School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment
Alicia Wilson, Director
Gwendelyn Geidel, Undergraduate Director
Joseph Quattro, Graduate Director
The School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment (SEOE) is a unit within the College of Arts and Sciences, and encompasses research and education in the geosciences and, marine sciences, and as well as the environment and sustainability. Our focal academic areas span the range from the natural and social sciences to the environmental humanities. Unification of these areas under one umbrella encourages synergistic interactions and collaborations in both research and teaching. The Belle Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences is housed within the SEOE, and provides unique facilities and resources on the coast of South Carolina.
Interdepartmental Majors
Specific programs for students who wish to develop interdepartmental majors will be determined after consultation between the student and faculty representatives of the departments involved.The School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment (SEOE) is a unit within the College of Arts and Sciences, and encompasses research and education in the geosciences and, marine sciences, and as well as the environment and sustainability. Our focal academic areas span the range from the natural and social sciences to the environmental humanities. Unification of these areas under one umbrella encourages synergistic interactions and collaborations in both research and teaching. The Belle Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences is housed within the SEOE, and provides unique facilities and resources on the coast of South Carolina.
Courses
Analysis of environmental issues and the role of science in their identification and resolution.
Carolina Core: SCI
Demonstrations, field trips, data analyses, and discussion relating to environmental issues, such as sustainability, resource management, and pollution control.
Carolina Core: SCI
Interdisciplinary seminar combining the intellectual exploration of ecological perspectives with the physical exploration of the local environment. First-year students only.
Cross-listed course: POLI 121
Interdisciplinary seminar on designing, researching, and implementing collaborative projects to promote ecological sustainability. First-year students only.
Cross-listed course: POLI 122
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Community Service, GLD: Research
General review of plants, animals, and geological features of South Carolina, with an emphasis on connections to the natural world.
Carolina Core: SCI
Introduction to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspectives on environmental issues. Required for majors in the Environment and Sustainability Program. Integrative case studies address ways of understanding nature. Sophomore Standing.
Continuing interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary exploration of relations between environment and society for majors in the Environment and Sustainability Program. Case studies raise issues, challenges, and strategies to achieving sustainability. Sophomore standing.
Introduction to development, establishment, and implementation of sustainability management systems and organizational leadership for achieving environmental, social, and economic goals.
Examination of roots and culture of environmentalism and related technological innovation in Germany. Comparison of green practices around the world to practices within Europe and U.S.
Cross-listed course: GERM 295
A survey of pollution (chemical, biological, physical) effects on environmental quality and public health with emphases on how each pollutant class behaves and affects individual and community health over acute to chronic exposure periods.
Cross-listed course: ENHS 321
Examination of principles and arguments surrounding moral issues involving the environment.
Cross-listed course: PHIL 322
Carolina Core: VSR
Concerns in global environmental health, with a focus on toxic pollution and disease burden in developing countries. Investigation of international treaties, corresponding environmental pollution processes, and human health effects.
Cross-listed course: ENHS 323
Multidisciplinary approach to interrelated environmental, economic and social problems facing humans at local, regional and global scales.
Cross-cultural perspectives on environmental issues.
Cross-listed course: ANTH 342
History of the environmental justice movement and the unequal distribution of environmental harms on low income, minority, and historically marginalized groups.
Cross-listed course: AFAM 348
The role of energy in shaping society and geographic settings, as well as how energy production and consumption are shaped by the societal values and norms in which it is extracted, produced, and consumed.
Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and dean of the School of the Environment is required for undergraduate students.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Current developments in sustainability and global environmental issues selected to meet faculty and student interests. May be repeated as content varies.
Independent student research in collaboration with faculty mentors. Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department chair is required.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Multidisciplinary research projects related to University or community environmental problems (e.g., energy, water conservation, solid waste, recycling).
Integrated management system principles and advanced leadership strategies to create sustainable development initiatives.
Research, development and implementation of sustainability projects throughout the campus and community.
