NS: Indicates course satisfies divisional studies requirements.
ES 101 The Dynamic Earth (4 credits, Fall, NS, lab)
Introduction to the dynamic Earth, including plate tectonics, earthquake hazards and volcanic hazards, mountain-building processes; igneous and metamorphic processes; surface processes, erosion, soil, and sediment formation; and hydrogeology. Interactions among the lithospheric, hydrospheric, atmospheric, and biospheric systems are emphasized. Three hours lecture, two hours lab, including field trips.
Instructor: Dalton or Marchant
ES 105 Environmental Earth Sciences (4 credits, Spring, NS, lab)
Geological processes in environmental science; groundwater quantity and quality; geological resource supply and recovery; earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other natural hazards; landforms, climate, desertification, glaciation, and ocean circulation patterns. Three hours lecture, two hours lab, including field trips.
Instructor: Fagherazzi or Kurtz
ES 140 Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and other Natural Disasters (4 credits, Fall, NS)
Explores the large natural events that affect us; examines their geologic causes, as well as their natural and human consequences. Topics include earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, impacts of extraterrestrial objects, and other near-surface disasters, with an emphasis on destructive solid-earth phenomena.
Instructor: Hall
ES 142 Introduction to Beach and Shoreline Processes (4 credits, Spring, NS)
Coastal processes, including tidal currents, wave action, longshore transport, and estuarine circulation; barrier island and spit formation; study of beaches, dunes, and marshes; effects of tectonics, glaciers, and rivers on beaches and coastal morphology. Cape Cod field trip.
Instructor: FitzGerald
ES 144 Oceanography (4 credits, Fall, NS)
Examines the physical, chemical, and biological processes by which the oceans serve as an agent to accelerate or moderate the pace of global change. Dynamic nature of the oceans on both a short- and a long-term scale is emphasized.
Instructor: Fulweiler or Murray
ES 222 Mineralogy (4 credits, Fall)
Introduction to mineral properties, chemistry, structure, and the petrographic microscope. Minerals in Earth systems including the dynamic interior, surface, environment, and societal uses. Minerals as recorders of past Earth processes and conditions. Three hours lecture, three hours lab, field trip.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 302; CH 101 recommended.
Instructor: Baxter
ES 301 Structural Analysis of Rocks (4 credits, Spring)
Deformation of rocks and minerals, stress, strain; kinetic and dynamic analysis of folds, faults, joints, rock fabrics; regional settings of rock structures; interpretation of geological maps. Three hours lecture, three hours lab, and occasional field trips.
Prerequisites: ES 302; ES 222 recommended.
Instructor: Faul
ES 302 History of the Earth (4 credits, Spring)
Introduction to Earth history; origin of the Earth and solar system; origin and evolution of life; mass extinctions; interpretation of the geological record of Earth history; measurement of geological time; plate tectonics and the formation of mountains, continents, and ocean basins. Three hours lecture, two hours lab, with occasional field trips.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or GE 104, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Baxter
ES 317 Introduction to Hydrology (4 credits, Spring)
Introduction to the science of hydrology and to the role of water as a resource, a hazard, and an integral component of the Earth’s climatic, biological, and geological systems.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or GE 104; MA 121, 123, or 127, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Salvucci
ES 331 Sedimentology (4 credits, Fall)
Properties and classification of clastic and carbonate sediments and sedimentary rock; processes that form, transport, and deposit sediments; environments of deposition; diagenesis; methods of analysis. Three hours lecture, three hours lab, and occasional field trips.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or 202 or GE 104, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: FitzGerald
ES 333 Earth Surface Processes (4 credits, Spring)
Evolution of Earth’s landscapes. Topics include weathering rates, soil development, mass-movements and slope stability, desert geomorphology, tectonic landforms, and the effects of climate change in landform development. Three hours lecture, two hours lab.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or GE 104.
