Because more than seventy percent of our planet is covered by oceans, the study of marine systems is crucial to our understanding of the Earth. In this course, we will examine chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes in the oceans at a variety of scales in time and space. We will explore how the Earth's oceans formed, how they provided the foundations for life, and how they continue to affect weather and climate, stabilize global chemical cycles, interact with the terrestrial environment, and give us access to resources.

The origin of animals was one of the most important events in the history of earth. In this course we will review the history of the planet, learn basic geology, and then examine the problem of the origin of animals by studying Mount Holyoke's unequalled collection of Precambrian and Cambrian fossils. The emergence of animals has been called the Cambrian Explosion. We will examine what this means for our understanding of evolutionary theory.

This course provides an intensive study of fossils, fossil preservation, relationships between major groups of organisms, depositional environments, sediments, sedimentary rocks, and the processes of sedimentation. We will employ the principles of stratigraphic analysis and correlation to interpret ancient environments and paleoclimate, reconstruct paleogeography, and probe the characteristics of sedimentary basins. Laboratory exercises and field trips will introduce a variety of analytical techniques used to study sedimentary rocks.

Studies mineralogical and chemical compositions, classification, genesis, and mode of occurrence of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Special attention paid to the relationships between rock-forming processes and global plate tectonics. Laboratory study of representative rock suites in hand specimen and thin section, introduction to analytical techniques, including mineral optics, and one or more field trips.