COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES

GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT

EARTH SCIENCE

Advisor: Dr. R. V. Krishnamurthy, - Rood Hall Room 1131, Ph. 269-387-5501, r. v. Krishnamurthy @wmich.edu

The earth science major and minor program is a broad and flexible course of instruction for students anticipating careers in conservation, related professions, state and federal parks and planning agencies. The program is interdisciplinary in nature and offers students an opportunity to select earth science and related courses from the departments of geosciences, engineering, biological sciences, geography, chemistry, physics and others. Courses are selected in consultation with the earth science advisor in order to design programs, which will satisfy the students' needs and professional objectives. Thirty-six semester hours for the major and twenty-one semester hours for the minor are to be selected from the following disciplines. A core of 19 credit hours in Geosciences is required for a major including GEOS 438 and GEOS 460. The minor requires a minimum of 15 credit hours in geology including GEOS 130, GEOS 132, and GEOS 301.

Required Core Courses

Required Course
Course no.

Cr Hrs

Semester

Physical Geology
GEOS 130

4
F SP

Historical Geology
GEOS 131

4

F SP
  Integrated Earth Systems
GEOS 132
3

Minerals and Rocks

GEOS 301

4

SP

OR the following 3 courses

 

 

 
Mineralogy

GEOS 335

4
F

Optical Mineralogy

GEOS 336

3
F

Petrology and Petrography

GEOS 440

3
SP

Majors only

 

 

Geologic Communications

GEOS 460
1

F SP

Field Studies in Geol

GEOS 438
3

SU

Geology Electives:

 

 

 

Geology of National Parks

GEOS 312

3
F SP

Ocean Systems

GEOS 322
3

F SP SU

Intro to Hydrogeology

GEOS 412

3

F

Structural Geology

GEOS 430
3
F

Geomorphology

GEOS 432
3

SP

Invert Paleontology

GEOS 433
4

SP

Sed. and Strat.

GEOS 435

4

F

Plate Tectonics

GEOS 530

3

F AY
Glacial Geology

GEOS 536

3
SP AY

Environmental Geology

GEOS 545

3
F

Intro to Geophysics

GEOS 560

3
F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common electives in Biology (BIOS), and Geography (GEOG)

  • BIOS 101 Animal Biology 
  • BIOS 102 Plant Biology 
  • BIOS 105 Environmental Biology 
  • BIOS 220 Applied Botany 
  • BIOS 234 Outdoor Science 
  • BIOS 250 Genetics 
  • BIOS 301 Ecology 
  • BIOS 512 Environmental and health problems
  • BIOS 542 Entomology 
  • BIOS 549 Field Ecology
  • BIOS 553 Limnology
  • BIOS 555 Marine Biology
  • BIOS 557 Water Pollution Biology
  • GEOG 225 Met. & Climatology 
  • GEOG 265 Map, Chart & Air Photo Readings 
  • GEOG 311 Geography of Michigan 
  • GEOG 350 Cons. & Env. Management 
  • GEOG 375 Principles of Cartography 
  • GEOG 380 U.S. and Canada 
  • GEOG 553 Water Resource Management 
  • GEOG 554 Outdoor recreation
  • GEOG 555 Issues in Resource Management
  • GEOG 557 Environmental Impact assessment 
  • GEOG 567 Computerized Geodata

 

 

Additional Requirements

A college level chemistry course (110/111) and a college level physics course (107/108 or 113/114) and MATH118.
The Baccalaureate Writing Requirement can be satisfied with GEOL 432 Geomorphology, G435 Sedimentation and Stratigraphy.

For more information send e-mail to: r. v. Krishnamurthy@wmich.edu

or snail-mail:

Western Michigan University
Department of Geology
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Phone (269) 387-5485

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