Geosciences

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of past and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering, while providing a comprehensive overview appropriate for all students. Two 80-minute lectures per week.

Which human activities are changing our climate, and does climate change constitute a major problem? We will investigate these questions through an introduction to climate processes and an exploration of climate from the distant past to today. We will also consider the impact of past and ongoing climate changes on the global environment and on humanity. Finally, we will draw on climate science to identify and evaluate possible courses of action. Intended to be accessible to students not concentrating in science or engineering, while providing a comprehensive overview appropriate for all students. Two 80 min lectures & one 3 hr lab per week.

An introduction to natural (and some society-induced) hazards and the importance of public understanding of related issues. Emphasis is on the geological processes that drive the hazards, and how these can inform policy choices. Topics include: earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, tsunami, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, meteorite impacts, climate change. Intended primarily for non-science majors. Two lectures, one three-hour laboratory.

The ocean and atmosphere control Earth's climate. We explore the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere, their chemical compositions and their interactions that make up the climate system, including exchanges of heat and carbon. We then investigate how these circulations control ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles of the Earth system. Finally, we focus on climate change and human impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This course is primarily intended for students majoring in science or engineering or those undertaking the Climate Science minor in Geosciences. One weekly precept complements lectures.

This course introduces the Earth system, quantifying the underlying physical and chemical processes that connect the Earth's land, water and atmosphere. We discuss how these processes and feedbacks sustain habitable conditions on Earth's surface. Topics include: plate tectonics, volcanism, mountain formation, the rock cycle, mineralogy, magnetism, the hydrologic cycle, the carbon cycle, earthquakes and seismology.

This course introduces students to a new field, Astrobiology, where scientists trained in biology, chemistry, astrophysics and geology combine their skills to investigate life's origins and to seek extraterrestrial life. Topics include: the origin of life on earth, the prospects of life on Mars, Europa, Titan, Enceladues and extra-solar planets, as well as the cosmological setting for life and the prospects for SETI. AST 255 is the core course for the planets and life certificate.

Introduction to modern geologic field methods, with local and regional problems studied from a residential base camp. One option is the five week University of Houston-Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association (YBRA) course based in Red Lodge, Montana, run by the University of Houston. Alternatively, students may attend field courses offered by other institutions after obtaining approval from the Undergraduate Work Committee of the Department of Geosciences. Financial aid is available through the Geosciences Department.

This seminar focuses on the science, engineering, policy and ethics of climate engineering -- the deliberate human intervention in the world climate in order to reduce global warming. Climate/ocean models and control theory are introduced. The technology, economics, and climate response for the most favorable climate engineering methods (carbon dioxide removal, solar radiation management) are reviewed. Policy and ethics challenges are discussed.

Students will study the chemical and physical processes involved in the sources, transformation, transport, and sinks of air pollutants on local to global scales. Societal problems such as photochemical smog, particulate matter, greenhouse gases, and stratospheric ozone depletion will be investigated using fundamental concepts in chemistry, physics, and engineering. For the class project, students will select a trace gas species or family of gases and analyze recent field and remote sensing data based upon material covered in the course. Environments to be studied include very clean, remote portions of the globe to urban air quality.

Humans have profoundly altered the chemistry of Earth's air, water, and soil. This course explores these changes with an emphasis on the analytical techniques used to measure the human impact. Topics include the accumulation of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) in Earth's atmosphere and the contamination of drinking water at the tap and in the ground. Students will get hands on training in mass spectrometry and spectroscopy to determine the chemical composition of air, water, and soil and will participate in an outreach project aimed at providing chemical analyses of urban tap waters to residents of Trenton, NJ.

This class discusses fundamental aspects of Earth's climate with a focus on the fundamental atmospheric processes that render Earth "habitable," and how they may respond to the forcing originating from natural (such as volcanoes) and anthropogenic (such as emission of carbon dioxide and ozone-depleting gases) processes.

Earth records its own history in rocks, chronicling catastrophes like meteorite impacts, gradual processes with outsized consequences such as erosion, and pivotal turning points like global glaciation and mass extinction. Imagine Earth's 4.5 billion year history as millions of overlapping crime scenes with much of the evidence wiped away. In this class, you are the forensic detective, learning the observational and analytical techniques needed to decode the interacting forces that created the planet we know today and learning to recognize what we still do not understand.

Covers topics including origin of elements; formation of the Earth; evolution of the atmosphere and oceans; atomic theory and chemical bonding; crystal chemistry and ionic substitution in crystals; reaction equilibria and kinetics in aqueous and biological systems; chemistry of high-temperature melts and crystallization process; and chemistry of the atmosphere, soil, marine, and riverine environments. The biogeochemistry of contaminants and their influence on the environment will also be discussed. Two 90-minute lectures. Prerequisite: one term of college chemistry or instructor's permission.

