University of Nevada, Reno

Catalog Descriptions of Courses Related to Geophysics

Geological Engineering (GE) Course:

GE 479, GE 679 EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING (3+0) 3 credits
Seismic hazards, including plate tectonics, faulting, seismicity, seismometry, strong earthquake motions. Effects of earthquakes on soils, man-made structures. Characteristics of earthquake-resistant structures. Prerequisite: general calculus, physics;
MATH 285. (Same as C E 479, 679.)

Geological Sciences (GEOL) Courses:

100 GEOLOGY: PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS (3+0) 3 credits
Geology and application of geologic concepts relevant to environment, climatic change, natural hazards, cultural and industrial development, waste disposal, and development of nonrenewable natural resources. Prerequisite: Core mathematics requirement, or Corequisite:
MATH 128 or higher.

101-103 GENERAL GEOLOGY (3+0) 3 credits each
Fundamental principles of geology including nomenclature, earth history, plate tectonics, evolution of the crust, oceans, atmosphere, rivers, earthquakes, volcanic activity, evolution of life, nonrenewable earth resources, water and energy sources, climatic change. Prerequisite: Core mathematics requirement, or Corequisite:
MATH 128 or higher.

102-104 GENERAL GEOLOGY LABORATORY (0+3) 1 credit each
Experimental and analytical work designed to illustrate fundamental principles of geosciences, including the collection and interpretation of data using the scientific method. Prerequisite: Core mathematics requirement, or Corequisite:
MATH 128 or higher.

140 GEOLOGY OF THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS (3+0) 3 credits
Application of geologic principles to the other bodies in the Solar System, focusing on the Moon. Introductions to volcanism, impact cratering, meteorites, and remote sensing. Occasional Saturday field trips. Abbr: PLANETARY GEOLOGY

332 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY (3+3) 4 credits
Structural features of the earths crust. Laboratory work involves the study and preparation of geologic maps and cross sections. Prerequisite:
GEOL 101 and trigonometry.

402, 602 THE OCEANS (3+0) 3 credits
Overview of geological, chemical, physical, and biographical oceanography covering how the oceans work and how they influence our lives.

440, 640 NEOTECTONIC FIELD TRIPS (0+1 to 3) 1 to 3 credits
Visits to historical earthquake ruptures and active faults in the western United States.

446, 646 PHOTOGEOLOGY-IMAGE INTERPRETATION (1+6) 3 credits
Application of photogeologic and image interpretation techniques for study and evaluation of terrestrial landscapes. Corequisite:
GEOL 332, 341.

450 FIELD METHODS (0+3) 1 credit
Introduction to methods and instruments used by field geologists, including elementary photogrammetry.

451 SUMMER FIELD GEOLOGY 3 or 6 credits
Study and preparation of maps to accompany reports on areas of sedimentary and igneous rocks in the Basin and Range region. Three- or six-week course in geologic field methods beginning in early June. Prerequisite:
GEOL 212, 332, 341, 450. Fee to cover cost of board and transportation.

453, 653 GEOPHYSICAL APPLICATIONS (2+3) 3 credits
Surveys current problems in planetary physics, geodynamics, resources exploration and development, environmental assessment, natural hazards, and national security. Includes a one-week geophysical field camp. Prerequisite:
GEOL 450. Corequisite: GEOL 455, 492 or 493.

455, 655, GEOPHYSICS AND GEODYNAMICS (4+0) 4 credits
Structure, composition and evolution of the planet earth; integrates seismic and potential fields data to study plate tectonics and dynamic processes of the earth's interior. Prerequisite: general calculus; physics; physical geology.

456, 656 PLATE TECTONIC THEORY (3+0) 3 credits
Geological and geophysical evidence for plate tectonics. Covers sea floor spreading, triple junctions, continental and oceanic lithosphere, paleomagnetism, polar wandering. Prerequisite: general calculus; physics; geology.

469, 669 PRINCIPLES OF STRATIGRAPHY (3+0) 3 credits
History and methods of stratigraphic analysis and applications to geological and geophysical problems. Prerequisite:
GEOL 102, 212, 332, 468.

490, 690 ELEMENTARY SEISMOLOGY (3+3) 4 credits
Elastic wave equation and characteristics of its solution in terms of rays and modes. Earth structure, earthquake source, seismic instrumentation, interpretation of seismograms, seismicity, prediction. Prerequisite:
MATH 285; PHYS 202.

