Instructor: Associate
Professor Dr. Vadim A. Kravchinsky
Office: Room CCIS 3-106 in the Physics (CCIS building)
Office Phone: 492-5591
e-mail: vadim@ualberta.ca
Personal web site: http://www.ualberta.ca/~vadim
Office hours
will be announced during the course.
Recommended
Textbook (not obligatory):
• Fundamentals of
Geophysics (second edition), W. Lowrie,
2007.
The
book will be available at the University's Book Store.
Also
available through the University of Alberta Libraries electronic resources at: http://www.knovel.com/web/portal/basic_search/display?_EXT_KNOVEL_DISPLAY_bookid=2310
Additional
Reading Textbooks:
• The
Solid Earth – An Introduction to Global Geophysics (second
edition) by C.M.R. Fowler, Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0-521-89307-0
• Global Tectonics, P. Kearey
and F.J. Vine, 1990 - on reserve at Cameron Library
I will add to a file of
additional resources as we go through the course. I will put as much on
the web as is feasible.
Course Weights
Assignments (approx. every one week) |
25% |
Midterm Exam: TBA |
30% |
Final (TBA): |
45% |
To access the course pages please log-in eClass: https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/
The assignments will consist of both
essay and mathematical derivations/problems. You may have to go to the
scientific literature or websites to do some of this work.
Assignments are due at 5:00 p.m. on
date that they are requested. Given the large class size, extensions can only
be allowed for medical reasons.
Solutions will be provided on the
web at the same address.
The students taking this class are
primarily from Faculty of Science, I fully expect them to be web capable. If
this is a problem please let me know - but I feel it is pointless to cut trees
down to make photocopies for the students. I will endeavor to put important
figures at a point accessible to you via the web.
Course
outline (approximate timing):
1. Earth shape and structure (~1 week)
- shape
and size of Earth
- an
overview of the Earth’s interior
2.
Gravity and isostasy (~2 weeks)
- Earth’s gravity
field and the geoid
- density
structure of the Earth
- Airy and Pratt isostasy
3. Seismology and earthquakes (~4 weeks)
- types
of seismic waves
- physics
of earthquakes and earthquake parameters (locations, magnitudes, focal
mechanisms)
- plate
boundary earthquakes and intra-plate earthquakes
- travel time curves
and the seismic structure of the Earth
4. Earth’s magnetic field (~2 weeks)
- origin
of the Earth’s magnetic field
- seafloor
magnetic anomalies
- paleomagnetism and apparent polar wander
5. Thermal structure (~1 week)
- heat
transport in the Earth
- oceanic
plate cooling models
6. Plate tectonics, plate margins and motions (~2 weeks)
- plate
tectonic theory
- plate
margins, triple junctions, Euler poles
- absolute
and relative plate motions