Course Syllabus: pdf file
The class will review the landforms and geologic deposits that are the result of different factors (like climate and tectonics) created during the past ~2.6 million years. The labs will incorporate skills that geologists use, today, in research and in professional settings (job skills). We will learn about how those landforms and deposits were made, when they were made, and how we came to these conclusions. See posters at the bottom of this page.
The 24th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association is being held at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico during these days: June 28 – July 2, 2016.
- Draft Proposals for Review
- Proposal Writing Lab (lab 9)
- Discussion 9: J. Patton; Sumatra Renewal: Sumatra Renewal Proposal (pdf)
NSF Research Proposals
- Week 1 Quaternary Time, Insolation Cycles, Climate, Thermal Budget
- Week 2 Thermal Budget, Greenhouse Gasses, Climatic Processes, Energy Transfer (Wind and Thermohaline Circulation), ELA, Glacial Cycles (driven by insolation and “feedbacks”), Climatic and Geologic Processes, Geologic Time (Relative & Absolute), Stratigraphy, and Correlation
- Week 3 Climatic and Geologic Processes, Stratigraphy, and Correlation
- Week 4 Stratigraphy, Correlation, Geomorphology of Climate Change
- Week 5 Geomorphological Evidence and Lithological Evidence
- Week 6 Geomorphological Evidence and Lithological Evidence
- Week 7 Lithological and Biological Evidence
- Week 8 Lithological and Biological Evidence
- Week 9 Lithological and Biological Evidence
- Week 10 Biological Evidence
- Week 11 Biological Evidence
- Week 12 Numerical Age Control
- Week 13 Numerical Age Control, Global Environmental Change
- Week 14 Modern Climate Change
- Week 15 Modern Climate Change, Sequence Stratigraphic Record
- Lab 1: Climate Forcing, Greenhouse Effect, Milankovitch
- Lab 2: Correlation of Global Records of Climate
- Lab 3: Glacier Mapping: Salt Lake City
- Lab 4: Marine Terrace Mapping: Northern California
- Lab 5: Fluvial Terrace Mapping: Northern California
- Lab 6: Lake Shoreline Mapping: Southern California
- Lab 7: Biologic Record of Climate Change
- Lab 8: Age Modeling: Radiocarbon
- Lab 9: Proposal Writing
- Lab 10: Stratigraphic Correlation: Turbidites
- Discussion 1: J. Patton; Walker, M. and Lowe, J., 2007. Quaternary science 2007: a 50-year retrospective in: Journal of the Geological Society, London, v. 164, p. 1073-1092.
- Discussion 2: J. Patton; Gillespie, A.R. and Clark, D.H., 2011. Glaciations of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA in: Developments in Quaternary Science. Vol. 15, doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53447-7.00034-9
- Discussion 3: M. Chandler; Didier, P., 2015. Quaternary Glaciations: from observations to theories, in: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 107, p/ 11-24.
- Discussion 4: Friends of the Pleistocene Guidebook
- Discussion 5: R. Levenson; Stallman, J.D. and Kelsey, H.M., 2006. Transient geomorphic response to late Pleistocene base level change and climate forcing in the southern Cascadia thrust-and-fold belt, north coastal California
- Discussion 6: A. Sparer; Gaylord, D.R., Foit Jr., F.F., Schatz, J.K., and Coleman, A.J., 2001. Smith Canyon dune field, Washington, U.S.A: relation to glacial outburst floods, the Mazama eruption, and Holocene paleoclimate in Journal of Arid Environments, v. 47, p. 403-424.
- Discussion 7: B. Smith; Thoms, E. (ed.), 2005. Neotectonics of the Central Alaska Range: A Guidebook for the 2005 Alaska Cell – Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip, 2005 Alaska Cell Friends of the Pleistocene Field Trip Guidebook, 47 pp.
- Discussion 8: L. Garcia; Ruddiman, W.F., 1977. Late Quaternary deposition of ice-rafted sand in the subpolar North Atlantic (lat 40° to 65°N) in GSA Bulletin, v. 88, p. 1813-1827 (pdf)
- Discussion 9: J. Patton; Sumatra Renewal: Sumatra Renewal Proposal (pdf)
- Discussion 10: J. Patton; Fairbanks, R.G., et al., 2005. Radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years BP based on paired 230Th/ 234U/ 238U and 14C dates on pristine corals in Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 24, p. 1781-1796 (pdf)
- Discussion 11: J. Patton; Shugar, D.H., et al., 2014. Post-glacial sea-level change along the Pacific coast of North America in Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 97, p. 170-192 (pdf)
- Discussion 12: J. Patton; Wyshnytzky, C.E., et al., 2015. Luminescence dating of late Pleistocene proximal glacial sediments in the Olympic Mountains, Washington in Quaternary International, v. 362, p. 116-123 (pdf)
- Discussion 13: J. Patton; Harden, J.W. and Taylor, E.M, 1983. A Quantitative Comparison of Soil Development in Four Climatic Regimes in Quaternary Research, v. 20, p. 342-359 (pdf)
- Mohawk Valley – Feather River – Northern Sierras: 2015 Pacific Cell Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference. 9/24-27/2015
- Here is research paper writing guide and example paper.
- Here is the rubric that will be used to evaluate all reports and research papers.
- Greenland Ice Sheet: The New York Times: Greenland is Melting Away.
Lectures
Labs
Discussions
Field Trips
Discussion Schedule
Research Paper Guide
Educational Links
Schedule

Geological Society of America Timescale (click on image to download pdf file).
International Chronostratigraphic Chart (click on image to download pdf file).
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