Environmental Geology concentration students develop expertise in surface and shallow subsurface processes that shape the Earth and provide critical soil and water resources and services for human society and the natural world. Graduates will be prepared for careers that address environmental implications of geological process and human activities. The curriculum emphasizes the fundamentals of geology, surface and shallow subsurface processes, field-based research methodologies and technologies, and environmental geosciences. The concentration empowers students to pursue positions with corporations and public, private, and nonprofit organizations that address environmental/natural resource management issues, regulatory agency activities, hazard identification and mitigation, land use, and support research that informs natural resource policy and decision making to advance sound stewardship. The curriculum provides a strong foundation for graduate studies in the many fields of geosciences and environmental science.
Effective Fall 2024
| Freshman | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| AUCC | Credits | ||
| CHEM 111 | General Chemistry I (GT-SC2) | 3A | 4 |
| CHEM 112 | General Chemistry Lab I (GT-SC1) | 3A | 1 |
| CO 150 | College Composition (GT-CO2) | 1A | 3 |
| GEOL 1501 | Dynamic Earth (GT-SC2) | 3A | 4 |
| GEOL 154 | Historical and Analytical Geology | 4 | |
| GEOL 192 | New Student Seminar--Exploring Geosciences | 1 | |
| MATH 1602 | Calculus for Physical Scientists I (GT-MA1) | 1B | 4 |
| Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | 1C | 3 | |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences | 3C | 3 | |
| Electives | 3 | ||
| Total Credits | 30 | ||
| Sophomore | |||
| CHEM 113 | General Chemistry II | 3 | |
| CHEM 114 | General Chemistry Lab II | 1 | |
| GEOL 232 | Mineralogy | 3 | |
| GEOL 344 | Stratigraphy and Sedimentology | 4A | 4 |
| GEOL 364 | Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology | 4B | 4 |
| MATH 1613 | Calculus for Physical Scientists II (GT-MA1) | 1B | 4 |
| Select one course from the following: | 3 | ||
| Writing Arguments (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||
| Writing in the Disciplines: Sciences (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||
| Strategic Writing and Communication (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||
| Select one course from the following: | 5 | ||
| General Physics I (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||
| Physics for Scientists and Engineers I (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||
| Historical Perspectives | 3D | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 30 | ||
| Junior | |||
| GEOL 366 | Sedimentary Petrology and Geochemistry | 4A,4B | 4 |
| GEOL 372 | Structural Geology | 4B | 4 |
| GEOL 376 | Geologic Field Methods | 4A,4C | 3 |
| NR 319 | Introduction to Geospatial Science | 4 | |
| SOCR 240 | Introductory Soil Science | 4 | |
| Select one course from the following: | 3-5 | ||
| General Physics II (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||
| Physics for Scientists and Engineers II (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||
| Soil Physics | |||
| Select one course from the following: | 3-4 | ||
| Intro to Ordinary Differential Equations | |||
| Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods | |||
| Intro to Theory and Practice of Statistics | |||
| Arts and Humanities | 3B | 3 | |
| Total Credits | 28-31 | ||
| Summer | |||
| GEOL 436 | Geology Summer Field Course | 4C | 6 |
| Total Credits | 6 | ||
| Senior | |||
| GEOL 446 | Environmental Geology | 3 | |