This course introduces students to the evolution of life and mass extinctions based on a broad survey of major events in Earth history as revealed by the fossil record. Concepts and techniques of paleontology are applied to all aspects, including colonization of the oceans, invasion of land, mass extinctions and evolutionary radiations. The roles of major catastrophes in the history of life are evaluated, including meteorite impacts, volcanism, climate change, and oceanic anoxia. One three-hour lecture. Prerequisite: One 200 level or higher GEO course.

An exploration of the potential consequences of human-induced climate change and their implications for policy responses, focusing on risks to people, societies, and ecosystems. As one example: we examine the risk to coastal cities from sea level rise, and measures being planned and implemented to enable adaptation. In addition, we explore local, national, and international policy initiatives to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The course assumes students have a basic background in the causes of human-induced climate change and the physical science of the climate system. Two 90-minute lectures, one precept..

The course covers concepts related to the chemistry of inorganic and organic materials found in the pristine and contaminated settings in the Earth surface environments, with an introduction to the modern field sampling techniques and advanced laboratory analytical and imaging tools. Different materials characterization methods, such as optical, infrared, and synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy and microscopy, will also be introduced. Field sampling and analysis of materials from diverse soil and coastal marine environments will be the focus during the second half of the semester.

A treatment of the physical and chemical processes that shape Earth's surface, such as solar radiation, deformation of the solid Earth, and the flow of water (vapor, liquid, and solid) under the influence of gravity. In particular, the generation, transport, and preservation of sediment in response to these processes are studied in order to better read stories of Earth history in the geologic record and to better understand processes involved in modern and ancient environmental change. Prerequisites: MAT 104, PHY 103, CHM 201, or equivalents.Two lectures, required spring break field trip, students do lab work as groups on their own time

An introduction to the fundamental principles of global geophysics. Taught on the chalkboard, in four parts, the material builds up to form a final coherent picture of (how we know) the structure and evolution of the solid Earth: gravity, magnetism, seismology, and geodynamics. The emphasis is on physical principles including the mathematical derivation and solution of the governing equations. Prerequisites: MAT 201 or 203, PHY 103/104 or PHY 105/106. Two 90-minute lectures.

Investigate the formation and distribution of Earth's rocks and minerals, and how this influences the plate tectonic evolution of our planet. We start with how oceanic crust is made and then continue on to the construction and evolution of continental crust. Microscopic to continental scale observations are considered and related to theoretical and empirical thermodynamics. Two lectures, one lab and a required Spring Break field trip. Prerequisite: One introductory GEO course and GEO 378, or instructor's permission.

This course examines the brittle-to-ductile processes that deform rocks of Earth's crust at scales ranging from atomic to continental. Students will be exposed to theoretical and empirical concepts in rock mechanics and tectonic deformation, and use a range of analytical techniques to solve structural geology problems. Tectonics and regional geology of North America will be a focus. Two lectures, one lab and a required Fall Break field trip.

Examines the diversity of recently discovered planetary systems in terms of fundamental physical and chemical processes and what this diversity implies about the origin and evolution of our own planetary system. Topics include: the formation and dynamics of planets and satellites, planetary migration, the evolution of planetary interiors, surfaces and atmospheres, the occurrence of water and organics, and the habitability of planets and planetary systems. Recent discoveries from planetary missions and extrasolar planet observations are emphasized. Prerequisites: GEO 207, 255, or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute lectures.

The course starts by introducing the conservation principles and related concepts used to describe fluids and their behavior. Mass conservation is addressed first, with a focus on its application to pollutant transport problems in environmental media. Momentum conservation, including the effects of buoyancy and earth's rotation, is then presented. Fundamentals of heat transfer are then combined with the first law of thermodynamics to understand the coupling between heat and momentum transport. We then proceed to apply these laws to study air and water flows in various environmental systems, with a focus on the atmospheric boundary layer.

Minerals are the fundamental building blocks of the Earth. They are the primary recorders of its past history. A knowledge of minerals and their properties is an essential underlying component of most other disciplines in the geosciences. This course will provide a survey of the properties of the major rock-forming minerals. Topics include crystallography, crystal chemistry, mineral thermodynamics and mineral occurrence. Emphasis will be on the role of minerals in understanding geological processes. Laboratories will focus on hand specimen identification and modern analytical techniques.

The study of microbial biogeochemistry and microbial ecology. Beginning with the physical/chemical characteristics and constraints of microbial metabolism, we will investigate the role of bacteria in elemental cycles, in soil, sediment, and marine and freshwater communities, in bioremediation and chemical transformations. Prerequisites: One 300-level course in chemistry or biology, or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute classes, this course is normally offered in the Fall.

Application of quantitative chemical principles to the study of natural waters. Includes equilibrium computations, weathering and diagenetic processes, precipitation of chemical sediments, and pollution of natural waters. Two lectures. Prerequisite: one year of college chemistry. Previous or concurrent enrollment in CHM 306 recommended.

