GEOL0160, Fall 2013 — Notes & Calendar

Portrait of Fridtjof Nansen
Fridtjof Nansen
Scientist, Explorer, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

GEOL0160. Monsters of the Abyss

Or, Oceanography and Sea Tales.

Brown Critical Review Link

We will read from the logbooks of Cook, Darwin, Wallace, and Nansen. Their discoveries and expeditions inspired and were inspired by fiction that we will also read, including Moby Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The daring successes and cannibalistic dooms of the Essex, Beagle, Terror, Challenger, and Fram inspired 19th century writers to imagine what lay far across and deep beneath the oceans. These retellings--fictional, narrative, and scientific--helped formulate and fund further research. Who risks their life for a bird, a map, a widow, or an eclipse? How would these scientists and their ideas do today? Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. First Year Seminar.

You can access the syllabus, class calendar, notes, and reading

Class Meetings and Notes

Class meets Tuesday and Thursday 1-2:20 in Lincoln Field 105. All assignments due by classtime on day noted. Baylor's office hours are Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 or by appointment (just check my availability and request a time). The calendar of lectures with slides and links is below. It is also available as a public subscription iCalendar called "GEOL 0160: Monsters of the Abyss" at http://tinyurl.com/mfw5be5.

Week Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Reading
1 9/5: Syllabus, Scientists and Explorers as Beautiful Souls Press, Beautiful Souls
2 9/10: Solitude, Individuality, Journals, Observing Nature, and Novels 9/12: Aronnax, Land, and Conseil; Hydrostasy, Taxonomy Franzen, 'Farther Away: “Robinson Crusoe,” David Foster Wallace, and the island of solitude.'
Pt. 1, Chp. I-VII, Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
3 9/17: Captain Nemo
Archimedes Principle		 9/19: Dead White Guys
Zoophytes		 Pt. 1, Chp. VIII-XXIV, Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Chp. 9, Life at Vassar, Mitchell, Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals
4 9/24: Lee Pedersen, Librarian 9/26: Student-Led (Corbett, Blood) Pt. 2, Chp. I-XIV, Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Chp. VI, Nansen, Farthest North, Vol 1
5 10/1: Tides, Spring & Neap
Ice & Poles
Sea Ice & Climate		 10/3: Student-Led (Boulanger, Gross)
Questions on Paper 1. First Drafts Due on Canvas by midnight Friday.		 Pt. 2, Chp. XV-XXIII, Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Witbaard et al., 2003, Moore, 1970
6 10/8: Baylor at Patullo Conference—No class, work on Paper 1! 10/10: Paper 1 Due (by midnight)
Copepods & Quahogs
Climate
Science Writing		 Witbaard et al., 2003, Moore, 1970
7 10/15: Columbus as Explorer/Scientist, Corals, Subsidence, & Keeling 10/17: Student-Led (Lord, Ramos) Chp. 1-15, Melville, Moby Dick
Chp. on Keeling Island, etc. Chp. XXII of Darwin, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. III, Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836 now known as Chp. XX of The Voyage of the Beagle
8 10/22: Ray Huling (Guest; Quahogs, Sustainability) 10/24: Student-Led (Goosby, Citra) Chp. 16-27, Melville, Moby Dick
Chp. 5, Darwin, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
9 10/29: Madrepores, Subsidence, Darwin Journal vs. Manuscript 10/31: Student-Led (Taugner, Flax)
Suggested Halloween costumes: pirate, whale, coral, Nansen, …		 Chp. 28-40, Melville, Moby Dick
Chp. XXVIII, FitzRoy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. II
Chp. 1, Lyell, The Student's Lyell: A Manual of Elementary Geology
10 11/3: Field Trip
11/5: Science & Religion. The Geologist view of Deluge & Evolution.		 11/7: Student-Led (Chen, McKenna)
Questions on Paper 2. First Drafts Due on Canvas by midnight Friday.		 Chp. 41-54, Melville, Moby Dick
Goram: pg. 370-382, Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise, A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature
11 11/12: Wallace, Darwin & FitzRoy 11/14: Good Hope, Waves, and Squalls
Paper 2 Due (by midnight)
12 11/19: Exploration & Discovery 11/21: Student-Led (Blunt, Kondo) Chp. 55-73, Melville, Moby Dick
Chps. VII-X, Cook, The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World, Vol. 1.2
13 11/26: Student-Led (Newton, Peterkin) 11/28: Thanksgiving Break Chp. 74-110, Melville, Moby Dick
14 12/3: What have you learned? 12/5: Student-Led (Nguyen, Sun)
Questions on Paper 3. First Drafts Due on Canvas by midnight Friday.		 Chp. 111-Epilogue, Melville, Moby Dick
15 12/10: Reading Period Reading Period 12/12: Reading Period Reading Period, Sheldon & Kerr, 1972, and an alternate method
16 12/17: Exams 12/18: 5PM Paper 3 Due (End of Scheduled Exam Period) 12/19: EXAMS 12/21: Last Day of EXAMS

Web Resources and Texts

  1. Paper writing guidelines, the Science of Scientific Writing
    2. , and Orwell's Politics and the English Language
  2. Peer reviewing guidelines.
  3. Reading assignment guidelines.
  4. Journaling guidelines.
  5. Library Guide
  6. Science Center Advising
  7. Writing Center

Main Texts

  1. Cook, The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World, Vol. 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3.
  2. Darwin, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. III, Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836 now known as The Voyage of the Beagle
  3. Darwin, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
  4. FitzRoy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. II
  5. FitzRoy, The Weather Book
  6. Franzen, 'Farther Away: “Robinson Crusoe,” David Foster Wallace, and the island of solitude.'
  7. Lyell, The Student's Lyell: A Manual of Elementary Geology
  8. Melville, Moby Dick. Amazon.com version
  9. Mitchell, Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals
  10. Nansen, Farthest North, Vol 1 and Vol 2.
  11. Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Amazon.com version
  12. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise, A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature

Secondary Online Textbooks

  1. Robert H. Stewart's Introduction to Physical Oceanography
    Web-distributed basic but comprehensive textbook.
  2. Tomczak and Godfrey's Regional Oceanography: An Introduction
    Tomczak and Godfrey's nice descriptive textbook.
  3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), 2007: Synthesis Summary, Physical Science Summary, and Frequently Asked Questions

Websites

  1. Sydney Observatory: Cook's three voyages of exploration
  2. UN Ocean Atlas
  3. National Geographic
  4. NASA Earth Observatory
  5. NOAA Interactive Global Bathymmetry
  6. Cleon Teunissen's Rotation Physics
  7. IPCC Home Site
  8. US National Climate Assessment
  9. MBARI Seafood Watch

Additional Fun Reading

Nonfiction

  1. Amundsen, The North West Passage
  2. Bowditch, The American Practical Navigator
  3. FitzRoy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, Vol. I
  4. Maury, 1860: The Physical Geography of the Sea and Its Meteorology
  5. Sverdrup, New Land: Four Years in the Arctic Region
  6. M'Clintock, The Voyage of the Fox in the Arctic Seas
  7. Sides, 1,000 Days in the Ice, National Geographic

Fiction

  1. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast
  2. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
  3. Homer, The Odyssey
  4. London, The Sea Wolf
  5. Stevenson, Treasure Island

Brown Specific Guidelines

  1. Disability Support Services
  2. Academic & Student Conduct Codes, *Note* Prof. Fox-Kemper regards inappropriate cellphone and laptop use as disruptive behavior.
  3. Academic Code
Map of the three voyages of Captain Cook
The three voyages of Captain Cook (First=red, second=green, third=blue; Wikimedia Commons)