Welcome to Geology 109: Introduction to Geology! We are excited that you want to learn more about the earth, its history, its structures and mechanisms, and how the earth functions. There are many reasons to study geology. Here are a few that stand out:

1. Natural resources: Geology plays a crucial role in the discovery, extraction, and management of natural resources such as minerals, oil, and gas. Understanding the geology of an area can help locate deposits of these resources and guide responsible and sustainable extraction.
2. Environmental protection: Geologists are key players in efforts to protect the environment. By studying the earth's systems and processes, geologists can identify and mitigate natural hazards like landslides and floods, as well as human-caused environmental problems like pollution and climate change.
3. Geohazards: Geology is critical in identifying and mitigating geohazards, such as landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Understanding the geology of an area can help predict the likelihood of such events and guide the development of safe building practices.
4. Beauty: Earth's structures are beautiful! Studying the endless different patterns, forms, and colors of minerals and the varied, stunning landscapes of mountains, oceans, canyons, and deserts provides a lifetime of inspiration.

GEOL-109 fulfills the BYU-Idaho Natural Science requirement. However, there are quite a few classes you can take to fulfill this requirement, so we hope you are here to learn more about the earth, its beauty, and how it works and are not just trying to check off a graduation requirement or get a grade. 

In fact, we hope you won’t even think about your grade while working on this class and instead enjoy focusing on the many things on this earth that fill you with curiosity and wonder. While this class has grades (this is a BYUI requirement) it is designed to help you not worry about your grade and focus on learning. There are no exams or quizzes in this class for this purpose.

Learning activities are formatted as quizzes, but we don’t look at them that way. You can go through them as many times as you like, we give you feedback after each question, and they don’t count for that much of your grade. We encourage you to complete each learning activity at least once before reading the weekly reading because that will help you learn more from your reading. Then, complete the learning activity as many times after you have completed the reading until you are confident in your recall of the week’s important ideas. 

Since the learning activities have question banks, you will be going through a slightly different activity each time which will help you learn more. It’s important that you only read the textbook chapters once (note-taking is encouraged) but complete the learning activity more than twice because practicing recall is much more effective for learning than rereading material. 

You will be working with groups a lot in this class for a few different reasons. One reason is that it’s more fun to learn together. Another is that students typically learn better in groups. That’s because if you understand a concept, you cement it in your memory by explaining it, and if you are struggling with something, someone else can help you learn it. Each week you will have a weekly learning project that has an individual and a group component and for each module, you will have a group project. Please have fun with these projects. They are designed to give you an interesting way to apply what you are learning. Help each other with any part of this class, meet some new friends, and talk a lot about geology.

Outcomes

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the physical and chemical structure of the earth and how plate tectonics form major geologic features (faults, folds, domes, basins, etc.).
2. Explain how mineral properties are used to identify minerals and explain the processes and resulting textures and mineralogy of major rock types.
3. Recognize the roles and functions of the tectonic and hydrologic cycles as they pertain to shaping the earth.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the geologic time scale and the importance of both relative and radiometric dating techniques.
5. Use observational skills to identify topographic features in the world around them and describe the geologic processes that formed them.