Indiana University Bloomington

G121: Meteorites & Planets

Additional assignments from:

Course Outline & Logistics

Principal Text: McSween: Meteorites and Their Parent Planets (2nd Ed. 1999)

Recommended:  Adams: Moon, Mars and Meteorites (U.S. ed., 1986)

Additional Assignments From:

  1. Hartmann: Moons and Planets (2005, 5th Edition)
  2. Grotzinger and others : Understanding Earth (2006; 5th Edition)
  3. Feynman: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (Bantam ed., 1986)

These are on reserve in the Geology Library. IU Bookstore sells a compilation of the additional reading. “STUDY” means a lot more than quick reading for an impression. Click here for a PDF file of the syllabus.

Lecture Schedule & Study Assignments

M Jan 12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Milky Way [image]

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Mars [image]

                     Click on image to enlarge

 

 

 

Spectrum [image]

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Introduction; course outline: "what, where, when, how, & why" in science and in this course; faces of planetary bodies; minerals, rocks, fossils.

Study: McSween: Pages 1-14, 279-280. Feynman: Pages 191-198 (MUST) QUIZ

 

W Jan 14
 

Impact cratering: some terms; diverse scales, multi-ringed basins, calderas.

Study: McSween: p. 15-36; Hartmann: p. 249-257 QUIZ

Monday Jan 19th - Martin Luther King Day
NO CLASS

W Jan 21
 

Impact cratering: energy considerations; crater degradation.

Study:   Hartmann: p. 257-261

Wear colorful clothes on Wednesday Sep 17 QUIZ

M Jan 26
 

Relative ages, crater counts; ages of planetary surfaces.

Study: Hartmann: p. 249-261

Wear colorful clothes on Wednesday Sep 17

W Jan 28
 

Remote sensing; reflectance spectra; asteroids, moons and planets.

TODAY: Wear colorful clothes today.

Study:    McSween: p. 91-94, fig 3.12; 162-167; 222-226. 

M Feb 2
 

Minerals and their atomic structures.

Study: Grotzinger & others: p. 45-54

W Feb 4
 

Properties of meteorites and basic classification.

Study: McSween: p. 7-14

M Feb 9
 

Chondrites - age; chemistry; texture.

Study: McSween: p. 40-67

W Feb 11
 

Chondrites – mineralogy, metamorphism and beyond.

Study: McSween: p. 51-67

M Feb 16
 

Achondrites - planetary heating; fractional crystallization of silicate melts.

Study: McSween: p. 118-123; Grotzinger & others: p. 78-87.

W Feb 18
 

examination i

M Feb 23
 

Achondrites - planetary heating; fractional crystallization of silicate melts.

Study: McSween: p. 118-123; Grotzinger & others: p. 78-87

W Feb 25
 

Achondrites - differentiated bodies.

Study: McSween: p. 126-136; 205-206 QUIZ

M Mar 2
 

Rocks from differentiated bodies; spectral reflectance of Vesta.

Study: McSween: p. 162-167.

W Mar 4
 

Geology of Mars.

Study: McSween: p. 176-181; and, consult any recent book in the Geology Library

Mar 8-15

SPRING BREAK

M Mar 16
 

Rocks of the Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars.

Do not cut class; take good notes

W Mar 18
 

EXAMINATION II

M Mar 23
 

Cooling rates, planet size, and internal processes of terrestrial planetary bodies.

Study: McSween: p. 103-109, 173-176

W Mar 25
 

Planet Earth - seismic activity; equations for P & S waves; density and rigidity of interiors of planets.

Study: Grotzinger & others: p. 301-303; 326-330. QUIZ

M Mar 30
 

Planet Earth - core dynamo; magnetosphere; rock magnetism.

Study: Grotzinger & others: p. 337; 342-344; also fig. 2.10

W Apr 1
 

Planet Earth - plate tectonics.

Study: Grotzinger & others: p. 23-42; esp. fig. 2.6 QUIZ

M Apr 6
 

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars Revisited

W Apr 8
 

EXAMINATION III

M Apr 13
 

Origin of life.

Study: McSween: p. 73-74, 275-279; Grotzinger & others: 254-257

W Apr 15
 

Evolution of life on Earth QUIZ

Study: TBD

M Apr 20
 

Atmosphere, ocean, land and life on Earth QUIZ

Study: TBD

W Apr 22
 

Life on Mars - the debate through centuries.

Study: Grotzinger & others: 265-267.

http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/lpi/meteorites/mars_meteorite.html

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PSRdiscoveries/

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Oct96/LifeonMars.html/

M Apr 27
 

Mass extinctions on Earth

Study: Grotzinger & others: 261-263

W Apr 29
 

Review

M May 4
 

FINAL EXAMINATION: 7:15 –9:15 p.m.
Monday May 4th (This Room)

 

EXAMINATIONS AND GRADING

              Grading will be on an "A-0F" scale; "S-F" will not be permitted and an "I" will be allowed only for medical reasons and extremely extenuating circumstances.

 Meteorite [image]

              We will have an OPEN BOOK OPEN NOTES quiz as in the schedule. The quizzes will add up to 20% of the course grade. We will drop the two lowest quiz grades including absences. Three intra-term comprehensive OPEN BOOK OPEN NOTES examinations, each worth 20% of the course grade (i.e., 60% for three), will be given during the semester.  The FINAL lecture examination, also OPEN BOOK OPEN NOTES, will also be comprehensive and will constitute 20% of the course grade.  Students are strongly encouraged to participate in discussions and submit optional homework; marginal adjustment of letter grades may be made depending on contribution to class discussions and homework.  MATERIAL DISCUSSED IN THE CLASS, WHETHER IN THE READING ASSIGNMENT OR NOT, WILL BE IN THE QUIZZES AND EXAMINATIONS.  Attendance is YOUR responsibility; we discuss contemporary topics in solar system exploration that are NOT in the reading assignment.  Extra material within the pages of reading assignment will not be in the examinations.  Take good notes.

             

FINAL EXAMINATION: 7:15 –9:15 p.m. Monday May 4th (This Room)