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"Geysers and grizzlies and glaciers, oh my!"
The national parks may be America's best idea, saving the finest parts of the nation for everyone to enjoy forever. What better way to learn about the natural world than to tour the parks with us? We'll explore how the mountains and valleys formed and why they often come with volcanoes and earthquakes. You'll see what really killed the dinosaurs and how we can help save their modern relatives in the parks. With film clips, slide shows, and our geological interpretations of classic rock songs, isn't it time for a road trip?
Tour Overview
Watch a brief video introduction from Dr. Alley!
GEOSC 10 Introduction with Dr. Richard Alley
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Welcome to Geosciences 10. I'm Richard Alley, and I'll be your tour guide to the geology of the national parks. In the course of the semester, we're going to visit some of the most beautiful and interesting places in the world. We're going to ask some big questions. Why are there mountains and volcanoes and earthquakes? Um, why are the mountains torn down by rivers, by glaciers? Um, what's the history of this planet, how do we live on the planet, how do we stay happy and healthy and terrific with the planet? And while we're doing it, we are going to visit some of the most beautiful and wonderful places on the planet. By the end of the semester, we're all going to know a lot more about the national parks, and you are going to be so excited that next summer you're going to be off to visit one because they're such wonderful places. Have a great semester. I'm going to jump on my bicycle, head in to school, and get to it.
Trip Reviews
The more I learned in your class, the more I wanted to learn.
About Your Guides
Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, and Dr. Sridhar Anandakrishnan, Professor of Geosciences, will be your guides through the national parks and the worlds of geology, tsunamis, volcanoes, glaciers, deep time, evolution, extinction, biodiversity, and global warming.
This course is offered as part of the Repository of Open and Affordable Materials at Penn State. You are welcome to use and reuse materials that appear on this site (other than those copyrighted by others) subject to the licensing agreement linked to the bottom of this and every page.
Want to join us? Students who register for this Penn State course gain access to assignments and instructor feedback and earn academic credit. Official course descriptions and curricular details can be reviewed in the University Bulletin.