Earth Sciences 240A: Catastrophic Events in Earth History

Instructor: Professor N.D.MacRae

Contact: nmacrae@uwo.ca

Fall Term 2003

Lecture Times: 11-noon on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in Rm. 137 P&AB

Recommended Text (NOT Required): “Natural Disasters” by P. Abbott (2^nd Edition or higher)

Marking Scheme: 10% Mid-Term; 45% Term Reports; 45% Final Exam

Lecture Schedule

Lecture 1: September 8 Part A: Prerequisite Material

Lecture 2: September 10 Part A: The Universe, Time and Philosophy

In the beginning…

Lecture 3: September 12 Age dating

Lecture 4: September 15 Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism

Lecture 5: September 17 Part B: Impacts and Space Objects

Introduction

Lecture 6: September 19 Meteor Crater; crater properties

Lecture 7: September 22 Various crater examples

Lecture 8: September 24 Part C: Mass Extinctions and the Impact Connection

Introduction

Lecture 9: September 26 Mass extinctions through time

Lecture 10: September 29 Cretaceous Period and the K-T Event

Lecture 11: October 1 Part D: Plate Tectonics [be sure you read the Prerequisite section before the lecture]

Introduction

Lecture 12: October 3 Plate tectonics continued

Lecture 13: October 6 Part E: Earthquakes [be sure you read the Prerequisite section before the lecture]

Introduction

Lecture 14: October 8 San Andreas

Lecture 15: October 10 Miscellaneous earthquake examples

October 13 Thanksgiving Holiday

October 15 Mid-Term Test get the answers here

Lecture 16: October 17 Earthquake Prediction

Lecture 17: October 20 Tsunami

Lecture 18: October 22 Part F: Volcanoes [be sure you read the Prerequisite section before the lecture]

Introduction

Lecture 19: October 24 Icelandic and Hawaiian Eruptions

Lecture 20: October 27 Subduction Zone Eruptions I

Lecture 21: October 29 Subduction Zone Eruptions II: Cascade Range

Lecture 22: October 31 Film of Subduction Eruption [Report 2 Due]

Lecture 23: November 3 Continental Hot Spot Eruptions

Lecture 24: November 5 Eruption Prediction

Lecture 25: November 7 Flood Basalts I

Lecture 26: November 10 Flood Basalts II

Lecture 27: November 12 Mass extinctions: Impacts or Flood Basalts (or ‘other’)?

Lecture 28: November 14 Mass Movements

Lecture 29: November 17 Introduction to Air, Water, Climate (Prerequisite Review)

Lecture 30: November 19 Small Storms: Thunderstorms and Tornadoes

Lecture 31: November 21 Big Storms: Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones

Lecture 32: November 24 Climate I

Lecture 33: November 26 Climate II

Lecture 34: November 28 Climate III: Recent, Future [Report 3 Due]

Lecture 35: December 1 Review of Past Exam

NOTE: The lecture on Fires and Floods is cancelled

Final Exam: Saturday 6 December 2-5 p.m.

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Report Assignments

Three 1000-word reports are assigned through the term: total 45% of course mark (i.e. 15% each). The topics and times due are set out below [These reports are an important component of the course, and one purpose of their inclusion is to encourage you to do independent library or web research in finding and using appropriate references].

Report 1: NEOs: Should we have a defense program? Due: 3 October 2003.

Obviously, you need to begin with a heading called 'Introduction', and that should include a definition of NEOs, a brief consideration of their frequency of impact on Earth, and perhaps something about the danger those impacts hold. There are other items that you may choose to include under that first heading, but you need to finish Introduction with a clear statement of the purpose of your report.

Somewhere in the body of the report you will need to consider current and future defense technologies (you might say a few words about use of the US plan commonly (and incorrectly) called "Star Wars". You will also have to consider a global approach versus a country-by-country plan. You will probably wish to say whether, after deployment of our best technological marvels, any success guarantee exists.

I anticipate you will find a few estimates here and there of cost of deployment of a defense system. At this point, you might need to consider optional expenditure plans.

Don't spend much time going into huge detail - you'll run out of space! When you get into the 'working world', you'll find that one of the most valued attributes of an employee is the ability to express essential facts/ideas in very few words.

Have fun!

Here are some web sites to start you off:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/earth_defense_020403-1.html

http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/introduction/faq-neo.html

These are rather old, but still interesting:

http://www.mcsa.ac.ru/others/iipah/neo/neo96/961010.htm

http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/archive/design/comet.html

http://www.llnl.gov/planetary/

This one is only interesting if you choose to go through the links:

http://www.gyre.org/news/article/208

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Report 2: Earthquake forecast report: Toronto to Halifax. Due: 31 October 2003.

Please be aware that I picked Halifax for the eastern end simply because there wasn’t another big population center close to the real earthquake zone at that end – the zone is really further north than Halifax (look at the map on the first website). I mean for you to concentrate upon elements of that earthquake zone and not upon a strict Toronto-Halifax line.

Obviously, my purpose in assigning this topic is to have you learn some of the structure (and structural activity) for Eastern Canada rather than the USA. You can hardly begin without taking a look at historical activity in that region, and this website can get you started there: http://chci.wrdsb.on.ca/library/eastcan.htm; if you wish, you can see a collection of the earthquake activity from roughly 1900 to 2001 here: http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/historic_eq/eastcan_e.php . These are both good sites, and I’m sure you’ll all want to have a look.

