GEOL 5541 - Carbonate Depositional Systems II

• Fifteen percent of the grade for graduate students will be based on the following additional work: Each graduate student will write a 5 page paper and present a 20 minute presentation to the class on an assigned topic.
• Apply knowledge gained in the classroom setting to the field setting.
• Apply sequence stratigraphic principles to determine geologic and climatic history preserved in the rock record.
• Create a field guide to the geology and carbonate sedimentology of the field sites visited to synthesize information learned in the field.
• Gain a detailed appreciation for carbonate deposition and the ability to use scientific observation to analyze and interpret ancient depositional environments.
• Graduate students should perform at a higher level than undergraduates. Written exercises and exam questions should display additional depth of understanding and analysis documented by higher degree of detail and strongly supported arguments.
• Learn to interpret depositional setting of Pleistocene and Holocene carbonate rocks based on skeletal and non-skeletal constituents.
• Learn to take detailed field data of observations
• Observe modern and ancient karst processes due to both mixing zone and surface hydrologic conditions
• Observe modern carbonate depositional systems and critically consider the sedimentary and diagenetic processes involved in the transition from sediment to carbonate rock.