Fall, 2002
Meg Thompson, Sc
201, x3029
Sept. 5 Geology in our own backyard. Local geology is best summarized in map form. We will explore topographic, surficial and bedrock geologic maps of the Natick Quadrangle to overview the geologic history around Wellesley and the opportunities/problems that it presents.
Read: text accompanying Surficial Geologic Map of the Natick Quadrangle (Nelson, 1974).
12 Glacial geology and hazardous waste. The water supply of Upper Cape Cod towns is threatened by contaminated groundwater "plumes" emanating from sources in the Massachusetts Military Reservation. We will explore the conduit for these plumes via maps and charts from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Read: Sheets 1 and 2 of LeBlanc et al., (1986), Strahler (1966), p. 3-23, and Chaps. 4 and 7 in Rolbein (1995).
Due 9/ 26: 2 page description of Cape Cod’s “sandy soil” (Rollbein, 1995, p. 44).
19 CERCLA, i.e. The Superfund. Enacted by Congress in1980, this law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. How effective is this law? What is its current status? Do these problems affect you? We will discuss these questions in class.
Consult EPA website <www.epa.gov/superfund> for background on CERCLA, subsequent provisions and sites near you. Also browsesome journalistic dabase (Lexis Nexis Academic, for example) for recent news articles addressing Superfund plans of the current administration.
26 Clean-up Case Study. For the past two years the northwest portion of Wellesley's campus has been undergoing remediation for lead and chromium contaminated soils resulting from activities of the Henry Wood's Sons Company Paint Factory which operated from 1848 to ca. 1928. The remediation plan was orchestrated by Dr. Lisa A. Standley, Chief Environmental Scientist of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. who will brief us today on engineering strategies and regulatory requirements for remediation, then lead us thrrough the site.
Read: Dawson and Zielinski, Ch. 11 (Law, Science, Values) and p. 330-335 (The Wetlands Protection Act) and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (2000).
Oct. 3 Rocks for engineers. Igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic characteristics of rocks are less important for construction and engineering purposes than properties like strength, compressibility, porosity and fracture spacing.
Read: “Guide to Identifying Rocks in the Field” and “Rock Classification System” from the International Society of Rock Mechanics
Due today: tabulated descriptions of 20 hand specimens in Rm. 200.
Due 10/17: 1-2 page memo to GZA Geoenvironmental, Inc. on potential construction problems suggested by core borings from MetroWest Tunnel alignment.
10 Riverscapes. Pleistocene glacial deposits in the interior of New England are currently being re-shaped by river systems balanced among constantly changing factors like discharge, sediment load and climate. Fuller Brook in the Town of Wellesley exemplifies such natural dynamics as well as changes brought on by human design.
Walk along Fuller Brook Between Nehoiden
Golf course & Wellesley High school before class and be prepared tO discuss
signs of change in this zone.
Read: Leopold (1994), Chapters 1, 2, 3 (skimming flood routing) and 4.
17 Floods. Floods are commonly observed events in naturally functioning streams, but magnitudes and recurrence intervals of flood flows are based on probabilty concepts and mathematical modelling. This session will introduce these approaches.
Read: Leopold (1994), Chapters 5, 6 and 7.
24 Federal Emergency Management Agency. Floods become problems because people inhabit flood plains. FEMA Hydrologist David Knowles joins us today to explain how flood risk maps are compiled, how flood insurance guidelines are informed by the risk assessment and how people can be educated into the realities of living in flood plains.
DOWNLOAD FLOOD INSURANCE MAP FROM YOUR COMMUNITY FROM FEMA WEBSITE <www.fema.gov>
31 Barrier
coast dynamics. Barrier systems include beaches, dunes, flats and
marshes which experience mutually complex sediment movement by overwash
processes and tidal inlet migrations as well as by longshore drift. Engineering attempts to stabilize such
systems are extremely problematic.
Read: Chapters 2, 3, 6 in Davis (1994), Wood (1991), p. 9-16, and Wood (1998).
