Course Outline and partial Syllabus

Geology 4880 Earth Surface Processes

A quantitative interpretation of the earth's surface. The course covers the physical, mathematical and chemical basis for our understanding of earth surface processes, and uses a quantitative approach to demonstrate how we can model the development of landforms. Prerequisites: Math 2205, Physics 1210 or permission of the instructor.

The course consists of several logically grouped sections: weeks 1 to 2 are mainly concerned with understanding the interaction of gravity on the near surface environment, and understanding stress and strain in weak earth materials, weeks 3 and 4 introduce slow fluid flow (laminar flow) in earth materials and shallow groundwater flow, weeks 5 and 6 introduce erosion processes that are water driven. The second part of the course focuses more on turbulent water erosion: weeks 9 and 10 introduce sediment transport, while weeks 11 and 12 discuss fluvial geomorphology. Any extra weeks will be used to discuss larger issues such as climate change and landscape evolution.

We will attempt to follow the general outline below (but I reserve the right to slow down or speed up, depending on the class):

Part 1	Hillslope Processes
Week 1	Mass wasting, rock failure
2	More on Hillslope failures including a review of stress and strain
3	Debris flows and mass movements
4	Shallow groundwater flow and soil creep
5	Rain splash and sheet wash
6	Modelling hillslope processes
7	Other hillslope processes, wind and weathering
Midterm exam
Part 2, week 8	Water and sediment production in basins
9	Water motion and sediment motion
10	Turbulence and sediment transport
11	Alluvial channels, bars, and erosion
12	Bedrock channels, fluvial landscape development
Part 3, week 13	Climate change and landscape evolution
14	Final projects
Final exam