Environmental Geology 361-RESEARCH PAPERS

Geo 361: Projects

THEME: Case studies of an event/issues of significance in the last 5 years (2004-present) that falls within the context of Geology of the Environment. Examples of topics include:  water resources o impacts of prolonged drought or too much water; replenishing water reservoirs; issues with clean water in a specific region (eg., arsenic in groundwater)  waste disposal issues o leaching of toxins in landfills; issues with depletion of landfills  earthquake or volcanic event and the aftermath  storms and aftermath (eg., hurricanes, typhoons, monsoon, etc.)  chronic mining impacts, especially in other countries  issues surrounding agricultural practices o erosion issues; soil damage  specific issues with burning fossil fuels o what to do with coal fly ash; mercury release

Students will work in pairs to research an event/issue of their choosing, but still within the realm of environmental geology, and make an 8-10 min in class oral presentation of the event. The goal is to provide a brief yet detailed account of the event/issue to your peers. Choice of topics is on a first-come basis and no two groups will be allowed to cover the same topic.

General outline of what to research and cover in the presentation (not in this order): 1. background information of area/history (social, physical, biological) 2. description of event/issue 3. why it was impactful (negative and positive, if any) 4. what happened after; what is present situation 5. what was learned; what is the future

Each pair will do the following: 1. Provide me with your topic by October 14 (WED). 2. Submit an OUTLINE of the presentation by October 23 (FRI). 3. Prepare a 10 minute oral presentation on your topic (Powerpoint, overheads, chalk, etc.). 4. SUBMIT a list of references from which your material was obtained.

If slides or overheads are used, plan on using ~10 slides/overheads as generally 1 slide/overhead will take approximately 1 min to discuss. Pictures, figures, plots, etc. are MANDATORY, and multiple slides containing text only should be AVOIDED and will result in a lower overall presentation grade. Material should come from archived sources, which means published peer-reviewed journal articles (not just TIME magazine) or other reference materials that will ALWAYS be available. You are limited to 1 web page reference for every 2 references from archived sources (archived material can be obtained from on-line sources but make sure that you reference it properly; meaning, do NOT just copy the URL address! Write down the publication name, author(s), year, volume no., and page numbers)