Credit Weight: 0.5 Description: We will examine the evolution of planet Earth and its inhabitants through geologic time. We will begin by discussing the formation of the early Earth, its atmosphere, and hydrosphere, and learn how these influenced the types of one celled organisms which first developed on the planet. The rise of metazoans and multicellular life with hard parts will then be linked to changes in the atmosphere and stabilization of the continents. Subsequent lectures will deal with life forms present during the past 600 million years and with the formation of the earth as we know it today through the movements of lithospheric plates. Fossils from the time periods under discussion will be examined in conjunction with the lectures. Offering: 3-0; or 3-0
