 2:

 

Alfred Wegener

 

Brief bio and description of Wegener’s contributions to science:

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bowege.html

 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/wegener.html

 

Evidence for plate tectonics

 

Brief history of the development of plate tectonic theory: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html

 

More detailed history of plate tectonic theory:

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/drift/review.pdf

 

Statistics of earthquakes

 

Brief intro to EQ statistics:

http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~brill/Papers/quakestat.pdf

 

EQ facts and stats in brief:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

 

 

Paleomagnetism

 

Basics of paleomagnetism:

http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/capabilities/paleom.html

 

List of links to all things geo- and paleo-magnetism: http://www.agu.org/sections/geomag/background.html

 

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake

 

In depth look at the 1906 SF EQ:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/index.php

 

Another view of the EQ:

http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/earthquakeandfire/index2.html

 

Seismographs

 

Basics of seismographs:

 

More basic seismographs:

http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/info-gen/smeters-smetres/seismograph-eng.php

 

Earthquake magnitude scale

 

Intro to EQ magnitude scales:

http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/earthquake_size.html

 

Links to EQ magnitude scale topics at USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/search/?q=scale&x=0&y=0&cx=012856435542074762574%3A49ga9ubtojk&cof=FORID%3A11&sa=Search

 

Tsunami

 

Comprehensive tsunami website: http://www.tsunami.noaa.gov/

 

Basic overview: http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/tsunami.htm

 

Rock deformation

 

Basic overview: http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol111/deform.htm

 

http://web.eps.utk.edu/~faculty/tennmaps/lectures/TennMaps_Structure.pdf

 

N. Anatolian fault (Turkey)

 

Very brief intro: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/tamam/tamam-background/the-north-anatolian-fault

 

A paper on fault activity since 1939: http://www.ipgp.fr/~armijo/paraseminario/Stein-97.pdf

 

Intrusions (batholiths)

 

Intrusion terms: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/LivingWith/VolcanicPast/Notes/plutons.html

 

Basics of plutons and batholiths: http://www.pitt.edu/~cejones/GeoImages/3IntrusiveBodies/1Plutons.html

 

Case study:

http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/geo/bathlith/bathdex.htm

 

 

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens

 

Intro to Mt. St. Helens eruptions: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs036-00/

 

Eruption history pre-1980: http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3045/

 

Brief info and stats: http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1201-05-

 

Crater Lake volcano

 

Basic info: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/CraterLake/description_crater_lake.html

 

Brief intro and stats:http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1202-16-

 

Super volcanoes

 

Basics: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_sub_page_49.html

 

Topic intro: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-superVolcano.html

 

Fossils

 

Intro to paleontology: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/history/fossils.shtml

 

Links to a variety of resources: http://www.paleoportal.org/

 

The geologic time scale

 

Intro: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.php

 

History of the geologic timescale: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibit/histgeoscale.html

 

Intro with timescale of life development: http://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/geologictimescale.pdf

 

Continental drift

 

Development of the theory in brief: http://www.oregon.gov/dsl/ssnerr/docs/efs/efs25contdrift.pdf?ga=t

 

http://www.platetectonics.com/article.asp?a=18

 

What drives the plates?

 

Driving mechanisms of plate tectonics: http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/tecpaper.htm

 

Brief intro:

 

Earth’s magnetic field

 

Brief intro: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/29dec_magneticfield/

 

Discussion on effects of magnetic field:

 

Elastic rebound theory

 

Brief intro to Reid’s ERT: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/reid.php

 

http://peer.berkeley.edu/course_modules/eqrd/EQDef/eqdef2.htm

 

ER on a strike-slip fault: http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/education_and_outreach/aotm/4/StrikeSlipRebound_BACKGROUND.pdf

 

The Mar. 11, 2011 Japan earthquake

 

Basics: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0001xgp.php

 

Brief details of EQ: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsunami/pdf/2011_0311.pdf

 

Locating an earthquake

 

How EQs are located: http://www.mgs.md.gov/seismics/edu/no6.pdf

 

 

Largest historical earthquakes

 

USGS lists (select location for more detail): http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php

 

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/byyear.php

 

Earth’s interior structure

 

Basic look at Crust, Mantle, and Core: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/interior/

 

Brief look at tomography techniques used to gather information on earth’s interior: http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/programs/education_and_outreach/aotm/7/SeismicTomography_Background.pdf

 

Faults

 

Brief overview: http://www.see.leeds.ac.uk/structure/faults/

 

Basics of faults and related topics: http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate6.htm

 

More basics: http://pages.uoregon.edu/millerm/faults.html

 

Volcanoes

 

Detailed look at volcanoes and related topics: http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/

 

Stats and general info: http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/volcano_table

 

Types: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/types.html

 

Hawaii volcanism

 

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, a database of volcanism info: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/

 

Kilauea status reports, updates, and info releases: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php

 

General info about Hawaiian shield volcanoes: http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/GG/HCV/haw_volc.html

 

Calderas

 

Intro to calderas: http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/Calderas.html

 

Basics on caldera formation and caldera examples: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/Caldera/description_caldera.html

 

Yellowstone volcano

 

National Parks Service FAQ: http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/volcanoqa.htm

 

Brief geology and history: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/yellowstone/yellowstone_geo_hist_52.html

 

Plateau basalts (flood basalts)

 

Basics of flood basalts:

 

More basics with info on specific examples: http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/flood-basalts

 

Siberian Flood Basalts: http://siberia.mit.edu/

 

Radiometric dating

 

Intro to radiometric time scale: http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/radiometric.html

 

Principles of radiometric dating: http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/radiometric_dating.htm

 

 

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