 Help support MIT OpenCourseWare by shopping at Amazon.com! MIT OpenCourseWare offers direct links to Amazon.com to purchase the books cited in this course. Click on the Amazon logo to the left of any citation and purchase the book from Amazon.com, and MIT OpenCourseWare will receive up to 10% of all purchases you make. Your support will enable MIT to continue offering open access to MIT courses. |
Course Description
The interactive Earth system: Biology in geologic, environmental and climate change throughout Earth history.
Since life began it has continually shaped and re-shaped the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the solid earth. This course introduces the concept of life as a geological agent and examines the interaction between biology and the earth system during the roughly 4 billion years since life first appeared.
Grading
Grading criteria.
| ACTIVITIES |
PERCENTAGES |
| Participation in class discussions |
15% |
| Problem sets/assignments |
20% |
| Final paper and oral presentation |
20% |
| Midterm exam |
20% |
| Final exam |
25% |
Textbook
Stanley, Steven M. Earth System History. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman & Co., 2006. ISBN: 9780716778271. Available at the class Web site and on reserve in Lindgren Library. (Note: The 1st edition, published in 1999, is very similar and is fine to use. I will post the page #'s for both editions in the reading lists on the class Web site. The pages listed below refer to those in the 1st edition.)
Recommended Reading
Wills, Christopher, and Jeffrey Bada. The Spark of Life. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 9780738201962.
Kump, Lee R., James F. Kasting, and Robert G. Crane. The Earth System. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2004. ISBN: 9780131420595.
Cesare, Emiliani. Planet Earth: Cosmology, Geology and the Evolution of Life and Environment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521401234.
Broecker, Wallace S. How to Build a Habitable Planet. New York, NY: Eldigio Press, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, 1985 (3rd printing 1998). ISBN: 9780961751111.
Additional readings provided for most lectures.
Calendar
Course calendar.
| LEC # |
TOPICS |
KEY DATES |
| 1 |
Overview of course; time scales; formation of matter by nucleosynthesis; introduction to geological processes |
|
| 2 |
How stars and planets form; Earth segregation; formation and composition of early atmosphere; characteristics of the habitable zone
Guest lecture: Professor Richard Binzel
|
|
| 3 |
Theories about the origin of life |
Paper 1 due |
| 4 |
Evidence for antiquity of life |
|
| 5 |
Antiquity and origin of life (cont.)
Subsurface biosphere
|
|
| 6 |
Redox chemistry; anaerobic metabolism, energy yields, deep subsurface biosphere |
|
| 7 |
Oxygenic photosynthesis; the rise of atmospheric O2 |
Paper 2 due |
| 8 |
Techniques in geobiology 1: Fractionated isotopes |
|
| 9 |
Techniques in geobiology 2: More about fractionated isotopes |
Homework 3 due |
| 10 |
Biogeochemical carbon cycle |
|
| 11 |
Long-term climate cycles 1: Faint young sun paradox; CO2 climate connection; snowball earth |
|
| 12 |
Evolution and radiation of animals (and plants???) |
Paper 4 due |
|
Mid-term exam |
|
| 13 |
Mass extinctions and re-radiation 1; PC-C boundary, P-T boundary |
|
| 14 |
Mass extinctions and re-radiation 2; K-T boundary, LPTM
Volcanism, carbon cycle perturbation or impact?
|
|
| 15 |
Techniques in Geobiology 3
Genomics
DNA, sequencing, trees, environmental shotguns
|
|
| 16 |
Techniques in Geobiology 4
Lipid biomarkers; life's three domains; fossil and biogeochemical evidence for their presence and evolution through geological time
|
Paper 5 due five days after Lec #16 |
| 17 |
Sedimentary records of life and environment; fossils and their preservation |
|
| 18 |
Sedimentary records of microbes and their environmental preferences; marine crenarchaeota and tex 86; AOM; anammox |
|
| 19 |
Microbially-dominated ecosystems: Extreme environments |
|
| 20 |
Fossil fuels: Fate of buried organic carbon; petroleum and natural gas occurrence and distribution
Methane hydrates
|
|
| 21 |
Climate change: Mesozoic warming, Cenozoic cooling; Pleistocene glaciations
Guest lecture: Ed Boyle
|
|
| 22 |
Holocene climate; abrupt climate change; anthropogenic forcing
Guest lecture: Ed Boyle
|
|
| 23-24 |
Student presentations |
|
|
Exam review |
|