GEO 144 The Geology of Northwest Rivers, Glaciers, and Deserts

1. Summarize Plate Tectonics as the critical framework which controls all geologic processes. 
2. Interpret topographic maps and use them to answer questions about the landscape, including stream characteristics. 
3. Create a topographic profile and use it to interpret local geology. 
4. Distinguish between the two main types of rock weathering and their contribution to soil formation and soil profiles. 
5. Identify the types and causes of mass wasting events, recognize landslide terrain, and discuss the mitigation of slope failures. 
6. Identify and describe stream characteristics and effects such as gradient, discharge, sedimentation and erosion. Compare and contrast characteristics of various streams in Oregon. 
7. Describe characteristics of lake and lake basins, and classify some of the lakes and lake basins in Oregon. Recognize the roles of landslides, glaciers and faults in forming lake basins. 
8. Learn the basics of groundwater, and its associated karst topography, and discuss the importance of conservation and protection of this valuable resource. 
9. Explain the effects of glaciers in the present day: their erosional and depositional landforms and influence on Oregon’s geomorphic provinces. 
10. Discuss causes of Ice Ages and the Ice Age glacial events that shaped the Willamette Valley. 
11. Explain the work of the wind and formations of deserts, and outline the desert geomorphology of the Oregon Basin and Range and Owyhee Uplands. 
12. Describe coastal features and the processes that make them dynamic. 
13. Explain the significance of Geologic Time, fossils, and Oregon’s stratigraphic record. 

Statewide General Education Outcomes: 

1. Gather, comprehend, and communicate scientific and technical information in order to explore ideas, models, and solutions and generate further questions. 
2. Apply scientific and technical modes of inquiry, individually, and collaboratively, to critically evaluate existing or alternative explanations, solve problems, and make evidence-based decisions in an ethical manner. 
3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of scientific studies and critically examine the influence of scientific and technical knowledge on human society and the environment. 

• Plate Tectonics Mechanics 
• Review Oregon’s Geomorphic Provinces 
• Topographic Maps and Profiles 
• Rock Weathering 
• Mass Wasting and Slope Failure 
• Streams and Fluvial Systems and Lakes 
• Groundwater and Karst Topography 
• Glaciers, Ice Ages and Pleistocene Floods 
• Basin and Range and Desert Processes 
• Stratigraphy, Oregon’s Stratigraphic Record, Oregon Fossils