Instructor: Marchant
ES 351 Paleoclimatology and Paleoceanography (4 credits, Fall)
Examines causes and effects of climate change throughout Earth’s history. Topics include ice age climates and glaciations; oceanic history; linkages between Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets; tectonic effects; ice-core, coral, and marine sediment records; El Niño; terrestrial extinctions.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or 202 or GE 104. GE 101 recommended.
Instructor: Kurtz
ES 360 Geodynamics I (4 credits, Spring)
Introduces basic physical principles of Earth’s structure and dynamics. Driving mechanisms and plate motion; reflection, refraction seismology, magnetism, gravity and the Geoid, heat flow, tomography, mantle convection. Oceanic and continental lithosphere in active tectonic regions.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or 202 or GE 104; PY 211 or 241 or 251 coreg.
Instructor: Dalton
ES 371 Introduction to Geochemistry (4 credits, Fall)
Chemical features of Earth and the solar system; geochemical cycles, reactions among solids, liquids, and gases; radioactivity and isotope fractionation; water chemistry; origins of ore deposits; applications of geochemistry to regional and global problems.
Prerequisites: ES 101 or 105 or 140 or 142 or 144 or 202 or GE 104; and CH 101.
Instructor: Staff
ES 401, 402 Senior Independent Work (4 credits, Fall and Spring)
Prerequisites: Approval of the Honors Committee.
Instructor: Staff
GRS ES 423 Marine Biogeochemistry (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Oceanic nutrient and biogeochemical cycling in the context of the marine response to global change. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include oceanic productivity, iron limitation, and oceanic glacial-interglacial biogeochemistry. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion.
Prerequisites: CH 101 and 102, BUMP semester or ES 144, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Fulweiler or Murray
ES 424 Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Recognition and interpretation of common igneous and metamorphic rocks, both in hand sample and in thin section; the relationships between rocks and the tectonic environments in which they formed. Three hours lecture, three hours lab, and occasional field trips.
Prerequisites: ES 222.
Instructor: Staff
ES 440 Marine Geology (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Examines the evolution of ocean basins and marginal seas, changes in structure and composition of ocean basins throughout the last billion years, and the contribution of oceanic geological processes to the chemistry and biochemistry of Earth.
Prerequisites: Any 100 level course or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Murray
ES 443 Terrestrial Biogeochemistry (4 credits, Fall, meets with BI 443/643)
The patterns and processes controlling carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include net primary production, nutrient use efficiency, and biogeochemical transformation.
Prerequisites: BI 107 or ES 101 or ES 105 and CH 101/102, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 483 Geodynamics II: Fluids and Fluid Transport (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Large- and small-scale phenomena in oceanic, atmospheric, and land surface fluids. Properties of gases and liquids; surface body forces; statics; flow analysis; continuity and momentum conservation; Darcy’s Law; potential, open channel, and geostrophic flow; dimensional analysis; diffusion, turbulence.
Prerequisites: MA 124 or 127 or 129 and PY 211 and ES 360, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Salvucci
ES 491, 492 Directed Study in Earth Sciences (Variable credit, Fall and Spring)
Individual instruction and directed research of a selected topic.
Prerequisites: junior or senior standing, consent of instructor, and approval of CAS Room 105.
Instructor: Staff
ES 452 Experimental Analysis of Marine Symbiosis: Organism-Sediment Relationships (4 credits, Fall)
Biogenic processes that influence physical-chemical properties of sediment, and sedimentary and seafloor processes that influence the distribution, functional morphology, and population dynamics of benthic organisms are studied in the field and laboratory. Field trip to Paleozoic analogues.
Prerequisites: consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 455 Principles of Marine Pollution (4 credits, Fall)
Starts with the first principles of chemistry and biology that govern the fate and effects of contaminants in the marine environment. Provides an understanding of the underlying processes in evaluating marine pollution issues. Includes working with computer models that attempt to predict the fate of pollutants.
Prerequisites: consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 481 Geological Record of Global Change (4 credits, Fall)
Examination of the geologic record to deduce the history that provides a baseline against which the present changes in biodiversity, extinction, and changing global climate can be evaluated. Field trips to sites throughout New England to examine the changing marine communities and climate.