Political, social, and cultural landscapes of food and farming around the world; issues of agricultural production, trade, consumption, and food security.
Cross-listed course: GEOG 538
Critical examination of the ways ideas about nature and racial difference are conceptually and materially entwined with the production of social and environmental inequalities.
An analysis of the economics aspects of environmental decay, pollution control, and natural resource use. Analysis of the ability of the market system to allocate resources efficiently when economic activity is accompanied by environmental damage. Discussion of alternative public policy approaches to pollution control and natural resource conservation.
Cross-listed course: ECON 548
Collaborative study of a contemporary environmental issue. Field trips may be required. Restricted to Environmental Science and Environmental Studies majors.
Origin and nature of the earth with emphasis on internal processes and phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building; surface processes, including landform evolution. Three lectures and three laboratory hours each week.
Carolina Core: SCI
Basic overview of fossils, including dinosaurs, and their importance for understanding earth history and the evolution of life. Three lectures and three laboratory hours each week.
Analysis of basic energy cycles of the earth. Interaction of human activity with earth processes to affect the environment. Three lectures and three laboratory hours each week. Field trips required.
Carolina Core: SCI
The growth of geological concepts, scientific and non-scientific. The impact of geological factors on human affairs. The role of time and evolution (biological and physical). Restricted to non-science majors.
Carolina Core: SCI
An introduction to study of the earth through observation of ancient and modern earth systems in a field setting. Field trips required.
Mineral, energy, and water resources with emphasis on geological processes governing their distribution. Intended for non-science majors. Three lecture hours each week with occasional field trips.
Carolina Core: SCI
Coastal zones of South Carolina and neighboring states, including geologic history, geomorphology, stratigraphy, hydrogeology, shoreline processes, environmental issues, and effects of man. Not available for geology major credit. Three lecture hours each week plus optional field trips.
Carolina Core: SCI
Exercises examining coastal ecology, geomorphology, hydrogeology, shoreline processes, environmental issues, and human impact. Not available for marine science major credit. Two laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips required.
Carolina Core: SCI
Examination of the geologic setting and scientific significance of selected National Parks. Three lecture hours.
Carolina Core: SCI
An introduction to geology and geophysics. The structure of the earth, core, mantle, and crust; problems of facies, plate motions, and their probable influence on climate and evolution. Future prospects.
Survey of earth history, the evolution of continents and oceans, the history of life, and geological dating methods. Includes laboratory and recitation. Required field trips. Taught alternate years.
Overview of sedimentary basins, sediment transport, sedimentation, depositional environments, stratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, eustacy, and sedimentary petrology. Includes laboratory and recitation. Required field trips.
The science of global change, its relation to the hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Global system science, biogeochemical cycles, paleoclimatology, glaciation, and eustacy.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 335
Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department chair is required for undergraduate students.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Student research on problems of regional and fundamental significance, supervised by a faculty member of the student’s choice. Emphasis is on the development of critical thinking and lucid scientific report writing.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Student research on problems of regional and fundamental significance, supervised by a faculty member of the student’s choice. Emphasis is on the development of critical thinking and lucid scientific report writing.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Sedimentologic, biostratigraphic, and tectonic history of North America, approached from paleogeographic considerations with emphasis on the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Continental Margin. Three hours lecture and three hours recitation per week. Required field trips.
Fundamentals of pollen analysis including morphology of modern and fossil forms, use of pollen and spores for correlation, dating, establishing phylogenetic trends, and reconstruction of ancient environments. Two lectures plus one two-hour lab per week.
Theories of origin of coal deposits and coal-forming ingredients. Basic concepts of coal composition and classification. Practical applications of coal petrographic techniques. Two lectures plus one two-hour lab. Two optional field trips.
Systematic, ecologic, biogeographic, and evolutionary aspects of paleontology; lectures, practical exercises, field trips.
