Lectures – This class will include lectures and student-run seminars. Four weeks of lectures will be given in the beginning of the semester to summarize the problems, hypotheses, and questions related to the topics.

    Discussions – Students will be divided into groups, each group will be responsible for a specific topic for a week (two lectures). The group who is going to be in charge of the topic will give a presentation and lead the discussion. Students who are not giving the presentation that week will read the papers and write a critique to answer the questions posted on the web. The group in charge of the discussion should choose the most important papers including contrasting ideas in that field (will provide a suggested reference list for each discussion topic, but you can choose your own favorite!).

    No Textbook is required. Recommended textbooks and articles include:
    1. Ruddiman, W.F., 2001, Earth's Climate: Past and Future, W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd, 465p.
     2. Kump, L.R., Kasting, J.F., and Crane, R.G., 2003, The Earth System (2nd edition), Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 432p.
    3. Any reference book in stable isotopes and sedimentary chemistry, e.g., Sharp, Z., 2006, Principles of Stable Isotope Geochemistry: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 344p. ISBN: 0-13-009139-1.
    4. Read papers in Nature, Science, and Geology related to the topics, some review papers in Earth Science Reviews, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, etc.