The geologic record, covering 4.6 billion years, provides us with a long-term perspective of the Earth system and how it operates over time scales much longer than human history. Using Wellesley’s extensive rock and fossil collection, geologic data sets and journal articles, we will reconstruct and interpret Earth's eventful past, including periods of mountain building, dramatic climate changes, and the evolution and extinction of life on our planet. This class should give students an understanding about deep time and that we live on an ever-changing planet. The lab component of this class will be entirely in the field where we will visit key geologic outcrops that represent a large part of Earth history. During three weekends throughout the semester (one half day, one full day and one overnight) we will explore the regional geology in New England and Upstate New York. There will also be a 4-day field trip in mid-May between the last day of finals and commencement. This class fulfills the geosciences major requirement. GEOS 200 (or GEOS 200X) is a major requirement.

Units: 1.25

Max Enrollment: 10

Prerequisites: Open to students who have taken any 100-level GEOS course. Juniors and seniors must be declared geoscience majors; not open to students who have taken GEOS200X. Or permission of instructor.

Distribution Requirements: LAB - Natural and Physical Sciences Laboratory; NPS - Natural and Physical Sciences

Typical Periods Offered: Every other year

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered; Spring