Some other helpful sites are:

http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_21134.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/earthquake/canada.html

http://cgq-qgc.ca/english/outreach/geotour/tremble.htm

http://www.cseg.ca/conferences/2000/216.PDF

The report needs to include maps, needs to consider frequency/magnitude of quakes, probable causes of quakes, some forecast as to site and time for future activity (this will have to be quite speculative), and perhaps a short consideration of the state of building codes in this part of the world make important structures (like nuclear reactors!!) earthquake-resistant.

This is actually a pretty tough topic, but it’s a great learning experience (I hope).

Report 3: Superinterglacial climate: Feast or famine for Canada?. Due: 28 November 2003.

This is a 'hot' topic, and you should gain some insight about the future well-being of Canada through your readings. The last category of the course deals with climate, and you may wish to have a quick look through some of that content. In particular, I'd suggest you take a look through Lecture 34 (last one, and I’ve included full text with links to figures on the lecture outline page).

Your "Introduction" should include a definition of superinterglacial period, and I'd recommend you include the graph showing it from Lecture 34 (Fig.12) or from the following website:

http://www.carleton.ca/~tpatters/teaching/climatechange/change/change56.html

Between the media and a few really sloppy authors, terminology of things 'climatic' has become a terrible mess. Avoid the simple term "Ice Age"; no one seems to know what it means anymore. Instead, use the term "Icehouse" for long time periods during which there are ice sheets on Earth (such as now) and "Greenhouse" for those long time periods when there are no ice sheets anywhere. If you look at Fig.1 from Lecture 34, you'll see that in our present climatic condition of Icehouse, the temperature various over relatively short periods of time such that we oscillate between glacial periods and interglacial periods.

In the body of the report, you need to address:

(1) what is likely to happen to Canada's climate, generally;

(2) will those climatic conditions be favourable to (a) agriculture, (b) navigation in the Arctic/Great Lakes/large rivers, (c) exploration and development of a variety of resources, including hydro electric power;

(3) will the conditions influence our natural resources through a change in fire and flood incidence. You might find it advantageous to look at the issues by regions: far north, interior, coastal areas.

I wish I could point you toward a very few specific references that would answer all your questions, but this is very much a current discussion, and you'll find little bits and pieces from a bunch of references.

Here are some to get you going:

This one has a Great Lakes section:

http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/search/metadata.cfm?ID=179&Lang=e

This one has a section on agriculture:

http://web.idrc.ca/ev_en.php?ID=5544_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC

This one has some Arctic, fires, floods content:

http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/climate/

These are quite general, but have lots of links:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/climate/sitemap-e.html

http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/english/issues/how_will/index.shtml

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Impacts.html

Good luck!

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The format of your reports should be roughly as follows:

Title Page

• Title of report, your name, student number, and date.

Table of Contents Page

• Listing of all headings and subheadings with the relevant page numbers.
• Listing (under the heading “Illustrations”) of all figures with relevant page numbers.
• Listing (under the heading “Tables”) of any tables used with relevant page numbers.

NOTE 1: The Title Page does not get numbered. In fact, the Table of Contents Page should not either, but we’ll ignore that convention and begin numbering there (most word processors make it too messy to do otherwise).
NOTE 2: Headings and subheadings may be set out with a sequential numbering system (as in 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 etc. where the subheadings get the x.1, x.2 designations); by a system of capitals, bolds, italics or indentation emphasis, etc.; or by any consistent scheme you choose.

Text Pages

• Always start with ‘Introduction’. Here, explain clearly what has led to this report and what you intend to emphasize. Sometimes it’s easier to write the Introduction after you’ve composed most of the rest of the report!
• I suggest that you create a draft outline (change it as necessary) to be certain that you don’t skip anything important and that your presentation ‘flows’ from introduction to conclusion.
• Figures (and Tables) can be an important part of a report. However, every figure and table must be essential to the report (in other words, don’t stick in a ‘nice’ picture if it makes no contribution to the report), and every figure and table must be referred to within the text of the report. Also, every figure and table must have a number, a caption/title, and a reference (i.e. the source of the illustration). It’s my practice to place pictures and tables right into the text, close to the point where needed. If you prefer to group them at the end of the report, that’s OK, but it means the reader is always turning pages to find the stuff.
• In any report, some of the content will be based upon your personal general knowledge. For all other content, it is essential that you note the source as a proper reference. Here is the easiest way to do it (and the method I want all of you to use). Within the text, use a superscripted number to indicate the reference. On a page headed ‘References’ at the end of the report record the numbers sequentially and follow each number with the details of the reference. Here’s an example of what might appear in the text: “About 23% of incoming solar radiation is used to evaporate water1; the remaining energy has a multitude of uses”. Then, on the References page at the back, you’d see: “ 1 Abbott, P.L. (2002) Natural Disasters, Third Edition. McGraw Hill”. Keep the reference numbers in sequential order of new use; the first reference gets number 1, the second new reference gets number 2, etc. However, if you use the first reference somewhere later in the report, do not give it a new number – reuse number 1.If you wish to reference a website source, in the text of the report you will simply use a superscripted sequential number; on the 'References' page, beside that sequential number you document the web address (for example: www.whateveritsays.html).

Marking

• Report 1: The mark will be split 50/50 between format and content.
• Reports 2 and 3: The marks will be 20% format and 80% content.

NOTE: I include spelling and grammar under ‘format’.

One final word: these are scientific reports – not essays. I do not wish to read a great deal of unsupported personal impression arguments.