Marine microfossils; distribution, ecology, paleoecology, and biostratigraphy; use of microfossils in marine sediments to study oceanographic history. Three lectures and two laboratory hours per week.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 515
Modern concepts of sediment composition, sedimentary facies, depositional environments, and stratigraphy. Includes laboratory.
Surface to subsurface stratigraphic interpretation and techniques; litho- and biostratigraphy; geophysical log interpretation and subsurface presentation.
Dating techniques for Pleistocene deposits, sediments, archaeological materials, igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Investigation of low temperature chemical reactions controlling the geochemistry of the earth’s surface. Emphasis on CO2, carbonates, oxidation-reduction, thermodynamics, isotopes, biogeochemistry.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 521
Petrography and petrogenesis of igneous rocks; evolution of contrasting petrotectonic terranes. Three lectures and three laboratory hours per week.
Petrography and petrogenesis of metamorphic rocks in orogenic belts. Three lectures and three laboratory hours per week.
Geological and geophysical evidence for plate tectonics, detailed development of the plate tectonics model, and present areas of research, including measurements of plate motion using satellite geodesy.
Application of two or more geophysical field methods to a current geological problem. Independent study contract required.
Survey of topics related to the origin, internal structure, and internal processes of the earth, including plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. Required field trips, two lectures, and three lab hours per week. Cannot be used in M.S. or PhD. programs in geology.
Cross-listed course: EDSE 548
Surface processes acting on the earth; introduction to weather and climate, weathering, erosion, and sedimentary processes; landform evolution; ocean currents and tides, near-shore geologic processes. Required field trips, two lecture and three lab hours per week. Cannot be used in MS or PhD programs in geology.
Cross-listed course: EDSE 549
Introduction to methods used in discipline-based education research and their application to research questions in the geosciences.
A comprehensive study of the origin and development of the major structural features of the ocean basins and the continental margins. Discussion of the techniques used in obtaining geologic data and the interpretation of sedimentary processes, vulcanism, and the stratigraphy of the ocean basins.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 545
Introduction to the nature and structure of the ocean floor as revealed by geophysical techniques. Two hours lecture and three hours laboratory.
Problems of sequence stratigraphy resolved with graphic computer simulations. Sedimentary fill of basins by carbonates and/or clastics tracked as a function of rate of sediment accumulation, tectonic behavior, and sea level. Includes laboratory.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 550
Basic elements of seismology. Mathematical development of seismic wave equations; measurement, description, and interpretation of seismic data.
The interpretation of geologic structure using seismic sections. Recognition of apparent structure caused by velocity anomalies, multiples, and complex reflector geometry. Application to hydrocarbon exploration.
Physical and geological processes controlling the formation and evolution of beach, barrier, and nearshore environments, including discussion of coastal management issues.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 557
An approach to problems of resource management by lecture and seminar using case studies in mineral, energy, hydrogeological, and environmental science.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Experiential Learning: Experiential Learning Opportunity
An introduction to field methods in sedimentology, structural geology, hydrogeology and geophysics with special reference to geological hazards and environmental problems.
Climatic changes of the past and their impact on the physical landscape, with an emphasis on the Quaternary period.
Environmental considerations of the hydrologic cycle, occurrence and movement of ground water, aquifer analysis, and water well emplacement and construction. Water quality, pollution parameters, and the geochemistry of selected natural systems. The effects of environmental problems, waste disposal, and urban development upon the aqueous geochemical regime.
The physical mechanism responsible for interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere and the influence of air-sea interaction on atmospheric and oceanic dynamics and thermodynamics on a wide variety of spatial/temporal scales.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 579
This course provides knowledge of various techniques used in satellite remote sensing of the oceans. Key skills will be developed in satellite data processing, image analysis, and hands-on research.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 580
Basic principles of fluid statics and dynamics. Conservation of mass, momentum, and energy; viscosity, vorticity, and boundary layers with examples from the marine environment. Applications to and analysis of ocean currents and waves. Scheduled field trips are required.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 582
Geological and geochemical processes in salt marshes. Methods of geological research in marshes, including instrumental techniques, sampling design, and data analysis. Two lectures per week plus four weekends of project-oriented fieldwork and/or equivalent lab work. Scheduled field trips are required.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 583
Advanced research topics in geology and geophysics; critical reading of literature, technical presentations, and written reports. Senior standing.
