GEL 208 is an advanced or second course in geology with field trips that count as laboratory.  The only prerequisite for GEL 208 is GEL 101 (Introductory Physical Geology) or permission of the instructor.  There are no science or other math prerequisites.  I normally do not let students enroll in GEL 208 unless they have taken GEL 101; students without 101 have not enjoyed themselves.

    GEL 208 satisfies your AA degree requirement for a science class in the physical science category.  GEL 208 also satisfies your laboratory science requirement for the AA degree.  GEL 208 can also be used as a historical geology course for those students trying to obtain certification in the earth science field.  Please contact me, I can help with the paperwork!

    GEL 208 has 66 contact hours in total, averaging 6 contact hours per week, four of which are spent in "lecture".  Normally GEL 208 is taught in a shortened format, only 4 days a week instead of 5.  We meet Monday through Thursday but there is no class on Friday. The rest of the contact hours (22) are devoted to field trips.

   GEL 208 has required field trips.  There will be at least 4-5 field trips offered during the quarter on various days of the week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).  You are required to attend two (2) of these all day field trips, and you can attend more on a space available basis.   Transportation is provided.  Field trips in the past have included:  the Great Seattle Fault and earthquakes, Glacier Peak volcano, Columbia River lava flows and fossil trees, Lopez Island in the San Juans, and the North Cascades.

  GEL 208 is a 5 credit class.  Students ask:  how come we go for 6 hours and only get 5 credits?  Answer:  the State of Washington believes that sitting in lecture is twice as valuable as field work, that you learn twice as much listening rather than doing.  So you get twice as much credit  per hour of lecture as you do for hour of lab or field work.  I am not making this up.

    GEL 208 has some cost above tuition.  There is a $31+ lab fee, attached to all lab courses.  The lab fee provides you free transportation and driver on all of the field trips, as well as all of the extra course handouts and demonstration materials.

    GEL 208 covers a wide range of topics related to the geology of the Northwest, in sort of a backward chronology, with the young/active geology first and the ancient geology last.   We start off with the geographic provinces of Washington and the plate tectonic setting and brief plate history of the PNW.  After NW faults and monster earthquakes, we spend a week on PNW volcanoes, emphasizing Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainier and Glacier Peak.  We learn about active WA glaciers as well as the ancient glacial history of WA, including the great floods of the Palouse (!).  There's a week devoted to the Columbia River plateau, with its giant lava flows, and a week devoted to the Olympic Mountains.  Another week is spent on the coal beds and fossils of the Cascade foothills.  The last 3 weeks are spent on the long history of the Cascade and Okanogan ranges, including the San Juan Islands.

    For more information, email Joe Hull --------   jhull@sccd.ctc.edu

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