GEOL 1031: Dinosaur Earth
Students explore dinosaurs and their domination of terrestrial habitats for about 160 million years during the Mesozoic era. The course begins by examining global plate tectonics and climate with specific reference to the Mesozoic. Students examine the evolution of the dinosaurs from the early land-dwelling vertebrates, their diversification, and their extinction 65 million years ago. The manner in which the ancestors of modern animals filled the habitats previously occupied by dinosaurs is also examined. This course is intended to meet the science requirements of non-science programs, and to be of interest to students who have taken other courses in earth and environmental sciences.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to do the following:
- Explain geological time, understand its extent and describe the relatively short time of the dinosaurs within it.
- Describe the history of life on earth.
- Explain the interactions amongst the lithosphere, hydrosphere atmosphere and biosphere and how they control our climate.
- Describe the composition, structure and dynamics of the earth's interior, and the processes of plate tectonics and the motions of continents.
- Discover the origins of the kingdom Plantae, how plants adapted to life on land during the Silurian and how they evolved during the Mesozoic.
- Describe the evolution of vertebrates from fish to reptiles and the diversification of reptiles in the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic and describe the evolutionary relationships amongst the land vertebrates.
- Explain the evolution of mammals from the synapsid amniotes, and describe their place during the Mesozoic.
- Differentiate the morphology between dinosaurs and their reptile ancestors and between the Ornithischian and Saurischian dinosaurs. Describe the lifestyles of various different dinosaurs.
- Describe the important extinctions of the Phanerozoic eon, and use this knowledge to reconstruct their causes.
- Describe the events of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, and provide evidence to explain the proposed mechanism plus which types of organisms became extinct and which survived.
- Discover how mammals and birds adapted to changing climate conditions over the past 65 million years.
- Research a fossil locality in your region and document a fossil discovery field trip.
Course topics
- Introduction: Geological Time
- Plate Tectonics: The Continental Dance
- Climate and Environmental Change
- Food for the Beast: The Evolving Flora
- The Dinosaur Ancestry
- The Dinosaurs
- Mass Extinctions
- The Cenozoic and the Rise of Mammals
- Finding and Describing Fossils
Required text and materials
Wicander, R., & Monroe, J. Historical Geology: Evolution of Earth and Life Through
Time. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Brooks/Cole, 2016.
Textbook, ISBN:
978-1-305-11956-7
Assessments
Please be aware that should your course have a final exam, you are responsible for the fee to the online proctoring service, ProctorU, or to the in-person approved Testing Centre. Please contact exams@tru.ca with any questions about this.
To successfully complete this course, students must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course, and 50% or higher on the mandatory final exam.
| Assignment 1 Geological time, plate tectonics and climate | 10% |
| Assignment 2 Plants and animals on land | 10% |
| Assignment 3 Dinosaurs | 10% |
| Assignment 4 Extinctions | 10% |
| Assignment 5 Fossil field trip | 10% |
| 3 Excerises (included in Lessons) | 10% |
| Final Exam* | 40% |
| Total | 100% |
* Mandatory
Open Learning Faculty Member Information
An Open Learning Faculty Member is available to assist students. Students will receive the necessary contact information at the start of the course.
