PHS 125
Historical Geology

Did an asteroid really cause the extinction of the dinosaurs? Where did life come from and how did it evolve? Why do I find fossils of marine organisms in my back yard? If you have ever wondered about these questions, you can discover the answers by taking this course. This course intends to give you a perspective of the enormity of the geologic history of the Earth and the life that lives on it. You will learn how scientists know how old a rock or fossil is and what the conditions in the past were like when it formed. You will also investigate how scientific thinking about the geologic past have changed with respect to the age of the Earth and what the dinosaurs were like. By looking at some bizarre groups of fossils, questions about evolution, speciation and chance will be examined. Also, a detailed study of the local geologic past will reveal that Binghamton was on the shoreline of an ancient tropical sea about 365 million years ago. Course includes laboratory activities.

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