SEM, ESEM, TEM, and EMPA, WDS quantitative analysis, EDS semi-quantitative analysis, EBSD, methods of sample preparation, and applications in varieties of disciplines. Two lecture and three laboratory hours per week.
Senior capstone experience, research on a problem on fundamental significance, supervised by faculty member; must include field study component, written final project report, and oral presentation at departmental seminar.
Origin and evolution of the oceans, plate tectonics, ocean circulation, waves and tides, seawater and sediment composition, and influences on biology. Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips required.
Carolina Core: SCI
Origin, evolution, and diversity of marine life, biological production, trophic dynamics, nutrient cycles, marine resources, and environmental concerns. Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips required.
Carolina Core: SCI
A nontechnical introduction to human interactions with the marine environment: marine organisms, marine systems, and the physical and chemical characteristics of oceans and estuaries. Not available for marine science major credit.
Carolina Core: SCI
Experiments and exercises which illustrate how specific components of marine environments are structured, function, and can be measured. Two laboratory hours per week. Not available for marine science major credit. Attendance on designated field trips may be required.
Carolina Core: SCI
Coastal zones of South Carolina and neighboring states, including geologic history, geomorphology, stratigraphy, hydrogeology, shoreline processes, environmental issues, and effect of man. Three lecture hours each week plus optional field trips. Not available for marine science major credit.
Carolina Core: SCI
Exercises examining coastal ecology, geomorphology, hydrogeology, shoreline processes, environmental issues, and human impact. Two laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips required. Not available for marine science major credit.
Carolina Core: SCI
Properties of seawater, mass balances, biogeochemical cycles, circulation, mixing, waves and tides, continental shelf processes, estuarine dynamics. Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips are required.
Biogeochemical cycling, carbonate chemistry, climate change, hydrothermal vents, stable isotopes, trace metals, radioactive tracers, mass balance, and properties of sea water. Three lecture and three laboratory hours per week.
The science of global change, its relation to the hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. Global system science, biogeochemical cycles, paleoclimatology, glaciation, and eustacy.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 335
The Deep Sea is an interdisciplinary, scientific survey of the geology, biology, chemistry, and physical setting of the deep-sea (more than 1000 m depth).
Analysis of past and current issues in global and national marine policy. Relationship between science and policymakers.
Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department chair is required for undergraduate students.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Intensive inquiry-based investigations combining oceanographic field sampling with laboratory measurements of collected samples using modern analytical instrumentation, and with analysis and integration of data into a final research report. Course conducted in residence at a marine field site.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Professional and Civic Engagement Internships, GLD: Research
Internship experience that offers practical field or laboratory experience in oceanography and/or related marine sciences. Course content varies and will be announced by title in schedule of courses. Usually conducted off campus and student must be able to access internship on their own.
Student research on problems of fundamental significance in collaboration with faculty mentors. Emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, proposal development, scientific writing, and professional presentation. Nine hours of laboratory, field, or library work per week.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Student research on problems of fundamental significance in collaboration with faculty mentors. Emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, proposal development, scientific writing, and professional presentation. Nine hours of laboratory, field, or library work per week.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Student research on problems of fundamental significance in collaboration with faculty mentors. Emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, proposal development, scientific writing, and professional presentation. Nine hours of laboratory, field, or library work per week.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
Student research on problems of fundamental significance in collaboration with faculty mentors. Emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving, proposal development, scientific writing, and professional presentation. Nine hours of laboratory, field, or library work per week.