| GEOL 452 | Hydrogeology | 4 | |
| GEOL 454 | Geomorphology | 4 | |
| WR 416 | Land Use Hydrology | 3 | |
| Directed Technical Electives (See list below): | 6 | ||
| Arts and Humanities | 3B | 3 | |
| Electives4 | 0-3 | ||
| Total Credits | 23-26 | ||
| Program Total Credits: | 120 | ||
Directed Technical Electives
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Select a minimum of 6 credits from a minimum of two courses: | ||
| AREC 342 | Water Law, Policy, and Institutions | 3 |
| ATS 440/GES 440 | Sea Level Rise and a Sustainable Future | 3 |
| BZ 471 & BZ 472 | Stream Biology and Ecology and Stream Biology and Ecology Laboratory | 4 |
| CIVE 322 | Basic Hydrology | 3 |
| CIVE 440 | Nonpoint Source Pollution | 3 |
| CIVE 455 | Applications in Geotechnical Engineering | 3 |
| CIVE 515 | River Mechanics | 3 |
| CIVE 529 | Environmental Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| CIVE 538 | Aqueous Chemistry | 3 |
| DSCI 335 | Inferential Reasoning in Data Analysis | 3 |
| ECON 340/AREC 340 | Introduction-Economics of Natural Resources | 3 |
| GEOL 342 | Paleontology | 3 |
| GEOL 415 | Critical Zone Science | 3 |
| GEOL 440 | Geodetic and Near-Surface Geophysical Methods | 4 |
| GEOL 442 | Applied Geophysics | 4 |
| GEOL 447 | Mineral Deposits | 3 |
| GEOL 494A | Independent Study: Environmental/Engineering Geology 5 | 1-18 |
| GEOL 498 | Research 5 | 1-6 |
| GEOL 540 | Petrophysics and Well Log Interpretation | 3 |
| GEOL 541 | Geostatistics | 2 |
| GEOL 546 | Sedimentary Basin Analysis | 4 |
| GEOL 548 | Petroleum Geology | 4 |
| GEOL 551 | Groundwater Modeling | 3 |
| GEOL 552 | Advanced Topics in Hydrogeology | 2-3 |
| GEOL 553 | Use of Tracers in Hydrogeology | 3 |
| GEOL 554 | Remote Sensing of the Earth System | 3 |
| GR 410 | Climate Change: Science, Policy, Implications | 3 |
| MATH 261 | Calculus for Physical Scientists III | 4 |
| MATH 340 | Intro to Ordinary Differential Equations | 4 |
| MATH 369 | Linear Algebra I | 3 |
| NR 323/GR 323 | Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation | 3 |
| NR 400 | Public Communication in Natural Resources | 3 |
| NR 422 | GIS Applications in Natural Resource Management | 4 |
| NR 426 | Programming for GIS I | 2 |
| NR 427 | Programming for GIS II | 2 |
| NR 450 | Geospatial Project Design and Analysis | 4 |
| NR 453 | Geospatial Field Methods in Natural Resources | 2 |
| NR 503/GR 503 | Remote Sensing and Image Analysis | 4 |
| PHIL 565 | Seminar in Environmental Philosophy | 3 |
| POLS 361 | U.S. Environmental Politics and Policy | 3 |
| SOC 461 | Water and Social Justice | 3 |
| SOCR 375 | Soil Biogeochemistry | 3 |
| SOCR 440 | Pedology | 4 |
| SOCR 467 | Soil and Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| SOCR 470 | Soil Physics 6 | 3 |
| STAT 315 | Intro to Theory and Practice of Statistics 7 | 3 |
| WR 417 | Watershed Measurements | 3 |
| WR 418 | Land Use and Water Quality | 3 |
| WR 419 | Water Quality Analyses | 3 |
| WR 474 | Snow Hydrology | 3 |
| WR 524/CIVE 524 | Modeling Watershed Hydrology | 3 |
- 1
GEOL 110, GEOL 120, GEOL 122, or GEOL 124 in combination with GEOL 121 may be substituted for GEOL 150.
- 2
- 3
Students who substituted MATH 155 for MATH 160 should substitute MATH 255 for MATH 161.
- 4
Select enough elective credits to bring the program total to a minimum of 120 credits, of which at least 42 must be upper-division (300- to 400-level).
- 5
A maximum of one credit may be counted toward Directed Technical Electives.
- 6
May be selected as a Directed Technical Elective if not taken in the junior year to fulfill the physics requirement.
