Ge161 (Plate Tectonics), Fall 2007 

Class Meeting Times: Mon., Tues., Wed. and Thurs. 11 a.m. to noon, in room 215 North Mudd. See the detailed schedule for exact meeting dates.   Note that some weeks only have 2 or 3 class meetings.  
Instructor:  Joann Stock, 395-6938, 356 South Mudd, jstock@gps.caltech.edu 
Teaching assistant: Lijun Liu, lijun@gps.caltech.edu  
Ombudsperson: Caitlin Murphy, caitlinm@gps.caltech.edu , x6974.  
Office hours: Tuesday, 1-3 p.m. (Joann); Wed, 3-5 p.m. (Lijun)  

This is a preliminary schedule subject to modification. The textbook for reading is: Fowler, The Solid Earth (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press. Another useful book which will be on reserve (but not required since it is out of print) is: Cox and Hart, Plate Tectonics: How it Works, Blackwell Scientific Publications. Finally, at the end of the course we will read one chapter from Don Anderson's book "New Theory of the Earth". As we go along in the class we will also refer to Scott Baldridge's book "Geology of the American Southwest" for ideas about the longer term plate tectonic history of North America.

 
Dates
Lecture Topics
Reading assignment
Homework schedule and handouts
Week 1: Oct. 2, 3 and 4 (3 days). Introduction. Plate motions on a flat earth. Triple junctions on a flat earth. Fowler, p. 1-14, 24-31. 
Cox and Hart Ch. 1 and 2.		 Oct 2 handouts: Lowman's map ; Peter Bird's map and plate list ; class collaboration policy; Class info sheet & questionnaire.
Oct. 4: PS 1 given out. Class questionnaires due. Student study areas need to be chosen or assigned.
Week 2. October 8, 10, and 11 (3 days). Marine magnetics. Magnetic reversal time scales. Methods of measurement of the magnetic field. Magnitudes and shapes of magnetic anomalies. Distribution of the world's magnetic anomalies. Fowler p. 43-94 (chapter 3). 
Cox and Hart ch. 3 and 8.  		PS 1 due on Thurs., October 11  
PS 2 given out 
Handouts: magnetic anomaly handout. Magnetic reversal timescale handout. Magnetometer handout. Magnetic anomaly map of the world. Stereonet (keep this and use it for future problem sets).
October 9 (Tues) optional class. Stereonet review session. Optional handout about stereonets . Optional stereonet practice problems .
Week 3. October 15-17. Note no class on Thurs. Oct. 18th. Instantaneous plate motions and angular velocity vectors. Kinematics of instantaneous plate motions; data and kinematics from Nuvel-1A and older models. .  Cox and Hart ch. 4
Fowler p. 14-24.		 PS 2 due on Thurs., October 18.
PS 3 given out 
October 11, 5 p.m. Seismo Lab Resource Seminar Introduction to Unix . Optional on-line tutorial.
Week 4. October 22-24. October 25, In-class review of UNIX (optional) Finite rotations. Rotation matrices in 2 and 3 dimensions. Quaternions and the Euler construction. Order of summation of rotations; notation conventions. Cox and Hart ch. 7. PS 3 due on Thurs., October 25.
PS 4 assigned. Computer programs to use with HW#4. Pages from C&H . 
October 25, 5 p.m. Seismo Lab resource seminar Introduction to GMT (Generic Mapping Tools). Optional on-line tutorial about GMT.
Week 5. October 30,31; Nov. 1. Note no class on Monday Oct. 29th. Seismicity and plate tectonics Cox and Hart ch. 6 

Fowler skim ch. 4; read in detail pages 88-122, 130-140 (first edition) or 115-122, 130-168 (2nd ed). 

Fowler 2nd ed. sections 10.2.2 and 10.2.3.

 PS 4 due Thurs., Nov. 1  
PS 5 assigned. Program instructions and GMT script to download
Week 6. Nov. 5-8 (4 days). Geology of spreading centers, convergent boundaries and transform faults; satellite gravity; start on paleomagnetics.  Fowler 2nd edition, chapter 9; section 10.2.1; p. 348-350 from ch. 8. Oceanic crustal model 1 and Oceanic crustal models 2 PS 5 due Thurs., Nov. 8
PS 6 assigned. It uses the following files: GMT gravity script; Agemap script; Color palette for age map script.
Nov. 12, 13 and 14 no regular class Nov. 13: Tectonics Observatory Talks (Sharp Lecture Hall, Arms Building). Nov 13: Poster session in the afternoon.
Week 7. Nov. 15 (1 day) Paleomagnetics in plate tectonics, continued   Cox and Hart Ch. 9 
Fowler 2nd ed. pp. 43-54 or 1st ed. 32-41.
PS 6 due on Thurs., Nov. 15.
PS 7 handed out
Week 8. Nov. 19-21 (3 days). Thermal structure of plates. Age vs. depth curves. Fowler 2nd ed. pp. 288-298; skim p. 269-285.
Week 9. Nov. 26-29 (4 days). Absolute plate motions, hotspots, reference frames. True polar wander, dynamics of what drives the plates Anderson chapter 4
PS 7 due on Tues., Nov. 27.
PS 8 handed out on Tues., Nov. 27.
Week 10. Dec. 3-6 (3 days). The history of plate tectonics on earth -- controversies that remain. Class presentations
PS 8 due on Tues., Dec. 4.
Dec. 14 , 2007. Last day to turn in the final report.
Last updated 7 November 2007 by J. Stock .