492, 692 ENVIRONMENTAL EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS (3+3) 4 credits
Application of geophysics to groundwater resources, hazardous-waste management, and site characterization. Includes gravity, magnetic, resistivity, electromagnetic, borehole, and seismic methods; with field hydrogeophysics. Prerequisite: approval of instructor.

493, 693 MINING EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS (3+3) 4 credits
Principles and application of gravity, magnetics and electromagnetic techniques to determination of subsurface structure and exploration for mineral deposits. Prerequisite: physical geology; general calculus; physics.

701-702 ADVANCED GEOLOGY 1 to 5 credits each
(a) General geology, (b) regional geology, (c) mineralogy, (d) petrology, (e) petrography, (f) geochemistry, (g) structural geology, (h) geophysics, (j) geomorphology, (k) paleontology, (m) sedimentation, (n) stratigraphy, (p) mineral deposits, (r) economic geology, (s) ground water, (t) engineering geology, (u) photogrammetry, (v) seismology, (w) instrumental analysis, (x) teaching of earth sciences, (y) mineral exploration, (z) earth science. Consists of either lectures, periodic conferences, supervised reading, laboratory or field work. May be repeated more than once to pursue different studies.

705 INVERSE PROBLEMS FOR EARTH SCIENCES (3+0) 3 credits
Strategies for inferring internal properties of earth with exact and uncertain data. Applications include current topics in seismology, gravity, magnetics, other fields of geophysics. Prerequisite:
MATH 330.

706 GEOPHYSICAL SERIES AND FILTERING (3+0) 3 credits
Application of discrete series theory to geophysical problems. Includes transforms, filters deconvolution, estimation, and resolution as applied in seismic processing and other geosciences specialties.

731 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY SEMINAR (2+3) 3 credits
Structural features of the earths crust, their distribution and the mechanics of their formation. Prerequisite:
GEOL 332.

732 CORDILLERAN TECTONIC EVOLUTION (3+0) 3 credits
Tectonic elements of the North American Cordillera, including stratigraphic, structural and tectonic evolution; critical evaluation of major tectonic models and current thought on tectonics. Prerequisite:
GEOL 332 or equivalent.

735 NEOTECTONICS AND SEISMIC HAZARD (3+0) 3 credits
Geomorphology of active faults. Determination of fault slip rates, age and size of paleoearthquakes, and incorporation of geologic data into seismic hazard analyses.

736 SEISMOTECTONICS (3+0) 3 credits
Frictional, thermal and tectonic constraints on the observed spatial, depth, size and mechanism distribution of earthquakes and faults in the United States and around the globe.

737 NEOTECTONIC AND QUATERNARY MAPPING (1+6) 3 credits
Mapping and interpretation of Quaternary landforms produced by the recurrence of earthquake movements along active faults. Prerequisites:
GEOL 446, 646 or GEOL 451 or equivalent.

755 BASIN ANALYSIS (3+0) 3 credits
Theory and practice of the major techniques of sedimentary basin reconstruction and intepretation. Emphasis on outcrop and subsurface techniques, and implication for economic geology. Prerequisite:
GEOL 468 or 668 and GEOL 469 or 669, or the equivalents.

756 EARTHQUAKE SOURCE PHYSICS (3+0) 3 credits
Earthquake source physics based on application of theory, observations, and experiments.

757 SEISMIC IMAGING (3+0) 3 credits
Theory and application of high-resolution exploration for earth structure and composition, including stack, multi-offset, and 3-D migration; coherency, velocity spaces, and diffraction tomography.

758 SEISMIC INSTRUMENTATION AND DATA ANALYSIS (3+0) 3 credits
Seismic instrumentation and data analysis based on application of theory, observations and experiments.

761 MAGNETISM AND EARTH (3+0) 3 credits
Fundamentals of geomagnetism, paleomagnetism and rock magnetism and their applications to plate tectonics, structural geology, and basin history.

773 MINERAL EXPLORATION SEMINAR (1+0) 1 credit
Seminar on a current topic in geology, geophysics, or geochemistry in exploration for hard minerals in the Cordillera.

774 ADVANCED SEISMOLOGY I (3+0) 3 credits
Applications of theory and experiments to seismological problems; representation theorem; synthetic near field and body wave seismograms.

775 ADVANCED SEISMOLOGY II (3+0) 3 credits
Theory and experiments to seismological problems; far field, surface waves and free oscillations.


URL of this document: http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/class/geophys.html
Last Modified: April 15, 1997