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Your assignment should be a brief report on some new thing that has been discovered/reported any time in the last year (i.e. September 2012 or more recently) that is directly relevant to this course (use the syllabus as a guide). The subject can literally be anything that is relevant to this course. Examples include a fresh report on the geology of some particular area or formation, some new fossil discovery, or a specific oil or gas field that has been brought on-stream. You might wish to deal with the economic, environmental, or sociological impact or implications of something to do with the geology, most likely resource geology, of Western Canada, or perhaps a mass movement/landslide. Your example or case history must be from Western Canada; the Lac Mégantic disaster is not eligible.
Your paper should be written at a level appropriate to a second year science course, and comprehensible to a reader with an introductory course background. That is, if you were to read it as an oral presentation, people should not be lost, nor insulted by the paper being “dumbed down” too much either.
FORMAT
Your report will be hard copy, maximum one page, with 1” margins all around, double-spaced, and using 12-point font. There should be no cover page; the top line should read:
Do not do a separate abstract or conclusion section; keep it simple. The exceptions to the one-page limit are as follows: 1) you may put your reference(s) on the back of the single page [no staples, no cover pages, just one sheet of paper], and 2) figures may also be put on the back of your single page.
Your report must include what your source or sources happen to be (e.g. journal, on-line journal, web page, and when you accessed it). Multiple sources are allowed, but given the size of the assignment, not necessary and may make things too complicated. Course texts and materials are not allowable sources. I am not going to enforce a particular format for references, but it needs to be sufficiently complete for me or anyone else to track down. If you have multiple references, be sure to attribute information in your report to the appropriate source(s); if you have but one reference, it is understood to be the authority for all information in the report.
ThingsYou Should Know (PART 1)
Course Description: An overview of the geology and landscapes of Western Canada. The spectacularly exposed rocks of the prairie and mountain parks of Alberta and British Columbia will be fitted into a regional geological framework and examples from parks such as Yoho, Banff, Jasper, Dinosaur, and Kananaskis will be highlighted. Geological processes of mountain building and past and present landscape evolution will be emphasized. Prerequisite: One of EAS 100, 101, 103, 105, 201, 210 or SCI 100.
Course Objectives and Expected Learning Outcomes (Concise Version): To acquaint you with the geological, geographic, climatic, and paleontological history of Western Canada, and to place its significant geological resources in context. Concepts are elucidated from and anchored to specific rock units and locales. You should come to appreciate the change that has happened through time; Western Canada has not always looked this way! You will be expected to be able to articulate these topics, as well as details of the geology to support the broader picture.
Course Objectives and Expected Learning Outcomes (Long Version): By the end of this course, you should be able to:
1) Name and explain the basic principles of historical geology, as well as the various types of unconformities that constitute gaps in the rock record.
2) Reproduce the Geological Time Scale at the level of Periods and higher subdivisions.
3) Name and briefly characterize the three main geologic subdivisions of Western Canada: the Shield, the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), and the Cordillera.
4) Name and describe the principal formations that comprise the Purcell Supergroup as exposed in Waterton Lakes National Park, explain what setting they represent, and characterize the Windermere Supergroup, as exposed in the Cordillera, both supergroups as examples of the Precambrian history of Western Canada.
5) Explain the origin and setting of Grand Cycles in the Cambrian rocks and their expression in the Main Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, and as the context for the Burgess Shale and its fauna; describe the essentials of the discovery, elements, and significance of the Burgess fauna.
6) Characterize the Williston Basin, and its relationship to the WCSB; describe the Ordovician Tyndall Formation, arguably Western Canada’s most famous building stone.
7) Describe the pattern of deposition of Devonian rocks, and name and describe the principal rock units, with emphasis on reefs and related evaporite rocks.
8) Describe the major resources recovered from Devonian rocks: what they are, how they originate, and their setting/host.
9) Name and describe the major Mississippian rocks units that have significant expression in the Rockies, and their importance in the accumulation of resources.
10) Explain the major elements of change in Western Canada as signaled by the Absaroka Sequence, with reference to specific rock units and their depositional setting; you should come to be able to articulate the main aspects of change throughout the geologic history of Western Canada.
11) Explain what the Foreland Basin is, and how it differs from the WCSB; name and describe the major stratigraphic units and their depositional setting, and their role as hosts for hydrocarbons, especially the oil sands.
12) Name and characterize the subdivisions of the Cordillera: its five Belts, and the five zones that comprise its easternmost belt, the Foreland Belt; name and characterize the mechanisms of mountain building.
13) Identify and briefly describe some of the more geologically significant features exposed in Jasper National Park, especially as examples of major ideas or themes we have developed in the course.
14) Briefly explain glaciation and its impact on the landscapes you can see in Western Canada.
15) Name, briefly describe, and place in time the major fossil groups we highlight throughout the course.
