Course Identification

Please consult with the instructor regarding suitable background for the course.  An understanding of the biogeochemical cycles of C, O2, S and Fe, as well as a working familiarity with aqueous geochemistry are required.

Students who have taken the following courses will get more out of this course:

1. Biogeochemical cycles of the major elements
2. Environmental geochemistry

Geochemical, isotopic and physical properties of the geologic record encode information about key events in Earth history. A very partial list includes the onset of plate tectonics, the emergence of continents, the evolution of early life and subsequent evolutionary innovations, major climatic episodes, and perturbations of the biogeochemical cycles of the major and trace elements. In many cases the information is incompletely understood, leaving key events in Earth history very poorly constrained.

During the course, we will:

1. Weeks 1-2: Pick an outstanding problem arising from the geologic record.
2. Weeks 3-8: Read and discuss the literature relevant to understanding the problem and the attempts made at addressing it.
3. Weeks 9-14: Address the problem ourselves, reading and discussing relevant papers as we go.
4. Each student will be in charge of advancing a certain aspect of the problem, and will present progress on this aspect at the end of the semester.

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Appreciate some of the major outstanding problems in the evolution of Earth systems.
2. Learn to critically read and discuss high-level literature pertaining to one or more such problems.
3. Perform research (independently and as a group) towards addressing such a problem.
4. Synthesize the insights gained on various aspects of the problem to propose a solution.

The relevant articles will be assigned during the course.