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Teaching Volcanic Petrology in Limited Time. Jim Nicholls: Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://www.gtwist.ca. The Mineralogical Sciences: Endangered topics in geoscience curricula. How has specialization been accommodated?. Why Did This Happen?. One Contributing Factor
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Teaching Volcanic Petrology in Limited Time Jim Nicholls: Calgary, Alberta, Canadahttp://www.gtwist.ca The Mineralogical Sciences:Endangered topics in geoscience curricula
How has specialization been accommodated? Why Did This Happen? • One Contributing Factor • Students specialize as undergraduates: • Petroleum geologists, • Environmental geoscientists, • Geophysicists, • Etc. Created courses labeled Rocks and Minerals or Earth Materials or something similar. Learning Objective like: Students will develop the ability to Identify Rocks and Minerals
BUT • Mineral Science is more than identifying rocks and minerals! • Crystallography • Mineralogy • Geochemistry • Petrology • Optics and Diffractometry • The list goes on and on …
Ask a Couple of Critical Questions Why should any geoscientist know something about the mineral sciences? Geoscience is a profession with a focus on the Earth. Mineral sciences are part of that focus; any geoscientist should know something about them. What should they know about the mineral sciences? Depends on topic, but put everything on the table.Justify all content. Example: Volcanic Petrology.
Geoscientists Should be Able Read, Understand, and Review the Popular Literature
What’s written about igneous rocks in the popular literature? • Geoscientific context: Extensive, done well. • Stories are nearly always about volcanoes and volcanic phenomena. • Rock names: few, simple, unused or undefined. • Textures: names seldom used or described.
What to Leave Out? • Plutonic rocks • Rock names • Texture names Leaving this one out really sucks! (Well, almost)
What to Include (1) • Geoscientific context No more Rocks in Boxes • Descriptions of textures • Fragmental rocks (Explosive eruptions) • Flow rocks (Quiet eruptions) • Glassy rocks • Mafic – felsic continuum • Silica content versus Mafic index
What to Include (2) • Activity of silica • Activity of alumina Mineral assemblages reflect activities. Activities can be related to chemistry.
Using Activity: Challenges • Learning the concept • Applying concept • Conceptual model: Activity of sugar in water • Sugar – water solutions provide a physical, conceptual model (Kitchen stove, refrigerator, freezer). • Taste, stir, poke • Learning to relate specific mineral assemblages to chemical activities on a relative scale
Minerals and aSiO2 Students recognize whether a few different minerals are either present or absent from a rock. They can then infer relative activity of SiO2 or Al2O3.
Rock Space Rock Space encompasses 90% or more of volcanic rocks on Earth. Emphasizes the diversity of volcanic rocks on Earth. Simple to use and easy to learn.
Rock Names Provide Comfort and Support • The IUGS Classification has 179 root names(Le Maitre, 2002) • Muscovite Granite – a modified name • Granite – a root name • Basalt, Andesite, Rhyolite, Obsidian
Rock Names with Comfort and Support Rhyolite Andesite Basalt • Where, in Rock Space, Does Comfort and Support Fall? • Rhyolite • Andesite • Basalt • Obsidian
Explosive Eruptions, Craters, Calderas, and Activity of SiO2
Organizational concepts come before facts. Facts are learned by applying organizational concepts to case studies.
Acknowledgements • Dr. Paul Hoskin • Dr. Leslie Reid • Mavis Stout • Dr. Frank Brown • Dr. Thure Cerling • Erin Ernst • Colin Rowell • Michelle Speta • Elissa Lynn A detailed expression of the concepts described here can be down loaded from: http://www.gtwist.ca