- 7
May be selected as a Directed Technical Elective if not taken in the junior year to fulfill the statistics requirement.
| Freshman | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semester 1 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| CO 150 | College Composition (GT-CO2) | X | 1A | 3 | |
| GEOL 150 | Dynamic Earth (GT-SC2) | X | 3A | 4 | |
| GEOL 192 | New Student Seminar--Exploring Geosciences | X | 1 | ||
| MATH 160 | Calculus for Physical Scientists I (GT-MA1) | X | 1B | 4 | |
| Social and Behavioral Sciences | X | 3C | 3 | ||
| Total Credits | 15 | ||||
| Semester 2 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| CHEM 111 | General Chemistry I (GT-SC2) | X | 3A | 4 | |
| CHEM 112 | General Chemistry Lab I (GT-SC1) | X | 3A | 1 | |
| GEOL 154 | Historical and Analytical Geology | X | 4 | ||
| Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion | X | 1C | 3 | ||
| Electives | X | 3 | |||
| CO 150 and MATH 160 must be completed by the end of Semester 2. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 15 | ||||
| Sophomore | |||||
| Semester 3 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| CHEM 113 | General Chemistry II | X | 3 | ||
| CHEM 114 | General Chemistry Lab II | X | 1 | ||
| GEOL 232 | Mineralogy | X | 3 | ||
| GEOL 344 | Stratigraphy and Sedimentology | X | 4A | 4 | |
| MATH 161 | Calculus for Physical Scientists II (GT-MA1) | X | 1B | 4 | |
| Total Credits | 15 | ||||
| Semester 4 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 364 | Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology | X | 4B | 4 | |
| Select one course from the following: | X | 3 | |||
| Writing Arguments (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||||
| Writing in the Disciplines: Sciences (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||||
| Strategic Writing and Communication (GT-CO3) | 2 | ||||
| Select one course from the following: | X | 5 | |||
| General Physics I (GT-SC1) | X | 3A | |||
| Physics for Scientists and Engineers I (GT-SC1) | X | 3A | |||
| Historical Perspectives | X | 3 | |||
| CHEM 113 must be completed by the end of Semester 4. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 15 | ||||
| Junior | |||||
| Semester 5 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 366 | Sedimentary Petrology and Geochemistry | X | 4A,4B | 4 | |
| SOCR 240 | Introductory Soil Science | X | 4 | ||
| Select one course from the following: | X | 3-5 | |||
| General Physics II (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||||
| Physics for Scientists and Engineers II (GT-SC1) | 3A | ||||
| Soil Physics | |||||
| Select one course from the following: | X | 3-4 | |||
| Intro to Ordinary Differential Equations | |||||
| Introduction to Applied Statistical Methods | |||||
| Intro to Theory and Practice of Statistics | |||||
| GEOL 344 and PH 121 or 141 must be completed by the end of Semester 5. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 14-17 | ||||
| Semester 6 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 372 | Structural Geology | X | 4B | 4 | |
| GEOL 376 | Geologic Field Methods | X | 4A,4C | 3 | |
| NR 319 | Introduction to Geospatial Science | X | 4 | ||
| Arts and Humanities | X | 3B | 3 | ||
| MATH 161 and STAT 301 or MATH 340 or STAT 315 must be completed by the end of Semester 6. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 14 | ||||
| Semester 7 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 436 | Geology Summer Field Course | X | 4C | 6 | |
| Total Credits | 6 | ||||
| Senior | |||||
| Semester 8 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 452 | Hydrogeology | X | 4 | ||
| WR 416 | Land Use Hydrology | X | 3 | ||
| Directed Technical Elective (See Department List on Concentration Requirements tab) | X | 3 | |||
| Arts and Humanities | X | 3B | 3 | ||
| GEOL 366 must be completed by the end of Semester 8. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 13 | ||||
| Semester 9 | Critical | Recommended | AUCC | Credits | |
| GEOL 446 | Environmental Geology | X | 3 | ||
| GEOL 454 | Geomorphology | X | 4 | ||
| Directed Technical Elective (See Department List on Concentration Requirements tab) | X | 3 | |||
| Electives | X | 0-3 | |||
| The benchmark courses for the 9th semester are the remaining courses in the entire program of study. | X | ||||
| Total Credits | 10-13 | ||||
| Program Total Credits: | 120 | ||||