Northern California - Course Syllabus

Spring 2001

Geology 171: Northern California Field Excursion

Spring 2001

(F 8-9) Beloit College

Cameron Davidson 103 Chamberlin x 2268 davidson@beloit.edu	Evaluation: This course is graded on a CR/NC basis. You must earn 90 points to get credit
	Discusion Leader	40
	Class Membership. Includes participation, preparation, discusion, and attendance. -5 for absence. Only one allowed.	30
	Paper Reviews. Three reviews of papers, books, or chapters on the field area.	30
	Total:	100

Reading: McPhee, John A., 1994, Assembling California. New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 224 p.

Week Topic Reading

1. Jan. 19 Organization and introduction (Davidson); individual assignments

2. Jan. 26 Tectonic setting of California (Davidson) 1-68

3. Feb. 2 Coast Ranges; the Franciscan formation and Coast Range Ophiolites 69-131

4. Feb. 9 The subduction legacy: blueschists and eclogites 132-171

5. Feb. 16 The San Andreas Fault System; Point Reyes 172-224

6. Feb. 23 The Great Valley Sequence 225-240

Great Valley Agriculture and water use

7. Mar. 2 Sierra Nevada foothills and the Gold Belt 241-304

8. Mar. 9 Spring Break

9. Mar. 16 The forty-niners and history of gold mining; Hangtown

Mar. 23 The Sierra Nevada batholith

11. Mar. 30 The John Muir and John Freemont legacies

12. Apr. 6 No Class; Keck Symposium

13. Apr. 13 The geology and water wars of Mono Lake

14. Apr. 20 Southern Cascade Volcanism; geology of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta

15. Apr. 27 Final Planning

Selected References

Alt, D.D., Hyndman, D.W., 2000, Roadside geology of Northern and Central California, Mountain Press, Missoula, 269 p.

Ernst, W.G., 1981, The geotectonic development of California. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. 706 p.

Harbaugh, J.W., 1975, Northern California Field Guide. Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque, 123 p.

Harwood, D.S. and Miller, M.M., 1990, Paleozoic and early Mesozoic paleogeographic relations; Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, and related terranes. Geological Society of America Special Paper 255, 422 p.

Ingersoll, R.V. and Nilsen, T.H., 1990, Sacramento Valley Symposium and Guidebook. SEPM, Santa Fe Springs, 215 p.

Lageson, D.R., Peters, S.G., Lahren, M.M., 2000, Great Basin and Sierra Nevada: GSA Field Guide 2. Geological Society of America, Boulder, 430 p.

Moore, J.G., 2000, Exploring the Highest Sierra. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 427 p.

Moores, E.M., Sloan, D., Stout, D.L., 1999, Classic Cordilleran Concepts: A view from California. Geological Society of America Special Paper 338. 489 p.

Norris, R.M. and Webb, R.W., 1990, Geology of California. Wiley, New York, 541 p.

Sloan, D. and Wagner, D.L., 1991, Geologic Excursions in Northern California: San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada. Department of Conservation, Special Publication 109, 130 p.

Wagner, D.L. and Graham, S.A., 1999, Geologic Field trips in Northern California. California Department of Conservation, Special Publication 119, 254 p.

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