Graduation with Leadership Distinction: GLD: Research
An overview of the microbial world including a survey of the distribution, functioning, and diversity of microorganisms in natural systems. Discusses the crucial roles that microorganisms play in ecosystem function, biogeochemical cycles, and environmental quality.
Cross-listed course: BIOL 502
MATLAB-based course in processing, analysis, and visualization of large oceanographic data sets. Includes scalar and vector time series measured at fixed locations as well as shipboard surveys of oceanographic characteristics varying both in 3-D and in time. Methods and techniques are relevant to other geoscience disciplines.
Systematic, ecologic, biogeographic, and evolutionary aspects of paleontology. Lectures, practical exercises, occasional field trips.
Marine microfossils; distribution, ecology, paleoecology, and biostratigraphy; use of microfossils in marine sediments to study oceanographic history. Three lectures and two laboratory hours per week.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 515
Investigation of low temperature chemical reactions controlling the geochemistry of the earth’s surface. Emphasis on CO2, carbonates, oxidation reduction, thermodynamics, isotopes, biogeochemistry.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 521
Management and conservation of aquatic and marine resources, with emphasis on fisheries. Data procurement and analysis; commercial and recreational fisheries; sociological, political, legal, and environmental factors that affect fishery management; and fish biodiversity.
Cross-listed course: BIOL 535
A comprehensive study of the origin and development of the major structural features of the ocean basins and the continental margins. Discussion of the techniques used in obtaining geologic data and the interpretation of sedimentary processes, vulcanism, and the stratigraphy of the ocean basins.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 545
Problems of sequence stratigraphy resolved with graphic computer simulations. Sedimentary fill of basins by carbonates and/or clastics tracked as a function of rate of sediment accumulation, tectonic behavior and sea level. Includes laboratory.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 550
Introduces the field of conservation and explores the intersection between conservation and environmental health with a particular focus on coastal and marine case studies.
Physical and geological processes controlling the formation and evolution of beach, barrier, and nearshore environments, including discussion of coastal management issues.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 557
The formulation and simulation of compartment models of marine and terrestrial ecosystems with complex nutrient cycling, food chains, and energy flow. Analog and digital simulation techniques. Ecosystem stability and sensitivity. Organization, structure, and diversity of an ecosystem.
Exploration of how human activities affect marine natural populations, species, communities and ecosystems, including threats to biodiversity; approaches to marine conservation; and ecological and evolutionary responses to anthropogenic disturbance.
Cross-listed course: BIOL 574
Functional adaptation of marine plants and animals to ecological stresses including pollution. Three lecture hours per week.
The physical mechanism responsible for interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere and the influence of air-sea interaction on atmospheric and oceanic dynamics and thermodynamics on a wide variety of spatial/temporal scales.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 579
This course provides knowledge of various techniques used in satellite remote sensing of the oceans. Key skills will be developed in satellite data processing, image analysis, and hands-on research.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 580
Basic principles of fluid statics and dynamics. Conservation of mass, momentum, and energy; viscosity, vorticity, and boundary layers with examples from the marine environment. Applications to and analysis of ocean currents and waves.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 582
Geological and geochemical processes in salt marshes. Methods of geological research in marshes including instrumental techniques, sampling design, and data analysis. Two lectures per week plus four weekends of project oriented fieldwork and/or equivalent lab work. Scheduled field trips are required.
Cross-listed course: GEOL 583
Descriptive oceanography of mangrove and coral reef coasts with emphasis on physical processes. Taught as an extended field experience with daily lectures and guided research activities.
Influence of wind on coastal systems, with emphasis on nearshore currents, sediment transport and bedforms, aeolian transport, and dunes. Minimum Junior standing required.
Cross-listed course: GEOG 590
Current developments in marine science selected to meet faculty and student interests. Course content varies and will be announced by title in schedule of courses.
Examines the physiology and ecology of phytoplankton, including environmental controls on community composition, primary productivity, and detection and characterization of water quality (eutrophication) and harmful algal blooms.
Cross-listed course: BIOL 627