The Earth is a physical system whose past and present state can be studied within the framework of physics and chemistry. Topics include current concepts of geophysics and the physics and chemistry of Earth materials; origin and evolution of the Earth; and nature of dynamic processes in its interior. One emphasis is to relate geologic processes on a macroscopic scale to the fundamental materials properties of minerals and rocks. Two lectures. Prerequisites: one year of college-level chemistry or physics (preferably both) and calculus. Offered alternately with 424.

These courses cover one or more advanced topics in modern Earth science. They are offered only when there is an opportunity to present material not included in the established curriculum; the subjects vary from year to year. Three classes or a three-hour seminar.

This course is for students who want to turn observations into models and subsequently evaluate their uniqueness and uncertainty. Three main topics, taught on the chalkboard, are elementary statistics (inference), heuristic time series (Fourier) analysis, and model parameter estimation via matrix inverse methods. Prerequisites: MAT 201 and 202. Theory lectures and classroom Matlab instruction in alternating weeks. Two 90-minute lectures/classes.

Fundamentals of seismology and seismic wave propagation. Introduction to acoustic and elastic wave propagation concepts, observational methods, and inferences that can be drawn from seismic data about the deep planetary structure of the Earth, as well as about the occurrence of oil and gas deposits in the crust. Prerequisites: PHY 104 and MAE 305 (can be taken concurrently), or permission of the instructor. Two 90-minute classes.

The study of the role of and mechanisms behind oceanic transport, storage and exchange of energy, freshwater and momentum in the climate system. Exploration of ocean circulation, mixing, thermodynamic properties and variability. Understanding the physical constraints on the ocean, including Coriolis-dominated equations of motion, the wind-driven and thermohaline circulations, and the adjustment of the ocean to perturbations. El Niño, oceans and global warming & sea ice. Two 80-minute classes.

Fundamentals of biological oceanography, with an emphasis on the ecosystem level. The course will examine organisms in the context of their chemical and physical environment; properties of seawater and atmosphere that affect life in the ocean; primary production and marine food webs; and global cycles of carbon and other elements. Students will read the current and classic literature of oceanography. Prerequisites: college-level chemistry, biology, and physics. Two 90-minute classes.

An introduction to weak numerical methods used in computational geophysics. Finite- and spectral-elements, representation of fields, quadrature, assembly, local versus global meshes, domain decomposition, time marching and stability, parallel implementation and message-passing, and load-balancing. Parameter estimation and "imaging" using data assimilation techniques and related "adjoint" methods. Labs provide experience in meshing complicated surfaces and volumes as well as solving partial differential equations relevant to geophysics. Prerequisites: MAT 201; partial differential equations and basic programming skills. Two 90-minute lectures.

An advanced introduction to setting up and solving boundary value problems relevant to the solid Earth sciences. Topics include heat flow, fluid flow, elasticity and plate flexure, and rock rheology, with applications to mantle convection, magma transport, lithospheric deformation, structural geology, and fault mechanics. Prerequisites: MAT 201 or 202. Two 90-minute lectures.

This course explores the theory and application of the different ways that the vastness of geologic time is quantified and applied to understanding the rates and sequences of events in Earth history. It focuses on radiogenic isotope geochemistry and geochronology but also will cover other methods such as astrochronology and the geomagnetic polarity timescale. We apply these methods to understanding processes such as the origins of Earth and the Solar System; the causes of mass extinctions and climate change; plate tectonics, magmatism, and super eruptions; animal evolution; and archeology. Two 90-minute lectures.

Focuses on the inorganic and organic constituents of aqueous, solid, and gaseous phases of soils, and fundamental chemical principles and processes governing the reactions between different constituents. The role of soil chemical processes in the major and trace element cycles, and the biogeochemical transformation of different soil contaminants will be discussed in the later parts of the course. Prerequisites: GEO 363/CHM 331/ENV 331, or any other basic chemistry course. Two 90-minute lectures.

An introduction to the science of water quality management and pollution control in natural systems; fundamentals of biological and chemical transformations in natural waters; identification of sources of pollution; water and wastewater treatment methods; fundamentals of water quality modeling. Two lectures, field trips. Open to juniors and seniors, and graduate students only. Prerequisites: Student should have some background in chemistry and an interest in water pollution problems.

The senior thesis (498-499) is a year-long project in which students complete a substantial piece of research and scholarship under the supervision and advisement of a Princeton faculty member. While a year-long thesis is due in the student's final semester of study, the work requires sustained investment and attention throughout the academic year.

The senior thesis (498-499) is a year-long project in which students complete a substantial piece of research and scholarship under the supervision and advisement of a Princeton faculty member. While a year-long thesis is due in the student's final semester of study, the work requires sustained investment and attention throughout the academic year.