Earth Science Minor

Coordinator:
Dave Dobson

Department of Geology and Earth Sciences

The earth science minor is designed for students who would like to gain significant experience in the geological sciences. This minor is suitable for students from every division on campus, including humanities, social sciences, arts and business and policy studies. For instance, an English major might go on to become a technical writer or editor; an art major might be interested in clayand glaze mineralogy or gemology; social scientists may wish to study GIS and mapping techniques; and pre-law students could go on to study environmental law.For majors in the other sciences, physics, chemistry and biology majors could all find the skills learned in the minor useful to their future careers.The most important and rapidly growing fields of science are those that are appearing at the boundaries of scientific disciplines.

The minor in earth science is not available to geology and earth sciences majors.

Minor Requirements

The minor requires a minimum of 16 credit hours (four courses).

1.     GEOL 121 Geology and the Environment

4 credits

   

2.     One course from:

4 credits

   

        GEOL 335  Structural Geology

 

        GEOL 416  Sedimentology and Stratigraphy

 

        IDS 437 Barrier Islands: Ecology & Development

 

        IDS 461 Nothin’ But Disasters

 
   

3-4.  Two courses from:

8 credits

   

        GEOL 122 Historical Geology

 

        GEOL 223 Hydrology

 

        GEOL/BIOL 240  Seminar West

 

        GEOL 242  Natural Science Seminars

 

        GEOL 311  Optical Mineralogy

 

        GEOL 312  Petrology

 

        GEOL 340  Images of the Earth: GIS and Remote Sensing

 

        GEOL 415 Paleontology

 

        GEOL 450 Special Topics

 
   

Total credit hours required for earth science minor

16 credits

 

The minor’s entry point is GEOL 121 or 141. Then students may select from a number of geology lab courses and finally take a specially designated capstone course.