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| Geol 2101: Mineralogy and Crystallography To download the Fall 2007 course syllabus in .pdf format, click here. Instructor: Jamey Jones Lecture/Lab Room: Sci 1510, 11:45-12:50 MWF (lecture), 2:00-5:00 Tu (lab) Required Texts Introduction to Mineralogy, 1st ed., W. D. Nesse Recommended Texts Introduction to Optical Mineralogy, 3 rd ed., W. D. Nesse These texts and others will be available for in-lab use during the semester, but they are useful references if you choose to pursue geology beyond your undergraduate career. Hand lenses You are not required to buy a hand lens for this course, and there are a number of 10x lenses that will be available in the classroom for you to use. Please do not remove them from the room. If you choose to purchase your own, I recommend the Bausch and Lomb Hastings Triplet Magnifier. These are available in a variety of powers (7x,10x,14x,20x), but 10x is the most versatile. Coddington lenses are also useful and are generally less expensive. Nicer hand lenses can cost up to $40, but they are worth it. You can buy 10x Hastings Triplet hand lenses from the Geology Discipline for $30 (funds go directly to the Geology Club). Course Goals Because minerals are the building blocks of our planet, mineralogy and crystallography are critical components of the geological sciences. The overarching goal of this course is to introduce you to a diverse array of concepts, tools, and techniques that geologists use to describe and identify minerals. We will focus primarily on the chemical and physical properties of different minerals and mineral groups, but we will also explore characteristic occurrences, associations, and potential uses of these Earth materials. Attendance There is no set policy, but you are responsible for all material covered in lecture, lab, and texts. Exams There will be a one-hour mid-term exam and a two-hour final exam (see lecture schedule). The mid-term exam may be rescheduled by the instructor with at least one week's notice. The exams will primarily consist of multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short answer questions, but I reserve the right to use any testing format that I believe to be the most effective. Exams will cover predominantly lecture material, but material from the text and lab are also fair game. The final exam will be comprehensive. There will be weekly lab quizzes that are all comprehensive. These will normally occur at the beginning of each lab period. There will also be a comprehensive lab final during the last week of class. It will be a practical exam involving hand sample and thin section identification of the most common and important minerals (see essential minerals handout). Field trips (see the Field Trip page for more details) There will be one required field trip during this class, and it will be a three-day, two-night trip to the north shore of Lake Superior and the Gunflint Trail on Friday, October 5, through Sunday, October 7. We will depart from the UMM Science Building at 7:30 am on the morning of the 5 th , and we will return to UMM in the late afternoon to early evening of the 7 th . We will camp both nights at established campgrounds (10/5 – Gooseberry Falls S.P., 10/6 – Trails End campground) that have water and basic restroom facilities (no showers). All expenses will be covered except for food. You will be required to provide your own breakfast and lunch, and dinner will be cooked as a group. The cost of groceries for the two dinners will be split evenly among the entire group after the trip. This trip is required for anyone without an acceptable excuse. We will see a wide variety of rock types (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) with ages that range from approximately 2.7 to 1.0 billion years old. I realize that many of you are just starting out in geology, so the main purpose of the trip is 1) to expose you to a wide variety of rocks and minerals in a beautiful natural setting and 2) to introduce you to some basic field methods in geology. If we happen to have fun, too, then that would be acceptable. There will not be a formal write-up or field trip report, but I will expect everyone to participate at all of the stops and keep a continuous record of your field observations in a field book (these will be handed out before the trip). Make-ups If you must miss a lecture exam or lab quiz, you must notify me before the scheduled exam time with an acceptable excuse. Make-up exams and quizzes must be taken within one week of the scheduled test. If you miss a lecture, it is your responsibility to find out what material was covered and if any schedule changes were announced. Late work Work turned in more than 48 hours late without an acceptable excuse will be docked one letter grade. Late assignments will not be accepted more than one week past the due date except under extreme (and pre-arranged) circumstances. Academic Integrity For UMM policies regarding student academic integrity, refer to the Student Affairs website (click here). Cheating or other dishonest behavior will not be tolerated, and penalties will be imposed at the discretion of the instructor. In general, if you are caught cheating, you will receive a score of zero on that exercise and will not have a chance to make it up. You will often, if not always, have the opportunity to work in groups during laboratory exercises. Unless a group report is specifically requested, you must turn in your own work in your own words. Grading Final numerical grades will be calculated based on the following formula: Lab average = 60% [Assignments and Quizzes = 45%; Lab final = 15%] Lecture average = 40% [Mid-term exam = 15%; Final exam = 15%; Earth resources project = 10%] Final letter grades will be determined at the discretion of the instructor based on the distribution of numerical averages ( i.e., curving is possible). All University Grading Standards DEFINITIONS OF GRADES AND ACADEMIC WORKLOAD EXPECTATIONS Senate student academic workload policy For undergraduate courses, one credit is defined as equivalent to an average of three hours of learning effort per week (over a full semester) necessary for an average student to achieve an average grade in the course. For example, a student taking a four credit course that meets for four hours a week should expect to spend an additional eight hours a week on course work outside the classroom. Statement on accommodations for students with disabilities It is University policy to provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities. This publication/material is available in alternative formats to persons with disabilities upon request. Please contact the Disability Services office, 589-6163, Room 362 Briggs Library to discuss accommodation needs. Statement on classroom conduct Students are expected to interact with the instructor and other students with respect and courtesy. Students should attend every class session prepared to learn and work. Participation