EARTH 350-0 Physics of the Earth (ISP)

[formerly GEOL 315-0 Physics of the Earth (ISP)]

Syllabus

Prof.: Craig R. Bina, 305 Locy Hall, 491-3238, craig@earth.northwestern.edu
Prof.'s Office Hours: By appointment (phone or email in advance)
T.A.: Heather Bedle, 309C/D Locy Hall, 491-8180, heather@earth.northwestern.edu
T.A.'s Office Hours: Mon 2-3pm, Fri 2-3pm, or by appointment.
Dept.: Earth and Planetary Sciences, 309 Locy Hall, 491-3238, Fax 491-8060
Schedule of regular departmental research seminars
Departmental research opportunities for ISP students (updated 7 Nov 2007)
Examination score distributions

Text: The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics, by C.M.R. Fowler, 2nd edition, 2004, Cambridge, ISBN 0-521-893-070
Supplements: Assigned e-reserve readings from published news articles (Access restricted and logged by NetID.)
Supplements: Assigned on-line supplementary course notes (Access restricted and logged by NetID.)
Supplements: Illustrated on-line publication This Dynamic Earth, by W. Jacquelyne Kious and Robert I. Tilling, 1996, USGS
Supplements: Supplementary Problems (Handout) (Access restricted and logged by NetID.)
Course Website: http://xoanon.earth.northwestern.edu/public/craig/teach/EARTH_350-0/

Class Lectures: MWF 1:00-1:50pm
Class Discussions: Th 1:00-1:50pm
Class Location: ISP Classroom, 616 Noyes Street

• 9/26-9/28 PLATE TECTONICS: basic Earth structure, plate boundaries, relative motions
  Reading: Fowler 1, 2.1-2.2; Relative Plate Motions; e-reserve (Travis, 1995); on-line This Dynamic Earth.
• 10/01-10/05 PLATE TECTONICS: Euler poles, plate motion data, triple junctions
  Reading: Fowler 2.3-2.7; Triple Junction Stability; Spherical Triangles.
  Homework #1 due Wednesday 10/03 at 2pm.
  [Course-Add Deadline 10/01]
• 10/08-10/12 GEOMAGNETISM: dipole fields, paleomagnetism, paleopoles, marine magnetic anomalies
  Reading: Fowler 3; Geomagnetism; e-reserve (Travis, 1995; Adler, 1996; Travis, 1997; Anonymous, 1999; Milius, 1999; Etheredge et al., 2000; Milius, 2001; Milius, 2003; Milius, 2004; Lohman et al., 2004; Qiu, 2005); Anonymous, 2007.
  Homework #2 due Wednesday 10/10 at 2pm.
• 10/15-10/19 GEOTHERMICS: heat equations & heat flow, temperature distributions
  Reading: Fowler 7.1-7.5; Vector Differential Operators; Example Vector Differential Operators; Heat Equation Notation; Heat Equation with Time-Periodic Boundary; e-reserve (Bina, 2005).
  Homework #3 due Wednesday 10/17 at 2pm.
• 10/22-10/26 GEOTHERMICS: conduction & convection
  Reading: Fowler 7.6-7.8.
  Homework #4 due Wednesday 10/24 at 2pm.
  [MIDTERM EXAMINATION moved to Monday 10/29]
  [We will begin Seismology unit on Friday 10/26.]
• 10/29-11/02 SEISMOLOGY: body & surface waves, plane & spherical waves, stress & strain, constitutive relations, linear elasticity, wave equations & speeds
  Reading: Fowler 4.1; Basic Elasticity Theory; A Sample Strain Tensor; Wave Equations for Organ and Guitar; e-reserve (Wu, 1999; Anonymous, 1999).
  Homework #5 due Wednesday 10/31 at 2pm.
  [MIDTERM EXAMINATION on Monday 10/29]
  [Course-Drop Deadline 11/02]
• 11/05-11/09 SEISMOLOGY: SH & SV polarizations, refraction & reflection, Snell's law, Adams-Williamson equation
  Reading: Fowler 4.3-4.5; P- and S-Wave Potentials; Snell's Law; Wavefronts; Adams-Williamson Equation; e-reserve (Schreiber & Anderson, 1970; Cowen, 2006).
  Homework #6 due Wednesday 11/06 at 2pm.
• 11/12-11/16 SEISMOLOGY: Earth structure & composition, earthquake location, fault plane solutions
  Reading: Fowler 4.2; Earthquake Faults; Focal Mechanism Stresses; Sample Earthquake Focal Mechanisms.
  Homework #7 due Wednesday 11/14 at 2pm.
• 11/19-11/23 GRAVITY: geodesy & tides, gravity anomalies
  Reading: Fowler 5.1-5.5; Gravity Notes; Gravity Anomaly Edge-Effects; e-reserve (Peterson, 1996; Moore, 1992).
  Homework #8 due Wednesday 11/21 at 2pm.
  [Thanksgiving Vacation 11/22 and 11/23]
• 11/26-11/30 GRAVITY: isostasy, gravity field continuation
  Reading: Fowler 5.6-5.7; Gravity Field Continuation; Bessel Cylindrical Harmonics; Visualizing Spherical Harmonics; Other Spherical Harmonic Applications; e-reserve (Sneider, 2000; Anonymous, 2002).
  Homework #9 due Wednesday 11/28 at 2pm.
• 12/03-12/07 W.C.A.S. READING PERIOD: review & discussion
  Reading: Complex and Hypercomplex Numbers (optional).
  Review of Homework Problems on Monday 12/03 (optional).
  General Course Review on Wednesday 12/05 (optional).
  Homework #10 due Wednesday 12/05 at 2pm. Note that Homework #10 will not count toward final grades, as WCAS rules prohibit the assignment of graded work during Reading Period. This homework set is simply a review exercise to help you prepare for the exam.
  Homework #10 Review on Thursday 12/06 (optional).
  Note that both Professor and T.A. will be out of town (attending a conference) during Final Exam Week (12/08-14), so be sure to ask your remaining questions during Reading Period!
• 12/13 FINAL EXAMINATION: Thursday, 9-11am
  A copy of a recent final exam is available for study purposes.
  Please remember to complete the CTEC survey.

Class grade will be based upon Final Exam, Midterm Exam, Quizzes, and Problem Sets - weighted in decreasing order. The final examination will cover all of the course material.

Students are expected to read assigned material prior to class meetings.

Late assignments will not be accepted without prior arrangement.

All students should review WCAS guidelines on Academic Integrity.

Use of electronic devices (e.g., calculators, PDAs, laptop computers, cellular phones, iPods, etc.) during examinations is prohibited.

Please refrain from disrespectful or distracting behavior during class, including but not limited to: talking or texting on cell phones or PDAs, emailing or web-surfing or gaming on laptop computers, listening to music on iPods, reading newspapers, etc.

NOTE: Due to occasional schedule conflicts, Thursday discussion sections may sometimes be exchanged with Monday, Wednesday, or Friday lecture sections.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION