Oct 31, 2025

2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog

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2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Geoscience - Geology (GEGE) - BS Major

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76-82 S.H. (no minor required)

2.0 GPA required.

C grade or better required in GEOS 235 and above.

Letter grade required in all major courses unless otherwise noted.

Geoscience - Geology Major Map

This major has six parts:

Part I: Entrance to the Major
Part II: Geoscience Core Courses - provides students with an overview of the fundamentals of the geosciences
Part III: Geoscience Focus Areas - provides students an opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge in specific areas of study within the geosciences
Part IV: Geoscience Capstone - provides students with research experience and opportunities for professional development
Part V: Geoscience Electives - allows students to explore areas of interest in the geosciences
Part VI: Additional Requirements - provides students with an opportunity to learn the fundamentals of other scientific disciplines, all of which relate to the geosciences

PART I: Entrance to Geoscience Major (4-5 S.H.)

Choose one:

GEOS 113 - Natural Disasters with Laboratory (4 credits)
GEOS 114 - Climate, Catastrophes and Extinctions with Laboratory (4 credits)
GEOS 120 - Dynamic Earth with Laboratory (4 credits)
GEOS 199 - Introductory Geoscience Laboratory (1 credit) & one of the following: GEOS 100 ,
102
,
103
,
104
,
105
,
106
,
107
,
108
,
110
,
111
,
115
,
116
, or
121
(3-4 S.H.)
GEOS 215 - Earth System Science (4 credits)

PART II: Geoscience Core Courses (19 S.H.)

GEOS 090 - Earth Talks Speaker Series (0 credits) (enrollment with a P grade required 6x prior to graduation, unless excused by the department chair)
GEOS 235 - Earth and Life Through Time (4 credits)
GEOS 301 - Field and Analytical Methods I (4 credits)
GEOS 305 - Minerals and Rocks (4 credits)
GEOS 309 - Watershed Science (4 credits)
GEOS 316 - Geographic Information Systems (3 credits)

PART III: Geoscience Focus Areas (22 S.H.)

Rocks & Tectonics (8 S.H.)

GEOS 360 - Structural Geology (4 credits)
GEOS 365 - Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (4 credits)

Surface Processes (8 S.H.)

Choose two:

△ GEOS 375 - Planetary Geology (4 credits)
△ GEOS 415 - Advanced Geomorphology (4 credits)
◆ GEOS 420 - Applied Hydrogeology (4 credits)
◆ GEOS 445 - Geochemistry (4 credits)

Broader Perspectives (6 S.H.)

Select 6 S.H. from the following:

GEOS 325 - Environmental Geoscience (3 credits)
GEOS 335 - Global Climate Change (3 credits)
GEOS 345 - Dinosaur Field Paleontology (4 credits)
◎ GEOS 385 - Geology of North America (3 credits)
GEOS 401 - Geological Field-Research Methods (2-4 credits)
GEOS 405 - Current Topics in Geosciences (1-4 credits)
◎ GEOS 416 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems (4 credits)
△ GEOS 441 - Paleontology and Paleoecology (4 credits)
◎ GEOS 443 - Global Water Resources (4 credits)

PART IV: Geoscience Capstone (3-4 S.H.)

△ GEOS 470 - Geological Research Strategies (2 credits)
GEOS 475 - Geoscience Seminar (1 credit)

Additional Capstone Credits:

Students may elect to pursue additional capstone credits from:

GEOS 399 - Internship (1-3 credits)
GEOS 499 - Directed Research-Geoscience (1-3 credits)

PART V: Geoscience Electives (7-8 S.H.)

Choose 7-8 additional credits from the following:

Part III: Surface Processes, Broader Perspectives
Part IV: Geoscience Capstone
GEOS 435 - Optical Mineralogy and Petrology (4 credits)
◆ GEOS 442 - Geophysics (4 credits)

PART VI: Additional Requirements (21-24 S.H.)

Allied Science Requirements (18-20 S.H.)

Biology (4 S.H.)

BIOL 242 - Organismal Diversity (4 credits)

Chemistry (4 S.H.)

CHEM 212 - Principles of Chemistry I (4 credits)

Mathematics (6-8 S.H.)

Choose one group:

MATH 112 - Applied Precalculus (3 credits) AND
MATH 140 - Applied Calculus (3 credits)
OR
MATH 117 - Precalculus with Modeling (4 credits) AND
MATH 140 - Applied Calculus (3 S.H.)
OR
MATH 120 - Precalculus (4 credits) AND
MATH 212 - Calculus I (4 credits)
OR
MATH 212 - Calculus I
(4 S.H.) AND
MATH 213 - Calculus II (4 credits)

Physics (4 S.H.)

Choose one:

PHYS 201 - General Physics I (4 credits)
PHYS 221 - University Physics I (4 credits)

Allied Science Electives (3-4 S.H.)

Choose one:

Biology

BIOL 241 - Basics of Life (4 credits)
BIOL 312 - General Ecology (3 credits) AND
BIOL 313 - General Ecology Laboratory (1 credit)

Chemistry

CHEM 213 - Principles of Chemistry II (4 credits)
CHEM 320 - Environmental Chemistry (4 credits)

Mathematics and Statistics

MATH 213 - Calculus II (4 credits)
◆ MATH 313 - Differential Equations (3 credits)
STAT 210 - Statistics (3 credits)

Physics

PHYS 202 - General Physics II (4 credits) OR
PHYS 222 - University Physics II (4 credits)
PHYS 223 - University Physics III (4 credits)

Legend

◎ = Oral Intensive

◆ = Math/Critical Analysis Intensive

△ = Writing Intensive

✽ = Physical Development and Wellness Graduation Requirement

✪ = Civic Engagement and Service Learning

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