in class is expected, which includes both speaking up and listening. Give class your full attention while here. Complete all assignments including the reading -- in a timely fashion. Do not bring cell phones or recording equipment to class without the instructor's consent. Students whose behavior is disruptive either to the instructor or to other students will be asked to leave. Students whose behavior suggests the need for counseling or other assistance may be referred to counseling services. Students whose behavior violates the University Student Conduct Code will be subject to disciplinary action. Statement on academic misconduct Scholastic dishonesty means plagiarizing; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement; altering forging, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying data, research procedures, or data analysis. In this course, a student responsible for scholastic dishonesty can be assigned a penalty up to and including an "F" or "N" for the course. If you have any questions regarding the expectations for a specific assignment or exam, ask. Statement regarding sexual harassment University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined by the University of Minnesota Regents' policy. Course Evaluation A class evaluation form will be handed out at the end of the semester. However, I encourage you to make suggestions regarding content, style, and procedure throughout the semester. We're in this together, so let's work to make this the best possible experience for everyone. Discussion and Questions Questions and class discussion are welcome and expected at any time. If there is anything throughout the semester that is unclear (schedule, procedure, content, etc.), please ask as soon as possible. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and someone else in the room is probably wondering about the same thing. HOWEVER, I reserve the right to say “I don't know,” but I will do my best to find the answer before the next class meeting. If you ask a question outside of class that others might benefit from, I will share it with the entire class (without your name attached, of course). Helpful hints: • Although there will certainly be overlap between concepts discussed in lecture and lab, they may not entirely overlap in time. Keep two sets of notes (lecture and lab) so that you can combine them by subject at the end of the semester (if you wish to). • This class covers a lot of ground, and there is a lot of memorization involved. However, if you really focus on your descriptions and characterizations, mineral and rock names will usually follow. • Read the texts including all figures. Figures are incredibly useful for conveying substantial amounts of information and might take a couple of looks and/or readings to fully understand. If you don't understand what a figure, photograph, or photomicrograph is meant to convey, please ask. • Look through and use the various reference texts available to you in the lab. There are also numerous resources on the web for mineralogy and petrology. These sites often have images and descriptions that are better than anything you will find in a textbook. Be aware, however, that they might not be published by professionals and might be directed toward a specific audience (gemologists or astrologists, for example). So, if you want more information or have questions about a particular specimen, try an internet search and see what you find. Feel free to share these things with your instructor and the rest of the class, too. • Ask all questions as soon as they come to mind. If something occurs to you at 3 a.m., send an email or write it down so you'll remember it in the morning. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. You don't have to wait until class or lab to ask questions. • Even though we have a relatively small class, it is easy to hinder other people's progress if you remove materials from the lab. Do not remove samples, textbooks, or (especially) microscopes from the lab unless you talk to me first. • Petrographic microscopes are very expensive to buy and repair, so please be careful when using them. If at any point you suspect something is wrong with a scope, ask for help instead of trying to fix it yourself. You may put it aside and try a different scope, but please let me know about the problem so we can maintain as many functional scopes as possible. Before we use them, I will instruct you on the proper way to handle them. Please follow these guidelines closely. Thin sections are not as expensive, but they can take a long time to make. So if we break sections, we will likely lose them for the semester at least. Again, I will show you how to use the scopes and slides, and please abide by these procedures. • There is a relatively complete set of reference minerals in the steel cabinet at the back of the room. The minerals are grouped by chemistry and structure, and the drawers are arranged in a systematic fashion. Use these samples for study and reference, but please be sure to keep the mineral samples in the appropriate drawer! If something looks out of place, look it up and fix the problem or let me know. If you cannot find a particular mineral, let me know and I will try to add it to the set. • The UMM Geology Discipline has a relatively extensive collection of minerals that are arranged systematically and stored in the prep room adjacent to the lab/classroom. The door to the hallway is always locked, but the doors connecting the prep space to the classroom should always be unlocked. It is not always practical to pull all possible mineral samples out during weekly labs, so feel free to browse through the full collection at any time. You may also use the full collection to study for quizzes each week. However, I reserve the right to shut off access to the prep lab (for setting up quizzes) thirty minutes before a scheduled quiz. The reference/study minerals in the steel cabinet will always be available. • You will be issued key cards during the semester that will give you access to Sci 1510 (and a few other rooms to be discussed). If you are in the room or coming and going regularly, feel free to prop the door open. However, if you leave for an extended amount of time, please make sure the door is closed (especially after 5 pm or so). We have quite a bit of expensive equipment that is not easily replaced. • Although you might find it somewhat tedious to learn chemical formulas, they are incredibly important in mineralogy (and in general). Formulas communicate essential information about the fundamental elemental makeup of minerals. With even basic knowledge of chemistry, it is possible to derive (both qualitatively and quantitatively) the chemical and physical properties of a mineral from a properly written chemical formula. I will be picky when grading formulas on quizzes and exams, so be careful! • Yes, spelling is important. It's fluorite , not flourite .
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007 6:34 PM