Arizona Geology Blog

Whether you live in Arizona or not, if you're a lifelong learner studying geology, then this blog, Arizona Geology, will be a resource you'll want to check often.

Lee Allison, who writes this blog, is State Geologist and Director, Arizona Geological Survey and he is very dedicated in his posting.

Not just an excellent source of geology news and information, Arizona Geology provides us with a great dose of optimism. You can tell that geology is more than a job to Lee Allison.

You can read his first blog post, Arizona lives and dies by its geology, on Monday, January 01, 2007.

Geology of National Parks at Salem State

Here's a great geology for non-majors course: Geology of National Parks GLS110 01, Fall 2008. This one includes an enormous amount of excellent material. Professor Lindley Hanson uses Annenberg's Earth Revealed geology videos as a core to present the geological history of the United States and its national parks.

Be sure to follow all the links to available material. You don't want to miss anything here.

Impacts on Native American Lands

This is a very good collection of study materials from Carleton College, Integrating Research and Education, called Impacts of Resource Development on Native American Lands.

It covers six case studies:

• Uranium Mining on the Navajo Nation
• Gold Mining and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
• Coal Bed Methane and the Crow Reservation
• Water Resources and the Nez Perce Indian Reservation
• Gold Mining and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
• Resources of the Pribilof Islands

This actually just one part of many sections of Integrating Research and Education, including one on Hurricane Katrina and the Yellowstone Geoecosystem.

I think lifelong learners will find this to be a very nice addition to their study resources.

Dinosaurs at Dixie State College of Utah

Thinking about dinosaurs? Take a look at Dr. Jerry D. Harris' course, Geology 1040 - Introduction to Dinosaurs. It's been updated already for Fall 2008.

Looks like some very solid material contained in 23 lectures, downloadable in pdf or PowerPoint format. Note that the ppt files will need to be saved as read-only to download.

Hope this be be a good addition to geology and dinosaur resources.

Gems at UC Berkeley

Are you interested in gemology, but don't have a strong background in science? Then, according to Professor Jill Banfield, this introductory earth science course at UC Berkeley should give you what you need.

The EPS 2 Gems and Gem Minerals course website provides all the basics that you need online. There is no required textbook, however Gemology by Hurlbut and Kammerling is recommended for additional information.

Just click on the "students arrow" and dive right in. There are six modules, with extensive materials in each. Starting with "What is a gem?" each section is loaded with information, beautiful illustrations and movie clips to show how things work.

Lifelong learners wanting to find out about gems will definitely benefit from this course. The only negative about this online course, if there is one, is no audio or video of the lectures. We are very quickly becoming spoiled with the so many available resources.

History of Life at College of Wooster

Here's another course for the geologically inclined lifelong learners among us. Mark A. Wilson teaches Geology 100 History of Life. The website currently loaded for the Spring 2008 course. You'll find extensive resources for each class session, including Preparation Questions (excellent) and thoughtfully chosen links. As of this posting, all links are active.

Wicander, R. and J.S. Monroe. 2006, Historical Geology: Evolution of Earth and Life Through Time, (Fifth Edition) Thomson, Brooks/Cole is the recommended text. Obviously, this one is going to be expensive, but you can usually find an older edition at Amazon.com priced very reasonably. There is also a link out to the textbook companion website.

This one is going to take some time. You'll find several very interesting trails to follow from each class session. Enjoy!

Ron Schott's GSCI 100 - Intro Geology

Here's another "not to be missed" course if you are a lifelong learner interested in geology. I think you like Ron Schott's point of view. Dr. Schott is Assistant Professor of Geology at Fort Hays State University.

His course, GSCI 100 - Intro Geology, makes available a syllabus and lecture schedule. The schedule is the jumping off point to access:

1. A detailed outline for each class, with links to websites, books available at Amazon and many of his own photos that illustrate the topic at hand.
2. Homework
3. Study guides for exams so that you can understand what he expects you to learn even though you don't have access to the exams themselves.
4. Podcasts, actually two for each class session because he teaches two sections.

He offers a goldmine of material through 45 lectures and all associated materials. I hope you appreciate Ron's willingness to share this course. Kudos to him for a superb learning resource.