Prerequisites: consent of instructor and ES 302; ES 452 recommended.
Instructor: Staff
ES 543 Estuaries (4 credits, Fall)
Physical and ecological processes interacting in estuarine and nearshore environments, including salt marshes, beaches, lagoons, deltas, and in wave- and tide-dominated regimes. Lectures complemented by extensive fieldwork orientated toward individual and group research projects.
Prerequisites: ES 331 or ES 440 or ES 541.
Instructor: Fagherazzi
ES 545 Tropical Oceanography of the Caribbean Sea (4 credits, Fall)
In-depth treatment of physical, biogeochemical, geological, and biological oceanography of the Caribbean, oriented towards development of a research project to be fulfilled during ES 546. BU and SEA faculty joint teach. Taught in Woods Hole as part of BUMP Marine Semester.
Prerequisites: CAS ES 144 or consent of instructor, and admission into BUMP Marine Semester.
Instructor: Murray
ES 546 Tropical Oceanography of the Caribbean Sea: Applications and Research (4 credits, Fall)
Participation on oceanographic research expedition to pursue research developed as part of ES 545. Nearshore and open ocean research in geological, chemical, physical, and biological oceanography. BU and SEA faculty joint teach. Taught at sea on research vessel operated by Sea Education Association.
Prerequisites: ES 545 and admission into the BUMP Marine Semester.
Instructor: Murray
ES 500 Field Geology (8 credits, Summer)
Scientific observation, interpretation, and solution of geological problems in the field through application of field mapping techniques. Includes recognition of rock types and structures as well as metamorphic effects of tectonic events, map-making methods, and report preparation.
Prerequisites: junior standing, ES 101 or 105, or GE 104, and ES 302, or consent of instructor. ES 222, 301, and 424 recommended.
ES 503 Structural Petrology (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Structural analysis of deformed rocks in thin section. Deformation mechanisms at the crystal lattice and grain scale. Interpretation of tectonic deformation processes and pressure-temperature conditions based on preserved microstructure and metamorphic mineral growth.
Prerequisites: ES 301, and ES 424 or 222, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 505 Plate Tectonics and Kinematics (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Structure and geometry of lithospheric plates and plate boundaries; mechanisms of divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries; orthogonal and oblique subduction; triple junctions; mantle plumes, nature and origin of large igneous provinces and sedimentary basin, Phanerozoic orogenic belts.
Prerequisites: junior standing and ES 101 or 105; ES 360; MA 123, 124, or MA 127 or MA 129.
Instructor: Hall
ES 507 Dynamical Oceanography (4 credits, Fall)
Introduction to the physical ocean system. Physical properties of seawater; essential ocean dynamics; mixing and stirring in the ocean; simple waves; observed current systems and water masses; and coupled atmosphere-ocean variability. Also offered as GE 507.
Prerequisites: MA 124 or MA 127 and PY 211.
Instructor: B. Anderson
ES 514 Dynamic Land Surface Hydrology (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Land surface hydrology with emphasis on the unsaturated zone. Development and applications of physics governing transport of water, vapor, and heat in soils and the near surface atmosphere. Effects of vegetation, topography, and water table on runoff, evapotranspiration, and recharge.
Prerequisites: MA 121 or 123 or 127 and one course from CH 101, 111, 131, 161, 171, or PY 105, 211, 233, 251.
Instructor: Salvucci
ES 533 Quantitative Geomorphology (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Quantitative analyses of surface processes that lead to landform evolution and landscape change. Emphasizes study of analytical techniques in understanding specific depositional and erosional processes; models of global landscape change; tectonic and climatic geomorphology.
Prerequisites: ES 317 or ES 331 or ES 333, and MA 124.
Instructor: Fagherazzi
ES 534 Ice-Age Systems (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Cenozoic climate change and development of Earth’s ice sheets; distribution and stratigraphy of glacial deposits; ice-ocean atmosphere interactions and feedback mechanisms; geomorphic and glaciologic models for ice-sheet reconstructions; numerical models of ice-sheet growth and decay.
