Geology 204
Fall 2000-01
CATASTROPHES AND EXTINCTIONS
Date			Topic	Reading
September	5		Introduction
	8		Geologic time and & how we tell it	Tarbuck & Lutgens, 1993 (ch. 8)
	12		Shells, bones and ancient life	R(1,2); Gould, 1991
	15		From trilobites to humans	R(1,2); Gould, 1991
	19		Extinction - why?	R(3,7)
	22		Are mass extinctions different?	R(4,5,6)
	26		The Cretaceous/Tertiary extinction	Russel, 1982
	29		Dinosaurs - old ideas and new	Morell, 1987
October	3		Are dinosaurs really extinct?	Padian & Chiappe, 1998
	6		HOUR EXAM
	10		NO CLASS (Fall break)
	13		Old ideas on mass extinctions	R(8); Hayes & Pitman, 1973
	17		Birth of the impact theory	Alvarez et al, 1980
	20		The effects of impact	R(9); Hildebrand, 1991; Hsu et al, 1982;
				Pope et al, 1994
	24		Impact or volcanism?	Alvarez & Asaro, 1990; Courtillot, 1990
	27		K/T extinction summary
	31		Other mass extinctions	Newell, 1963; Alper, 1994
November	3		Murder on the Orient Express	R(10); Erwin, 1996; Valentine & Moores, 1974;
				Mory et al, 2000
	7		Are mass extinctions periodic?	Raup, 1986 (7); Raup & Sepkoski, 1984;
				Fox, 1987; Rampino & Haggerty, 1996
	10		HOUR EXAM
	14		Cause of periodic extinctions	Raup, 1986 (8,9); Weissman, 1998
	17		Do we live on a safe planet?	R(11); Gehrels, 1996;
				Chapman & Morrison, 1994
	21		Periodicity and evolution	Gould, 1984; Gould, 1989
	24		NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)
	28		Periodic extinction wrap-up
December	1		Future change - extinctions	Wilson, 1989; Ehrlich & Wilson, 1991
	8		Future change - environment	Houghton & Woodwell, 1989
	10		Neocatastrophism	Gould, 1975; Gould, 1978