Geology (GEOL)
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. Two laboratory hours per week. Scheduled field trips required. Not available for marine science major credit.
Cross-listed course: MSCI 215L
Carolina Core: SCI
Examination of the geologic setting and scientific significance of selected National Parks. Three lecture hours.
Carolina Core: SCI
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.
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.
Cross-listed course: GEOG 567
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.