KGS Home >
Earth Science Education
GLY 130 Dinosaurs and Disasters:Tentative Class Schedule and Outline
Spring 2008
Each lecture is 5:30-8:00 pm, with at least a 10-minute break half-way through, or two breaks on some days (Class lasts until 8:00 pm, not 7:45!).
Class meets in: 118 Classroom building
You can visit the class support website, “Earth History,” for links to supplemental information concerning topics discussed in lecture http://www.uky.edu/KGS/education/earthhistory.html
I also keep material on reserve at the Geology Library as supplemental material for those that do not have web access or would like supplemental written material.
Optional class lecture notes are available at Kinkos on Rose Street and Johnny Print on Limestone Street. Call ahead to make sure they have copies. Copies will also be available in the Geology Library at the start of the semester.
See UK’s academic calendar for dates related to adding/dropping classes, http://www.uky.edu/Registrar/cal-FA07.htm
Jan. 14-first class
Introduction
Hand out syllabus
Class description, notes, web info
1. The science of earth history
a. What is a fossil? How do fossils form?
b. Life today and the past. How do we determine what ancient time was like?
c. Geologic mapping
d. How old is it? Age dating.
e. Plate tectonics-Our world in motion
Optional supplemental reading: Nat Geographic v. 200, 2001, How old is it?
Jan 21-Martin Luther King Day-Holiday-No class
Jan. 28
1. The science of earth history (ctd)
f. Extinction and Mass extinction
g. Evolution (from Darwin to modern genetics)
2. Before the Dinosaurs-Early Life
a. Geologic time and the ancient earth
b. Cambrian explosion, the Burgess shale, and arthropods
c. Backbones and the rise of fish
parts of Discovery Channel’s Before the Dinosaurs movie
Optional supplemental reading: Nat Geographic v. 193, 1998; The Rise of Life on Earth; Nat Geographic v. 195, 1999, The rise of life on Earth-From fins to feet; Nat Geographic v. 206, 2004, Was Darwin Wrong?
Feb. 4
2. Before the Dinosaurs-Early Life
d. Onto the land: plants change the environment
e. From fins to feet: the oldest tetrapods
3. Before the Dinosaurs-Paleozoic mass extinctions
a. End-Ordovician and end-Devonian mass extinctions
b. The first reptiles and the amniotic egg
c. Mammal-like reptiles
d. The end-Permian mass extinction—Setting the stage
parts of Discovery Channel’s Before the Dinosaurs movie
Feb. 11—Exam 1
Exam will be in first half of the lecture (1 hr.). Bring a picture ID and a No. 2 pencil.
Regular lecture will follow in second half of the class.
4. The Triassic Period-Rebound from mass extinction
Walking with Dinosaurs-New Blood (Triassic, Petrified Forest)
a. Mammal-like reptiles and mammals
b. Dinosaur ancestors
Feb. 18
Return and go over exam 1
4c. Triassic Period (ctd): the oldest dinosaurs
5. end-Triassic mass extinction; opening the door for the dinosaurs
6. Jurassic Period Dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs-Time of the Titans (Jurassic, western U.S.)
a. Sauropods
b. Stegosaurs
c. Theropods
Feb. 25
6. Jurassic Period Dinosaurs (ctd)
d. What do fossil trackways tell us?
Parts of Jurassic Park, Possibly parts of Discovery’s Big Al (Allosaurus)
Mar. 3 (midterm of the fall semester. Not exam, just marks the mid-point of the class)
7. Bird Origins
a. The oldest bird
b. Dinosaur-bird relations
8. Cretaceous Period Dinosaurs
a. Polar dinosaurs
b. Warm-blooded or cold-blooded?
Supplemental Reading: Nat Geographic v. 194, 1998, Dinosaurs take wing
Supplemental Reading: Nat Geographic v. 196, 1999, Feathered dinosaurs
Walking with Dinosaurs-Spirits of the Ice Forest (Cretaceous, Australia)
9 Mesozoic Era-other creatures
a. Marine and flying reptiles
parts of Discovery’s Walking with Dinosaurs-A Cruel Sea (Jurassic, England) parts of Discovery’s Walking with Dinosaurs-Giant of the Skies (Cretaceous, Europe)
parts of Jurassic Park 3
Mar. 10-Spring Break-No class
Mar. 17
10. Cretaceous Period Dinosaurs
a. Herbivores: Ornithopods, special teeth and nests
b. Herbivores: Ceratopsians, the horned dinosaurs
c. Herbivores: Ankylosaurs, the armored tanks, and more
d. Carnivores: The raptors.)
Possibly parts of Discovery’s Dinosaur Planet, parts of Jurassic Park 1, 2 and 3
Mar. 24 --- Exam 2
Exam will be in first half of the lecture (1 hr.). Bring a picture ID and a No. 2 pencil.
Regular lecture will follow in second half of the class.
10. Cretaceous Period Dinosaurs (ctd)
e. T-rex
f. Cretaceous dinos (ctd) Other large carnivores
possibly Discovery Channel’s Walking with Dinosaurs-Death of a Dynasty (Cretaceous, western U.S.) parts of Discovery’s Dinosaur Planet, parts of Jurassic Park 1, 2 and 3
Mar. 31
Return and review 2nd exam
9. The K-T extinction
Possibly parts of movies on meteor impacts and K-T extinction
Supplemental Reading: Nat Geographic v. 175, 1989, The march toward extinction
April 7
10. Cenozoic and the age of mammals
a. Adaptive radiation
parts of Discovery’s Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, New Dawn, (Tertiary, Germany)
11. Cenozoic Era mammals
a. Marine mammals
b. Giant middle Cenozoic mammals
c. Mammalian evolution examples
April 14
12. Ice ages and hominids
a. Ice Ages and global climate change
b. Mammoths, mastodons, and sabertooth cats
c. The rise of hominids
parts of Discovery’s Walking with Prehistoric Beasts episodes
April 21
13. From the Ice Age to Now
a. Big Bone Lick, Kentucky and modern ideas of extinctions
Review in second half of class
**If you have a conflict with the scheduled final (next week), you must attend class this week to sign up for an alternative final time.
April 28, Final Exam, 5:30-7:30 pm
Final is in the same classroom as class. Bring a picture ID and a No. 2 pencil.
Back to GLY130 home page
Back to Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences