Course Offerings

Courses Offered Current Semester 

Complete List of Course (from the Course Catalog) 

103. The Dynamic Earth (I and II; 3, 4)
General introduction to the earth’s external and internal dynamic systems; the processes that operate within plate tectonics to make Earth a unique planet; and human interaction with the earth. Not open to students who have taken GEOL 106 or GEOL 150.

104. Evolution of the Earth (I and II; 3, 4)
An introduction to the evolution of life, climate, plate tectonics, and catastrophes through time provides perspective for making decisions about ongoing human impacts on the environment. Demonstrated by a field-based study of the Appalachian Mountains. Prerequisite: first- or second-year status, others by permission.

105. Earth, Health, and Resources (I or II; 3, 4)
Earth science principles applied to potential and actual environmental problems including energy, mineral, and water resources, population, wastes, risk, biodiversity, and global change. Not open to students who have taken GEOL 106.

106. Environmental Geology (I and II; 3, 4)
Geologic factors and limitations that affect use or management of the environment. Not open to students who have taken GEOL 103 or GEOL 105.

107. Global Change - Past and Present (I and II; 3, 0)
Introduction to major transformations of the physical, biological, and chemical components of Earth systems from a geological perspective including climate, tectonics, biodiversity, sea-level and ocean circulation.

110. Geology of Alaska - A Wilderness Environment ( )
Southern Alaska provides an exceptional natural laboratory for examining active geological processes, natural geohazards, and environmental change in a wilderness setting. This short-term (2 weeks) travel course is designed for students interested in learning about the earth through hands-on, experiential learning. The course is intended for non-science majors and fulfills the lab-science requirement. The course will focus on three general themes through field-based exercises, readings, lectures and visits to state and federal agencies.

150. Engineering Geology (II; 3, 4)
Basic principles, including properties of rocks and soils, hydrology, surface processes, rock mechanics, environmental parameters, geological hazards, and engineering case histories. Not open to students who have taken GEOL 103 or GEOL 106.

201. Structural Geology (I; 3, 4)
Orientation and geometric analyses of rock structures, kinematics and mechanics of rock deformation at all scales. Prerequisite: GEOL 103, 106, 150, or permission of the instructor.

205. Introduction to Geochemistry (I; 3, 4)
Element distribution, basic thermodynamics and kinetics, mineral and gas solubility, phasec diagrams, stable and radioactive isotopes, oxidation-reduction processes, surface geochemistry, composition of natural waters. Prerequisites: MATH 201; CHEM 201- 202; or permission of the instructor.

207. Environmental Geohazards (I or II; 3, 0)
Geologic environmental hazards. Emphasis on hazards recognition and assessment in seminars, and field applications. Topics include: soils, slopes, floods, fans, earthquakes, land use, coastal and groundwater hazards. Open to geology majors by permission of the instructor.

210. Geomorphology (II; 3, 4)
Physical processes shaping the earth’s surface and evolution of resulting landforms. Emphasis on linkages between landscape components and understanding complex relationships between process and form. Prerequisite: one 100-level course in geology.

213. Paleontology (AI; 3, 3)
Principles of evolution and ecology applied to investigation of ancient life. Emphasis on characteristics of marine invertebrate fossils. Prerequisite: GEOL 104 or permission of the instructor.

214. Physical Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (II; 3, 4)
Principles and techniques of the study of ancient depositional systems and sedimentary basins with emphasis on the characteristics of modern analogues. Prerequisite: GEOL 104.

217. Crystallography-Mineralogy (I; 3, 3)
Principles of crystallography and mineralogy; crystal morphology, structure, chemistry, physical properties, genesis, occurrence, and identification of important minerals by various techniques including x-ray diffraction. Prerequisite: GEOL 101, 103, 106, 150, or permission of the instructor.

230. Environmental GIS (I or II; 3, 4)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in geologic mapping, environmental monitoring, and hydrologic modeling. Introduction to global positioning (GPS), environmental databases, spatial analyses, and terrain modeling.

298. Stream Restoration ( )
Scientific principles to integrate physical and biological approaches to stream restoration in watershed management. Team-taught field course highlights developing stream restoration plan of Bucknell's Miller Run.

299. Watershed Systems Science ( )
Watersheds regulate water flow and ecosystem health on our landscape. Team-taught field course integrating physical, chemical and biological processes in watersheds, using the Susquehanna River and tributaries.

301. Geophysics (AI or II; 3, 3)
Broad-based introduction to the principles of applied and solid earth geophysics. Environmental applications of geophysics will be examined. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

305. Aqueous and Environmental Geochemistry (AII; 3, 4)
Thermodynamics and kinetics as applied to environmental geochemical problems such as aqueous complexation, weathering, clay minerals, sorption phenomena. Analytical and statistical approaches to geochemical data collection and reduction. Prerequisite: GEOL 205 or permission of the instructor.

310. Applied Environmental Geomorphology (AII; 3, 4)
Surviving on a complex and dynamic earth surface. Understanding environmental problems and geologic hazards with geologic principles set in a multidisciplinary framework. Prerequisites: GEOL 210 and permission of the instructor.

312. Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology (II; 3, 3)
The classification, mineralogy, petrography, geochemistry, structure, and genesis of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The interpretation of tectonic settings from igneous and metamorphic rocks. Prerequisite: GEOL 217.

319 and 320. Undergraduate Research (I or II; R) Half or full course.
Research course for qualified students in any branch of geology. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

321 and 322. Special Topics in Geology (I or II; R; 3, 0)
Investigation, report, or discussion on currently significant topics in geology. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

324. Hydrogeology (I or II; 3, 4)
Fundamentals of subsurface flow, regional groundwater flow, well hydraulics, and groundwater quality. Prerequisites: GEOL 103, 106, 150, or permission of the instructor.