Instructor: Randall Schaetzl
Office: 413 Natural Science
Office Hours: T-Th 10:00 - 12:00 and most other times that I am in my office
email: schaetzl@msu.edu
Mailbox: 314 Natural Science
Contacts, emergency or otherwise: Ph. 353-7726 (office), 347-0164 (home)

TEXT: Strahler, A.H. and A.N. Strahler. 1992. Modern Physical Geography. 4^th ed. Wiley and Sons Publishers. 638 pp.
Other readings will be assigned and handed out as they come along.

LECTURES: T, Th 2:40-4:00 in Rm. 304 Natural Science Building

COURSE GOALS: Although this course has no specific prerequisites, it is intended for those students who have a basic background in physical geography, biology, geology, and/or earth science. The major goal of GEO 306 is to provide students with an understanding of the evolution of Earth's physical landscape, so that they can later utilize this knowledge in making sound and intelligent environmental decisions. Emphasis will be on process vs form, with the premise that a knowledge of one may allow for accurate estimation of the other. Knowledge of process and form may allow one to make inferences about the two in a spatial sense: this is the essence of geographical geomorphology. Landform (both their sediments and the surfaces that comprise them) dating techniques will be stressed. I will attempt to help everyone understand why a knowledge of landform and surface ages is important to land management. Examples of environmental management and mismanagement of the physical landscape will permeate but not dominate the course lectures and readings.

General: Regular attendance is assumed, though not taken or checked. Expectations (and the final course curve) for graduate students will be the same as for undergraduates, with two exceptions: (1) graduate students will be expected to participate in all field trips, (2) expectations as per the quality of the term paper will be greater for graduate students.

Readings: Most readings will come from the Strahler and Strahler text. I expect you to have read the assigned material before class!

Exams and Assignments: There will be three 30-minute quizzes and a final exam. All quizzes and the final exam will be of essay/short answer/definition format, along with some (few) objective questions. The quizzes will be given during the last half of class. The final exam is cumulative.

Paper: All students will write a 3-4 page (exclusive of references, figures, and tables) term paper on a topic of their choice. This is to be a scientific paper written in scientific paper format.

The paper must include more than simple literature review and compilation. Some aspect of field work with data collection, map (topo, soils, hydrologic, geologic, etc.) interpretation, process measurement, quantitative observational data, or historical geomorphology/land use analysis must be a component of the paper. All papers must present some original data, and analyze and interpret that data; papers that do not will be hard-pressed to achieve a passing grade (50%).

It is suggested that the student discuss their paper topic with the professor early in the semester--as often as is necessary - to avoid avenues of research that are inappropriate or may prove to be inappropriate, unfruitful, too involved, or too simplistic. ALL students must have a one paragraph (emailed) prospectus regarding your proposed paper topic to Dr. Schaetzl by Nov 1. These prospectuses will be evaluated and can earn up to 5 points.

I will be happy to examine and comment on ONE proofed draft of your complete paper, provided that it is typed (please type double-spaced so I can have space to write comments). The paper will be graded on several components (approximately as follows):

Research design and scientific method................ 40%
Neatness, grammar, spelling, writing style, etc... 30%
Quality of original data set................................... 10%
Organization.......................................................... 10%
Imagination and creativity.................................... 10%

I will keep the paper you hand in; if you want a copy, please make one for yourself prior to handing in the paper. Please do NOT hand in papers with plastic-coated pages; it hinders my ability to write comments on the paper directly. I prefer papers to simply be stapled in the upper left corner; there is no need to dress it up in a fancy binder.

Excessive length will not improve your grade, and may in fact detract from it. Quality matters more than quantity. The paper must be handed in no later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day of lecture (Dec 6). Papers handed in after that date will lose 20 points per day. Obviously, this means that papers handed in five days (or more) late will receive a grade of zero, regardless of their content or quality. Exceptions are granted only in cases of extreme illness or extenuating circumstances. Papers must be neatly typed, single-spaced, and all pages must be numbered. Spelling and grammar COUNT! Use of metric and Celsius units will be viewed favorably. All figures and tables should have a title. References to at least some scholarly works MUST be included in your paper; use of your textbook as a reference is acceptable but additional citations will be needed. Use of lecture notes as a citation/reference is not acceptable. I suggest you use GEOREF or MAGIC2 at the library as search tools to find some sources of work similar to yours. You may use any reference style that you wish, as long as you are consistent. Please provide the URLs of all web sites from which you may have gathered data or other information. I will be checking for plagiarism. It is not allowed and may result in an automatic failing grade in the class and, potentially, even dismissal from the University.

Make your paper look and be organized! I have found that the two most common sources of "point loss" for the papers in GEO 306 are (1) lack of appropriate subheadings (e.g., Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Study Area, Results, etc.), (2) improper referencing or lack thereof, (3) choice of a paper topic that is inappropriate, e.g., no original data are gathered, and (4) no maps or figures are included for studies that would have benefitted from them. All information that is not "common knowledge" must be referenced appropriately. All papers must have a short but explanatory title your name, the date, etc.

Examples of typical, good papers that were completed by students who took this class in previous years are located on the "Courses Taught" section of my home page:

https://project.geo.msu.edu/geo333/courses_taught.html

Field Trips: There will be two or three field trips in GEO 306, depending upon demand. For undergraduates, the trips are not required but strongly recommended. It is, in general, required for graduate students. Field trips are a very important part of this course; do not count yourself out for anything less than a very important conflict.

