Geology 102C Metamorphic Petrology! Fall Quarter

Go to Lecture Notes

This class focuses on understanding metamorphism and metamorphic rocks, which are the heart of geology.
Roughly 99.5% of Earth is made of metamorphic rocks. The plate-tectonic engine, climate, oil maturation, gold crystallization, etc. are all driven by metamorphic processes.

Earth-science employers tell us that the most important things they look for in recent graduates are the ability to interpret rocks in the field, think critically, and communicate. This class is designed to help you develop those skills.

Related Web Sites
You may find the following webpages useful in this and other classes:
Athena Mineral Database
WebElements Peridioc Table
Geochemical Earth Reference Model
Molecular Calculator
Physical Constants

Professor
Dr. Bradley Hacker
Webb 2120, phone 893-7952.
Office hours: anytime. I am usually here from 7:30 until 17:30 every weekday. Please come and talk to me when you want help-- I care deeply about your education and want to help you attain your educational goals.

Teaching Assistant
Emily Peterman
Jen McGraw

Lecture
Tues 12:30-3:15, Webb 1025. Please be in the classroom and ready to learn by 12:30. If you must come in late, enter quietly.

Background Material
You should know the minerals and their compositions in the following list.

Laboratory Sections
Physical Sciences Bldg South Rm 2711; Thur 330-620 PM.
There will be NO lab the first partial week of class.

Quizes
There will be one open-book quiz each week based on reading assigned from the textbook.

Lecture exams
Midterm: Tues Nov 4
Final: either Tues Dec 9 12-3 or Wed Dec 10 4-7

Lab exam for 102CL
Dec 4

Textbook
Principles of Metamorphic Petrology by Ron Vernon and Geoff Clarke

Field Trip
There will be a great field trip Nov 7-9 during which you will probably learn a great deal. Information about how to write your report follows below.

Grading
Letter grades will be assigned according to total points earned.
102C

• Quizes: 25%
• Homework: 25%.
• Midterm exam: 25%
• Final exam: 25%

• Lab exercises: 50%
• Lab exam: 50%

Course Fees
$40

• Part of the professors' and the teaching assistants' jobs at the University are undergraduate education; the bulk of their time is used to conduct research and mentor graduate students. The professor and teaching assistants are committed to your education and are here to help you get the most from your investment, but you must also play an active role.
• Like all your University classes, you must commit the time and effort required to learn the material. Most people learn by working hard, asking questions, and thinking. Do not expect to learn if you do not attend lecture, leave the lab before you have answered and understood the questions, or do not make strong efforts outside of class to learn the material.
• Most people learn best by repeated exposure to the same topic in increasing depth.
• Take detailed notes during lecture, condense those notes to the most-important bits, and write your own exam questions.
• Read the book once relatively quickly, re-read it and mark key data/sentences, transfer those key data to your class notes, and, again, write your own exam questions.
• You may with to go to an Academic Skills Workshop to improve your learning skills.
• You must understand the concepts covered in the lecture, labs, quizzes, and the textbook; you are not guaranteed a passing grade in this class just because you are a Geology major. Do not expect to get a good grade if you do not attend lecture, or leave the lab before you have answered and understood the questions, or do not understand the quiz preparation questions before the quiz.
• Late work will not be accepted without prior notification; accepted late work will be marked down 20% for each working day late.

Introduction

• Purpose of study
• Location, physical and geological

Field Methods

Observations

• Outcrop size
• Types and distribution of rocks
• Foliation attitude, coherence, relation to rock types and minerals
• Vein composition, location, and relation to minerals and foliation
• Fault locations and features
• Fold locations and features

Interpretation

• Metamorphic facies, PT conditions and history
• Tectonic setting
• Tectonic history

Conclusions or Summary

Field + Laboratory Report Due Dec 3

Introduction

• Purpose of study
• Location, physical and geological

Field and Laboratory Methods

Field Observations

• Outcrop size
• Types and distribution of rocks
• Foliation attitude, coherence, relation to rock types and minerals
• Vein composition, location, and relation to minerals and foliation
• Fault locations and features
• Fold locations and features

Laboratory Observations

• Description of each hand sample: color, grain size, foliation, minerals
• Description of each thin section:
• Minerals: name, size, habit, modal abundance, relationship to foliation, veins, and other minerals
• Veins: constituent minerals, size, relationship to foliation and host rock
• Foliation: constituent minerals, description, relationship to veins

Interpretation

• Metamorphic facies
• Pressures and temperatures and fluids during metamorphism
• Reconstruction of pressure-temperature-deformation path
• Tectonic setting
• Tectonic history

Conclusions or Summary

General notes on your report
One of the most important things you are in University to learn is how to communicate. If you work hard to produce an excellent report on the field trip, I will work hard to help you become a better writer.

Use the metric system; no miles or feet. Even though Ronald Reagan disbanded the U.S. Metric Board in 1982, nine years later George Bush The Smarter signed Executive Order 12770 directing all executive departments and federal agencies to implement the use of the metric system so that the US would not be the only country mired in the dark ages. Unfortunately, this didn't work. Converting English measurements into metric units isn't exactly rocket science, but NASA blamed the loss of its $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter on Lockheed Martin Astronautics, which submitted acceleration data in English units instead of metric units.

Be quantitative; do not write "big" when you can write "2 x 3 m"

Avoid use of the word "very"--unless it is a specifically defined term such as "very fine grained". One person's "very" is another person's ordinary. Be quantitative instead.

"Outcrop" is a noun; "to crop out" is a verb. For example, "the outcrop is dominantly quartzofeldspathic gneiss" or "quartzofeldspathic gneiss crops out throughout the region".

Use Late, Middle, Early for volcanic rocks and times; use Upper, Middle, and Lower for sedimentary rocks.

Write a scientific report, not a novel. For example "the northernmost outcrop is chert"; not "the first rock we walked up to and saw was a rock that appeared to be chert"

Use complete sentences, including verbs. I will not consider acceptable papers that contain one-sentence paragraphs or sentences without verbs.

Run a spell check on your finished text before submitting it. You must spell correctly even words you may not have heard before--don't just guess some random phonetic spelling. I will not read papers that are rife with misspellings.

Have a non-geologist whose English skills you admire read and criticize your paper or go to Campus Learning Assistance Services and have them read your paper.

Don't fall into the silly game that the TV & radio noodleheads currently play of always using present tense. Use past tense for things that happened in the past. Use present tense for things that are still true. For example, "Below the sandstone is a bluechist-facies volcanic rock, whose fragmentary texture suggests it was deposited as a debris flow."