Due 11/4: 2 page summary of historical changes and measurable retreat of the outer shoreline of Cape Cod.
Nov. 7 The Walrus and the Carpenter revisited. Had these two been walking Cape Cod's North Beach in January, 1987, they would have wept to lose such quantities of sand. Several Chatham homeowners were further chagrined to discover that their plans to build a protective seawall ran counter to the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act.
Read: p. 33-72 in Wood (1991) and Joan Wilson and others vs. Commonwealth (413 Mass 352 accessible through Lexis Nexis Academic).
4 Why do the oceans rise? Rising sea level has repeatedly accompanied glacial melting during the course of geologic time (including a 595-570 Ma episode recorded in Boston area bedrock). Now, according to an international panel of climate scientists, human-induced CO2 emissions and attendant atmospheric warming, are augmenting the post-Pleistocene trend.
Read: Taylor (1999) and 2001 Summary for Policy Makers by the IPCC (www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/005.htm)
21 An Answer is blowing in the Wind. Mounting evidence that burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming has increasingly focused attention on alternative sources of energy. One local proposal for two offshore wind farms in Nantucket Sound, however, has drawn opposition from the wildlife protection segment of the environmental community. Guest Speaker to be announced.
Locate news articles concerning this or another wind energy project and come prepared to discuss pros and cons.
28 Thanksgiving
Dec. 5 What everyone should know. The seriousness and immediacy of environental problems arising from global population growth and related demands on Earth resources can be analyzed from many viewpoints, scientific, economic, political and moral. World leadership is clearly divided on how best to proceed as illustrated by World Summit on Sustainable Development. In this final session, let us remind ourselves of basic principles that we must stand on as scientists and work to share with others.
Read: Palmer (1990), Buchwald (2000) and Part I (p. 3-45) of Lomberg (2001).
Dec. 20 Final
paper due at 4:30 PM
Buchwald, C.E., 2000, What else should my neighbor know?,
p. 398-409 in Schneiderman, J.S. ed., The Earth Around Us: New York, W.H. Freeman and Company, 455
p.
Davis, R.A., 1994, The Evolving Coast: New York, W.H. Freeman and Company
(Scientific American Library), 231 p.
Dawson, A.D., and Zielinski, S.A., 1997, Environmental
Handbook for Massachusetts Conservation Commissioners (8th edition) : Belmont, MA, 390 p.
IPCC, 2002, Summary for Policy Makers: <
www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/005.htm>
LeBlanc, D.R., Guswa, J.H., Frimpter, M.H., and
Londquist, C.J., 1986,
Ground-water resources of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Atlas
HA 692 (4 sheets).
Leopold, L.B., 1994, A View of the River: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard
University Press, 298 p.
Lomberg, B., 2001, The Skeptical
Environmentalist: Cambridge, UK,
The Cambridge University Press, 515 p.
Nelson, A.E., 1974, Surficial Geologic Map of the
Natick Quadrangle: U.S. Geological
Survey Map GQ 1151, scale 1:24,000.
Palmer, A.R., 1990, "What should my neighbor
know?", GSA News & Information, v. 12, p. 277-279.
Rolbein, S., 1995, The Enemy Within: Orleans, MA, Association for the
Preservation of Cape Cod, 175 p.
Strahler, A.N., 1966, A Geologist's View of Cape Cod:
Garden City, New York, American Museum of Natural History Press, 115 p.
Taylor, K., 1999, Rapid Climate Change: American Scientist, v. 87, no. 4, p.
320-327.
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, 2000, Notice of Intent
Narrative, Attachment A in Former
Henry Wood’s Sons Company and Paint Factory Upland/Wetland/Pond
remediation, 39 p.
Wood, A.R., 1998, Nor'easter: Geotimes, v. 43, no. 6, p. 23-26.
Wood, T.J., 1991, Breakthrough: The Story of Chatham's
North Beach: Chatham, Mass.,
Hyora
Publications, Inc., 79 p.