Introduction to Geochemistry
GEOS 400/500

Fall 2011, Quade, Ruiz, Reiners

Geosciences 400/500  Introduction to Geochemistry

Lecture                       MWF 9-10 am; Gould-Simpson 203
Instructors                 Joaquin Ruiz (jruiz@email.arizona.edu), Jay Quade: (quadej@email.arizona.edu ), Peter Reiners (reiners@email.arizona.edu)
Offices                        Ruiz: GS 1025 (621-4090), Quade: GS 336 (626-1847), Reiners: GS 521 (626-2236)
Office Hours              Ruiz: by appt., Quade: MW 11-12, Reiners: MW 2-3

Lecture Textbook      Required: online Geochemistry by William White at http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/geo455/Chapters.HTML

Attendance
Attendance in lecture is mandatory for a decent grade.  Material covered in lecture provides the principal basis for exam and homework questions.

Lecture Assignments
Textbook readings are given in the schedule.  These are not optional and should be finished before the subject is covered in lecture. From time to time will also assign readings from sources other than White’s online text. These will be provided as handouts or PDFs.

Lecture Exams and Quizzes
There will be two mid-term lecture exams (100 pts each).  A cumulative final (150 pts) is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 15, 8-10am, in our regular classroom.

Extra Credit
No opportunities

Make-ups
Exams can be made up where the excuse is legitimate.  In practice, we expect missing exams to be a very rare event and generally forewarned

Cheating
DON'T DO IT!!!  Cheating can result in a failing grade for this course and may result in your expulsion from the University — refer to The Code of Academic Integrity (copies are available in the Geosciences Office, room 208).  We work on an honor system.

Special needs
Students requiring accommodation in testing or note taking must let me know at the beginning of the course and give a formal letter from the Disability Resource Center.

Course grade
Letter grades are awarded in the usual way: 90-100 =A, 80-89 =B, 70-79 = C and so forth. A total of about 700 points are available in this class, comprising:

200 pts: two mid-term exams of 100 points each.
~6 problem sets at about 25 pts each
150 pts: one cumulative final

Websites
Class website: http://geo.arizona.edu/geo5xx/geo500/
U of A Geosciences Department: www.geo.arizona.edu 

Other good supplementary texts for this course:

On-line: http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/geo455/Chapters.HTML (Note: you can download each chapter, in PDF versions, of this text from this page. Eventually this text will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press.)

Geochemistry: An Introduction, by Albarede, F., 2003, Cambridge, 248 pp.

Introduction to Geochemistry, 3rd Ed., by Krauskopf and Bird, 1995, McGraw-Hill, 637 pp.

The Geochemistry of Natural Waters: Surface and Groundwater Environments, 3rd Edition, by Drever, J.I., 1997, Prentice-Hall, 436 pp.

How to Build a Habitable Planet, by Broecker, W.S., 1998, Eldigio Press, 291 pp.

Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Edited by Butcher, S.S., et al., 1992, Academic Press, 378 pp.

Geochemistry, 2nd edition, by Brownlow, A.H., 1996, Prentice-Hall, 580 pp.

Principles and Applications of Geochemistry, 2nd ed., by Faure, G., 1998, Prentice-Hall, 600 pp.

Global Environment: Water, Air, and Geochemical Cycles, by Berner, E.K., and Berner, R.A., 1996, Prentice-Hall, 376 pp.

Modern Analytical Geochemistry, Edited by Gill, R., 1997, Addison Wesley Longman, 329 pp.

Introduction to Geochemical Modeling, by Albarede, F., 1995, Cambridge University Press, 543 pp.

Good web resources for geochemistry:

Good into on presolar grains: http://www.dtm.ciw.edu/users/lrn/psg_main.html

Bill White's Isotope course at Cornell: http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/Geo656/656notes.html

Geochem Links: http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/Geochemweblinks.HTML

Isotopic abundances and masses

More Tables of Isotopes, Charts o' Nuclides, etc.: http://ie.lbl.gov/toi.htm

Last updated: 28 Oct 2011,7:58 am