Prerequisites: ES 333 or 351, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Marchant
ES 541 Coastal Processes (4 credits, Spring)
Shorelines as functions of tidal and wave energy; onshore, offshore, and alongshore sediment transport from theoretical and empirical viewpoints; barrier island, backbarrier, and tidal inlet morphology and processes; wave dynamics; tides. Two hours lecture, three hours lab/fieldwork.
Prerequisites: ES 331, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: FitzGerald
ES 561 Mechanics of Earthquakes (4 credits, Fall)
Explores current understanding of many aspects of earthquake phenomena, including where and when earthquakes occur, how an earthquake begins, and the likelihood of reliable earthquake prediction. Multidisciplinary techniques used to study earthquakes are introduced, including geologic, geodetic, and seismological methods.
Prerequisites: ES 360 and PY 211/212 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 571 Geochemical Modeling (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Quantitative techniques used to interpret chemical variations in earth materials. Principles of chemical equilibrium, mass transport, and kinetics applied to aqueous, igneous, and metamorphic systems. Focus on geological processes of melting, crystallization, mixing, reaction, weathering, and diagenesis.
Prerequisites: ES 222, ES 371, CH 102, and MA 124, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Baxter, Kurtz
ES 573 Analytical Methods in Geochemistry (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Introduces students to quantitative analytical techniques used in geology, including x-ray, optical emission, mass spectrometric, and neutron activation methods. Examples are drawn from igneous and sedimentary systems. Emphasizes criteria for selecting and using techniques appropriate to specific geologic problems. Three hours lecture, two hours lab.
Prerequisites: ES 371 and ES 222, or ES 331, or CH 102.
Instructors: Kurtz, Murray
ES 576 Aquatic Geochemistry (4 credits, Spring)
Fundamentals of water chemistry as applied to the evolution of surface, soil, and ground waters. Emphasis is on chemical equilibrium and kinetics, pH as a master variable, carbonate chemistry, mineral solubility, aqueous complexes, ion exchange, redox, and weathering reactions.
Prerequisites: CH 101 or CH 171 and ES 371, or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Kurtz
ES 581 Solid Earth Geophysics (4 credits, Spring)
Explores the methods and results of geophysical exploration into the solid earth. Topics include crustal and whole-earth seismology, the Earth’s gravitational and magnetic fields, earthquake source phenomena, and structure of the planet.
Prerequisites: ES 360; PY 211, 212, or 241, 242 or 251, 252; MA 123, 124 or 127 or 129.
Instructor: Hall
ES 587, 588 Seminar in Earth Sciences (2 credits, Fall and Spring)
Discussion of current topics in Earth Sciences with assigned readings and lecture seminars.
Prerequisites: junior standing, ES 101 or 105, and consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 623 Marine Biogeochemistry (4 credits, Spring, offered alternate years)
Oceanic nutrient and biogeochemical cycling in the context of the marine response to global change. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include oceanic productivity, iron limitation, and oceanic glacial-interglacial biogeochemistry. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion.
Prerequisites: ES 306 and one year of college chemistry or BUMP semester.
Instructor: Fulweiler or Murray
ES 640 Marine Geology (4 credits, Fall or Spring)
Examines the evolution of ocean basins and marginal seas, changes in structure and composition of ocean basins throughout the last one billion years, and the contribution of oceanic geological processes to the chemistry and biochemistry of the Earth.
Instructor: Staff
ES 643 Terrestrial Biogeochemistry (4 credits, Fall or Spring)
The patterns and processes controlling carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Links between local and global scales are emphasized. Topics include net primary production, nutrient use efficiency, and biogeochemical transformation. Meets with BI 643.
Prerequisites: BI 107 or ES 101 or ES 105, and CH 101/102, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Finzi
ES 660 Geodynamics I (4 credits, Spring)
Introduces basic physical principles of Earth’s structure and dynamics. Driving mechanisms and plate motion; reflection, refraction seismology, magnetism, gravity and the Geoid, heat flow, tomography, mantle convection. Oceanic and continental lithosphere in active tectonic regions. Meets with ES 360.
