JAMES ZACHOS - TEACHING INTERESTS AND COURSES

CURRENT COURSE OFFERINGS:

Past Course Offerings:

• Oceans and Climate:  Past, Present and Future (Ocean 102); Spring 11 - This course is designed to provide a fundamental background in Oceans and Climate for any student from any Division or Major needing basic knowledge of:  Oceanography, including the ocean's role in determining Climatic Conditions;  Earth System Processes relevant to global environmental and climate change;  the Science behind Global Warming and other Human induced environmental changes;  Past Climate Changes;  and predictions about Future climate.

• Graduate Seminar; Cenozoic Carbon Cycle–Climate Coupling: The Proxy Record (Eart 290T); Winter 11 - Weekly readings and presentations of papers that examine the nature of climate and carbon cycle coupling and feedback loops, on both long and short timescales using case studies from the Cenozoic.  Lectures were provided on the basic proxies used to reconstruct the carbon cycle, particularly the marine based proxies such as carbon isotopes.

• Sedimentology/Stratigraphy (Eart120); Spring 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 - This course explores fundamental concepts of sedimentology and stratigraphy including processes of erosion, transport, and deposition, physical and chemical characteristics of sediments, marine and continental depositional facies, biostratigraphy, cyclestratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, geochronology, seismic/sequence stratigraphy and basin analysis.  This course includes 4  field trips.  This is a writing intensive course. Students are evaluated on the basis of performance on 4 field abstracts and reports, unannounced quizzes and problem sets, and mid-term and final exam. Web site: http://ic.ucsc.edu/~jzachos/eart120/

• Evolution of Earth (Eart110A); Fall 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 - covers the processes and mechanisms which have produced the present day Earth with an emphasis on planetary evolution through time, particularly through tectonic and solar influences. The treatment is fairly quantitative, utilizing geochemical box modeling, principles of isostasy, and modern dating techniques. Specific topics covered included formation of the Earth; tectonic processes, and the evolution of, and interplay between, the Earth's crust and the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. Grading was based on homeworks, a mid-term, and a final.

• Advanced Marine Stratigraphy (Eart269); Spring 04 - Course examines the fundamental principles of marine stratigraphy and the latest techniques used to correlate and date marine sedimentary sequences with an emphasis on the Cenozoic epoch boundaries. Weekly lectures, readings, and problem sets.

• Stable Isotope Geochemistry (Eart128); Spring 98, 01, 04, Fall08, Winter 09 - This course explores the theory and concepts of stable isotope geochemistry (H/D, C, N, O, S).  The course begins with an introduction to basic theoretical and experimental principles including the general characteristics of isotopes, isotope effects, fractionation processes,  mass-spectrometry, and extraction/preparation techniques.  We then move on to the natural abundances of stable isotopes on the earth’s surface including the crust, hydrosphere (marine and freshwater), atmosphere, and biosphere.  We examine the critical physical, chemical, and biological processes responsible for isotope fractionation, as well as the application of isotopes to reconstructing aspects of Earth History

• Marine Stratigraphy (Eart123); Winter 97 - This course provides in-depth coverage of modern stratigraphic techniques as applied to marine sediments with particular emphasis on pelagic and hemipelagic sediments. The course will examine fundamental principles, methods of data collection and signal processing, as well as the integration of techniques. Topics include biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, orbital (cyclic) stratigraphy, graphic correlation, and spectral analysis.  Practical application of techniques is explored within the context of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Paleoceanography.

• Oceanography (Eart 1); Fall  96, 97, 98, 99, 00, 02, 03, Winter 02, 05 - This course introduces students to the basic principles of oceanography.  Emphasis is on topics dealing with the oceans role in global climate change.  I am also using a more processes oriented approach, focusing on both anticipated and past changes in the biologic, chemical, or physical characteristics of the oceans.

• Graduate Seminar; Dynamics, Proxies, and Sediment Record of Atmospheric Circulation, Ocean Upwelling and Export Production (Eart 290T); Spring 96 - Weekly readings and presentations of papers that examine the sediment record of coastal upwelling and export production as influenced by climatic and tectonic forces.  We discuss papers that deal with the dynamics of wind driven coastal upwelling and its role in nutrient cycling and productivity, as well as papers that investigate how signals of atmospheric circulation and upwelling are transferred to and preserved in marine sediments.  This includes several papers that examine the application of sediment magnetism to reconstructing aeolian sedimentation, carbon fluxes, and bottom water redox conditions.  We also discuss papers that examine the history of coastal upwelling (w/ particular emphasis on California/African margins) in the context of regional tectonic and climatic change, and its effects on the global carbon/nutrient cycles

• Graduate Seminar; Tectonism, Volcanism, and Global Climate Interactions: An Earth History Perspective (Eart 290T); Spring 96 - Weekly readings and presentations of papers that examine the interaction between tectonic and volcanic processes and the global climate system on long time scales.  The course focuses on how these processes have altered Earth's primary "boundary conditions" including; continental geography and topography, ocean gateways, sealevel, and greenhouse gas levels

• Graduate Seminar; Proxies and Records of Cenozoic Climate and Ocean/Atmosphere Chemistry  (Eart 290T); Winter 99 - This course focused on proxies and records of Cenozoic climate and ocean/atmospheric chemistry.  We read and discussed recent papers on past variations in ocean temperature (i.e., Mg/Ca proxy), alkalinity, pH, &pCO2, as well as the nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur cycles. We also discussed papers published by two of our winter WES seminar speakers, K. Farley and J. Channell, in advance of their visits.

• Graduate Seminar; Marine Micropaleontology and Paleoenvironments (Eart 290T); Spring 02 - This course focused on the ecology and paleoecology of the major marine microfossil groups that are used as proxies of past environments.  We examined the modern ecology and distribution of each group, as well as their distribution in the sediment record.  We then considerrf specific case studies of their application in reconstructing past environments.  Groups covered include coccoliths, diatoms, planktonic foraminifera, radiolaria, dinoflagellates, ostracodes, and benthic foraminifera.

• Graduate Seminar; Deep Time Paleoclimates (Eart 253); Winter 06, 08, 10 (co-taught with P. Koch in 06 & 08) - This course is offered every other year and focuses on the key events in the evolution of Earths climate (i.e., prior to the Pliocene).  This includes the early Archean faint young sun, Proterozoic Snowballs, Paleozoic glaciations and greenhouse events, the mid-Cretaceous OAE’s, and Paleogene thermal maxima and glacial intervals.  Considerable emphasis will be placed on evaluating the proxies of climate, and mechanisms of climate change (e.g., greenhouse gasses, paleogeography).