The date of the FIRST and most important trip is October 15-17, to the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. Lodging and food costs will be covered by the students, whereas the Department absorbs travel expenses. Saturday breakfast will be eaten at an "all-you-can eat" buffet restaurant. Lunches will be eaten "on the run" from coolers. We will cook dinners at a house where we will be staying. The trip is open to the first six students who sign up and pay Dr. Schaetzl a non-refundable, partial payment of $40 to cover lodging (the balance is due after the trip is over). All students that go on this trip will receive 10 bonus points.

There will also be one or two one-day field trips. The date of the first one-day trip is Friday, September 13, to the Saginaw Lake Plain and landforms between here and there. Students may either pack a lunch or eat at a fast food restaurant. The trip is open to the first six students who sign up. Please do not sign up and later withdraw, i.e., be sure you can go before you sign up. All students that go on the trip will receive 5 bonus points.

Depending upon demand, I will run a second one-day field trip to the SW part of lower Michigan, on Friday, November 8. The trip is open to the first six students who sign up. Please do not sign up and later withdraw, i.e., be sure you can go before you sign up. All students that go on the trip will receive 5 bonus points. I need at least 5 students to sign up to make this trip "go". The focus of this trip is on the glacial landforms in SW lower Michigan.

GRADING:

A maximum of 300 points can be earned in this course. Grades are based on a curve of the student's overall point total. Points are assigned as follows:
First quiz................................... 30 points
Second quiz.............................. 30 points
Third quiz................................ 40 points
Final exam................................ 100 points
Paper......................................... 100 points
Total: 300 points

BONUS POINTS available for students that (1) participate in field trips, and (2) get in a quality and acceptable term paper prospectus by Nov 1. Students with less than 150 total points will receive a grade of 0.0

RELATED COURSES

Graduate and advanced undergraduate level courses offered at MSU that are related in content to GEO 306 are listed below. (Courses at the 100-300 level in many other disciplines may be helpful as well, but have been omitted for space purposes.) The courses below may be taken to advance your knowledge of a certain subject area(s) in physical Geography and geomorphology. I would be happy to talk to you about these courses, if you have questions.

GEO 401: Plant Geography

GEO 407: Regional Geomorphology of the United States

GEO 408: Soil Geomorphology Field Study

GEO 806: Advanced Geomorphology

FOR 409: Forest Hydrology

GLG 412: Glacial and Quaternary Geology

GLG 423: Survey of Environmental Geosciences

GLG 431: Sedimentology/Stratigraphy

GLG 863: Mineral-Water Interactions

RD 201: Issues and Applications in Resource Development

CSS 210: Fundamentals of Soil and Landscape Science

CSS 470: Soil Resources

LECTURE OUTLINE

Aug 27 Introduction, geomorphic surfaces

Aug 29 Geomorphological concepts and models: Davis, King 330-333; 352-354

Relative dating techniques: weathering and soil formation

Sep 3 Numerical dating techniques: tephrochronology, paleomagnetism, ¹⁴C and OSL 433

Sep 5 Rocks vs minerals, bedrock-controlled landforms I. Flat-lying and folded rocks 214-227; 357-358; 366-377

Sep 10 Bedrock-controlled landforms II. Faulted rocks, basin-and-range topography 348-351

Sep 12 Plate tectonics, passive vs active plate margins QUIZ 1 228-246

Sep 17 Earthquakes and vulcanism 246-280

Sep 19 Weathering and geomorphology 281-287

Sep 24 Soil properties, soil horizons 445-450; 456-457

Sep 26 Soil geomorphology and paleosols

Oct 1 Bioturbation, stone lines, pedimentation, denudation

Oct 3 Catch up QUIZ 2

Oct 8 Mass movement 287-297

Oct 10 Fluvial geomorphology: the drainage basin 298-300

Oct 15 Fluvial geomorphology: the stream channel 300-304

Oct 17 Fluvial geomorphology: channel adjustments 329-334

Oct 22 Fluvial geomorphology: landforms 322-328; 334-342

Oct 24 Fluvial geomorphology: floods and human modification 304-308; 328-329

Oct 29 Fluvial geomorphology: catch up

Oct 31 History of midwestern glaciation; proglacial lakes QUIZ 3 413; 425-426; 433-434; 441-444

Nov 5 More on midwestern glaciation: the chronology and all those names

Nov 7 Glaciation: sediments and glacial deposits 427-432

Nov 12 Glaciation: landforms and processes of deposition 432; 434-436; 409-411

Nov 14 Glaciation: catch up

Nov 19 Shorezones, shorelines and coastal processes 378-384

Nov 21 Coastal geomorphology: general 385-400

Nov 26 Coastal geomorphology: issues on the Great Lakes

Nov 28 Groundwater and subsurface hydrology 308-316; 359-363

Dec 3 Karst and solutional landforms 359-361

Dec5 Great Lakes' dune systems 403-409

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov 1 One paragraph (emailed) prospectus regarding your proposed paper topic to Dr. Schaetzl

Dec 6 Papers due to Dr. Schaetzl by 5:00 pm

Dec 13 FINAL EXAM (12:45-2:45)