Geology 211 - Uranium

From the A-bomb to zircon, uranium has revolutionized humanity's destructive potential and wisdom about time. Uranium is the planet's heaviest naturally occurring element, and it transforms by both radioactive decay and nuclear fission. This course explores these two transformations and what we make of them, specifically: nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear wastelanding, radiation and health, and research on deep time. We use modeling to explore high-precision dating of recent geologic and climate events as well as the age of the oldest rocks on earth. Some math is involved. Writing and reading assignments focus on science communication for a general audience.

Prereq: One course in Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Math, Physics, or Statistics.