Contents
MS 141 Geological Oceanography (4 units)
A study of the structures, physiography, and sediments of the sea bottom and shoreline. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. Offered fall semesters.
MS 286: Graduate Seminar - Oceanography Coastal and Marine Geohazards (2 units)
In this seminar, the causes of catastrophic geologic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, cliff collapse and coastal erosion will be examined, and methods and technologies will be used to identify and delineate potential and past geohazards. We will examine catastrophic geologic events in the field and at sea, and discuss the relationships to plate tectonic processes. The seminar will address student interests in understanding geological processes in coastal and marine environments.
MS 274: Advanced Topics in Oceanography - Geology of the Monterey Bay Region (4 units)
This is an interactive class with considerable field activity. We will examine significant Tertiary rock exposures along with older formations. Students will collect marine geophysical data to correlate offshore and onshore geology. Tectonic deformation associated with the San Andreas fault system will be studied. An emphasis of the curriculum is to relate how knowledge of geology and tectonics improves our understanding of naturally occurring hazards such as earthquakes, mass wasting and severe storm events (i.e., El Nino).
Natural seepages of oil and gases, including methane, are widespread from both land surface and the seafloor. Also widespread are methane-bearing gas hydrates in continental margin sediments and high latitude regions of permafrost. In addition to their intrinsic scientific interest, these phenomena have the potential to affect global climate and the stability of seafloor sediments. This seminar will explore these and related topics, with an emphasis on occurrences in marine sediments on continental margins.
The seminar is a jointly sponsored effort between Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. MLML students should enroll in MS 286, "Special Topics in Oceanography"; UCSC students should enroll in ES 290A, "Tectonic Hydrogeology" for the Winter Quarter.
Most of our seminar meetings will be on Fridays, from 1 to 4 pm, in the Seminar Room at MLML. Occasionally we will meet at UCSC for special seminars on days other than Friday (see attached schedule). A field trip to a fossil seep site will take place on Saturday, April 27, and the class cruise to modern seep sites in Monterey Bay will be all day on Thursday, May 9.
Your contribution to the course will take two forms: (1) The first will be participation in discussion sessions following each of the formal presentations. These discussions will focus on topics and questions that will be distributed in advance of each seminar. (2) The second will be an individual research project that will be presented as an oral presentation (on either March 15 or May 10) and a term paper that is due no later than May 17.
The goal of the research project is for you to explore a topic of particular interest to you, information that you will then share with the group. The term papers should be approximately 8 to 10 pages in length and summarize the major results of your investigation. Ideally, the topic might be related to your thesis research. Examples of potential projects could include (but are not restricted) to subjects such as: 1) Hydrocarbon seeps and/or gas hydrates in a geographic area (e.g. Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of Okhotst, etc.), 2) Innovative high tech methods for detection and measuring seeps and hydrates, 3) Methods of recognizing fossil seeps in the geologic record, 4) the sub-surface structure of seep fields, 5) Non-methane gas seeps and hydrates, 6) The geochemistry of hydrate formation, (7) The role of hydrocarbon seeps and gas hydrates in the global carbon cycle, etc.
Class
Syllabus (pdf)
General References (pdf)
MS 286: Graduate Seminar - Field Techniques in Marine Habitat Mapping, Baja California (Spring 2001; 3 units)
This seminar is designed to improve skills in the collection and interpretation of geophysical data. Side scan sonar and other techniques will be used in central coastal Baja California to identify and characterize shallow water marine benthic habitats. A project in the collection and interpretation of geophysical data is required. Both geology and biology students will benefit. All students must be prepared to spend two weeks in Baja California during Spring Break. Participation will be limited due to the logistics of working in a remote area.
MS 286: Graduate Seminar - Coastal and Marine Sedimentary Processes (Fall 1999)
This class is designed to review the principals of sedimentology and to investigate sediment erosion and sediment transport along the coast, across the continental shelf and down the continental slope and submarine canyons. Problems of sediment accumulation and distribution such as dredging activities in the Monterey Bay region will be studied. Emphasis will be placed on the sediment cell in relation to sediment budgets and equilibrium.
Students will be expected to design experiments that can be applied to solving specific sediment related problems. Sediment samples will be collected along the beaches, in the rivers and at sea with the use of corers and other sediment samplers for the purpose of determining provenance and sedimentary perimeters that may be useful in solving problems such as source and rates of sedimentation. Modern tools and methodologies used in analyzing sediments will be reviewed.