Prerequisites: graduate standing and an introductory course in Earth Sciences and PY 211 or 251 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Dalton
ES 671 Geochemistry (4 credits, Fall)
Chemical features of Earth and the solar system; geochemical cycles, reactions among solids, liquids, and gases; radioactivity and isotope fractionation; water chemistry; origins of ore deposits; applications of geochemistry to regional and global problems. Meets with ES 371.
Prerequisites: graduate standing and an introductory course in Earth Sciences and CH 101 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 683 Geodynamics II: Fluids and Fluid Transport (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Large- and small-scale phenomena in oceanic, atmospheric, and land-surface fluids. Properties of gases and liquids; surface body forces; statics; flow analysis; continuity and momentum conservation. Darcy’s Law; potential, open channel and geostrophic flow; dimensional analysis; diffusion, turbulence.
Prerequisites: MA 124 or 127 or 129 and PY 211 and ES 360, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Salvucci
ES 699 Teaching College Earth Sciences (2 credits, Fall and Spring)
The goals, contents, and methods of instruction in Earth Sciences. General teaching-learning issues. Required of all teaching fellows.
Instructor: Staff
ES 701 Quantitative Methods for the Earth Sciences I: Mechanics of Earth Materials (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Characterization of the response of complex natural systems to forcing using the methods of continuum mechanics. Applications include magma migration, the propagation of seismic waves, glacial flow, oceanic thermohaline circulation and thermochemical convection in the Earth’s mantle.
Prerequisites: Graduate standing and completion of MA 123, MA 124, PY 211, PY 212 (or equivalents), or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Hall
ES 742 Coastal Dynamics (4 credits, Fall or Spring, offered alternate years)
Barrier formation, environments, and stratigraphy; dynamics of shoreface retreat and Holocene transgression; tidal inlet morphology; mechanics of inlet migration and spit breaching; inlet hydraulics, tidal component analysis, backbarrier hypsometry, and filling characteristics; tidal bedforms, inlet fill, and tidal delta stratigraphy.
Prerequisites: ES 541 or ES 640.
Instructor: FitzGerald
ES 762 Nonmarine Terrigenous Clastic Deposits and Processes (4 credits, Fall or Spring, offered alternate years)
Discussion of deposits in nonmarine environments. Eolian deposits and sand dune dynamics, braided and meandering fluvial systems, humid alluvial fans, lacustrine sedimentation, deserts and sabkhas, glacial depositional systems, permafrost, volcaniclastics, and catastrophic processes and deposits.
Prerequisites: ES 331 or ES 500.
Instructor: FitzGerald
ES 771 Isotope Earth Science (4 credits, Fall, offered alternate years)
Stable and radiogenic isotope geochemistry; isotope geology of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, and sulphur; applications of isotope systematics to geochemical problems in hydrology, ocean biogeochemistry, and crustal genesis.
Prerequisites: graduate standing, CH 111/112 or equivalent, and ES 571 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Baxter
ES 781 Methods of Seismology (4 credits, Fall or Spring, offered alternate years)
Methods and theoretical underpinnings of seismology, including elastic wave propagation, ray theory, reflection refraction and transmission, surface waves, earth structure, seismic sources, and review of modern analysis techniques.
Prerequisites: ES 360 or ES 660, and MA 225 and PY 408 or equivalent, or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Dalton
ES 830 Advanced Topics in Surface Processes (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in surface processes.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 831 Advanced Topics in Tectonics (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in tectonics.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 833 Advanced Topics in Seismology and Geophysics (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in seismology and geophysics.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 834 Advanced Topics in Geochemical Cycles (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in geochemical cycles.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 835 Advanced Topics in Marine Geosciences (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in marine geosciences.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff
ES 836 Advanced Topics in Igneous and Metamorphic Geology (4 credits, on demand)
Develops skills in critical scientific thinking through readings and discussions of classic and current literature in igneous and metamorphic geology.
Prerequisites: graduate standing or consent of instructor.
Instructor: Staff