The
Sea Around Us
Geosciences 040, 3 Credits
Satisfies General Education - Natural Sciences (GN)
Professor Mike
Arthur
Department of Geosciences
|
"The Sea Around Us," is a 3-credit General Education Course making extensive use of multimedia. This main web page provides links to course information, resources and related internet sites. It is intended mainly for students in Geosciences 40 and access to the lecture notes is restricted to those enrolled in the course. |
|
Spring 2008: You may attend either
lecture section. You must also
have a lab section! |
Welcome
to “The Sea Around Us” for Spring, 2008
Remember, Quiz 2, in
class, Monday, April 7th. Don’t miss it!!
Covers material since the midterm through April 2nd lecture.
The world ocean covers nearly 71%
of Earth's surface. Below the sea surface are mountains as rugged and
imposing as any on land, extensive featureless plains, and trenches deeper than
the world's highest mountains. Much of this seafloor is totally unexplored and
holds mysteries to delight even the most jaundiced observer. The oceans
contain a tremendous diversity of organisms adapted to a great range of
temperature, saltiness, and pressure. In places, the sea teems with life,
while other regions are "deserts." The Earth's climate and its
temporal variations are intimately connected to the ocean and its water
masses. Thoreau expressed it best when he wrote..."All that is
told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an inhabitant of the land, and all of
its products have a certain fabulous quality, as if they belonged to another
planet, from seaweed to a sailors yarns or a fish story. In this element
the animal and vegetable kingdoms meet and are strangely mingled."
So, why take a course in
oceanography? Because the ocean is more important to each of us than one
would guess. It is a great but fragile resource, susceptible to
deleterious changes as the result of our neglect and abuse. It is a
source of inspiration for artists and of wonder to us all. Come and
partake of a practical knowledge and appreciation of the sea.
The Sea Around Us introduces
the student to the basic workings of the ocean --the origins of its rock-walled
boundaries, the evolution of its coastlines, the motion of currents waves and
tides and their destructive power, the source and composition of the vast mass
of seawater and its importance to local and global climate and resources, and
the fantastic array of marine life and its interdependence with the ocean
environment, all with a bit of sea lore and historical perspective.
Laboratories feature experiments, films, discussion and simple problem sets
that aid in understanding and amplifying important lecture topics.
"The more we learn about
the world, and the deeper our understanding, the more conscious, specific and
articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of
ignorance. for this, indeed, is the main source of our ignorance--the fact that
our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be
infinite." ---Karl Popper (philosopher of science)
Send mail
to
Dr. Arthur
Penn State Home Page | Geosciences 40 Main Page |
Department of Geosciences
Last updated 4 June 2007
Copyright 2007, Penn State University