2008-2009 Bulletin – PDF - SEAS Bulletin - Columbia University

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EESC W4230y Crustal deformation
3 pts. Professors Anders and Scholz.
Prerequisites: introductory geology and one year
of calculus. Recommended preparation: higher
levels of mathematics. Introduction to the
deformation processes in the Earth’s crust.
Fundamental theories of stress and strain; rock
behavior in both brittle and ductile fields; earthquake
processes; ductile deformation; large-scale
crustal contractional and extensional events.
EESC W4300x The Earth’s deep interior
3 pts. Professor Ekstrom.
Prerequisites: Calculus, differential equations,
one year of college physics, and EESC W4950 or
its equivalent. An introduction to properties of the
Earth’s mantle, fluid outer core, and solid inner
core. Current knowledge of these features is
explored, using observations of seismology, heat
flow, gravity, and geomagnetism, plus information
on the Earth’s bulk composition.
EESC W4701y. Introduction to igneous petrology
4 pts. Offered in alternate years.
Prerequisites: EESC V1011-V1012 or the equivalent.
Recommended preparation: EESC W4113
and knowledge of chemistry. Fee: $15. Students
not enrolled in terrestrial geology may elect to
write a substantial term paper in lieu of the laboratory
course. Compositional characteristics of
igneous and metamorphic rocks and how they
can be used as tools to investigate earth processes.
Development of igneous and metamorphic rocks
in a plate-tectonic framework.
EESC W4885y The chemistry of continental
waters
3 pts. Offered in alternate years. Instructors to
be announced.
Recommended preparation: a solid background
in basic chemistry. Introduction to geochemical
cycles involving the atmosphere, land, and biosphere;
chemistry of precipitation, weathering
reactions, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and groundwaters;
stable isotopes and radioactive tracers
of transport processes in continental waters.
EESC W4924y Introduction to atmospheric
chemistry
3 pts. Offered in alternate years. Professor Shindell.
A survey of trace gas photochemistry important
in the Earth’s atmosphere. Major topics are composition,
including biogenic and anthropogenic
inputs, and chemical processes, including reaction
kinetics and photochemistry. Specific applications
to tropospheric air quality, including smog,
acid rain, and stratospheric ozone, including
the Antarctic ozone hole, are covered, with an
emphasis on the response to anthropogenic
pollutants and climate change.
EESC W4925x Principles of physical
oceanography
3 pts. Professor Gordon.
Recommended preparation: a solid background in
mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Physical
properties of seawater, water masses and their distribution,
sea-air interaction influence on the ocean
structure, basic ocean circulation pattern, relation
of diffusion and advection with respect to distribution
of ocean properties, and introduction to ocean
dynamics.
EESC W4926y. Principles of chemical
oceanography
3 pts. Offered in alternate years.
Professors Anderson and Hoenisch.
Recommended preparation: a solid background
in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. Given in
alternate years. Factors controlling the concentration
and distribution of dissolved chemical species
within the sea. Application of tracer and natural
radioisotope methods to large-scale mixing of the
ocean, the geological record preserved in marine
sediments, the role of ocean processes in the
global carbon cycle, and biogeochemical processes
influencing the distribution and fate of elements in
the ocean.
EESC W4930y Earth’s oceans and atmosphere
3 pts. Professor Gordon.
Recommended preparation: a good background
in the physical sciences. Physical properties of
water and air. Overview of the stratification and
circulation of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere and
their governing processes; ocean-atmosphere
interaction; resultant climate system; natural and
anthropogenic forced climate change.
EESC W4941y Principles of geophysics
3 pts. Offered in alternate years. Instructor to be
announced.
Prerequisite: calculus through MATH V1202
and physics through PHYS C1007. The structure
and properties of the Earth as inferred from
geophysical investigations: gravity, isostasy,
earthquakes, seismic exploration, geomagnetism,
marine geophysics, satellite observations, tides.
Recommended for nongeophysics majors or
those with little previous geophysics background.
EESC W4947y Plate tectonics
3 pts. Professors Abers and Plank.
Prerequisites: physical geology. Prepares students
for research and oral exams. Evolution of the
interiors and surfaces of Earth, Venus, Mars and
the moons of Jupiter. Planetary accretion, tidal
heating, convection, magma oceans, formation of
continents, mantle plumes, sea-floor spreading,
kinematics of triple junctions, surface repaving,
subduction, sedimentation, catastrophic impacts
and floods, and the building of mountain chains.
HUMANITIES AND
SOCIAL SCIENCES
For listings of additional courses of interest
to engineering students, consult
the bulletins of Columbia College; the
School of General Studies; the Graduate
School of Architecture, Planning, and
Preservation; the Graduate School of
Business; and the Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences.
ASCE V2002x or y Introduction to major
topics in Asian civilizations: East Asia
4 pts.
An interdisciplinary and topical approach to the
major issues and phases in the development of
Asian civilizations and their role in the contemporary
world.
ASCM V2001x Introduction to major topics in
the civilizations of the Middle East and India
4 pts.
An interdisciplinary and topical approach to the
major issues and phases in the development of
Asian civilizations and their role in the contemporary
world.
COCI C1101x-C1102y Introduction to contemporary
civilization in the West
4 pts.
Popularly known as “CC,” this course, which covers
texts from Plato to the present, introduces
students to a range of issues concerning the
kinds of communities—political, social, moral, and
religious—that human beings construct for themselves.
Students are expected to complete fifteen
pages of written work, take two examinations, and
participate actively in class discussions.
ECON W1105x or y Principles of economics
4 pts. Recitation section required (W1155).
How a market economy determines the relative
prices of goods, factors of production, and the
allocation of resources, and the circumstances
under which it does so efficiently. Why such an
economy has fluctuations and how they may be
controlled.
ENGL C1010x or y University writing
3 pts. The staff.
Teaches general techniques and strategies for
academic reading and writing. Students read and
discuss a range of published essays, complete
regular reading and writing exercises, write several
longer essays, and undertake a collaborative
research and writing project designed by the
class. Students placed in C1010 whose names
fall in the first part of the alphabet must take the
course in the fall. Students whose names fall in
the second part of the alphabet take the course in
the spring. The alphabet will be split somewhere
between K and O. The exact place for the split
will be posted before fall registration.
SEAS 2008–2009