Courses I teach at Northwestern: 102-6-21 - Death of The Dinosaurs (Freshman Seminar) The death of the dinosaurs as well as theories and evidence for other catastrophic extinctions will be examined. Geologic time and the history of life on Earth; continental drift and polar wander; cosmic occurrences, periodicities, and the search for Nemesis, the Death Star, will be included in the seminar. 107-0 - Our Dynamic Planet Theories of the major processes of Earth dynamics: plate tectonics and internal convection; the continents and their history of breakup, drifting, and collisions; the ocean basins and their formation by seafloor spreading and their relation to upwelling in the mantle; other important Earth phenomena will be related to plate tectonics: earthquakes, volcanoes, biological evolution, and climate changes. 320 - Global Tectonics Geometry, determination, description, and physical processes of plate motions. Emphasizing the plate tectonics theory, topics include nature and identification of lithospheric plates, paleomagnetism, apparent polar wander, geomagnetic reversals, thermal history of the lithosphere, gravity, mantle convection, and the history of the ocean basins. 321 - Reflection Seismology Acquisition, processing, and interpretation of reflection seismograms. Topics include acoustic wave propagation, reflection coefficients, attenuation, direct detection of hydrocarbons, deconvolution, seismic sources, wave migration, wavelet estimation, and seismic imaging. Applications to hydrocarbon prospecting, structural geology, tectonics, stratigraphy, and deep continental reflection profiling. 399 - Independent Study Study of special problems under the direct supervision of one or more members of the teaching staff. A comprehensive report and/or a comprehensive examination. 438 - Advanced Topics in Geophysics Topics include tectonophysics, the bodily structure of the Earth, and geodynamics. Forming a habitable planet: examination of solar system, galaxy for zones suitable for the development of life, role of Plate Tectonics. May be repeated for credit with change in topic. 450 - Advanced Topics in the Geological Sciences Credit for more than one quarter. Various topics at the frontiers of research in the geological sciences taught by visiting faculty or members of the department on an occasional basis. Satellites of Jupiter and Saturn; Mars, Venus. May be repeated for credit with change in topic. 499 - Independent Study Study of special problems under the direct supervision of one or more members of the teaching staff. A comprehensive report and/or a comprehensive examination.