GE 4150- Natural Hazards

 

Fall 2007

 

Instructor: Kelly S. Durst, 617 DOW (ksdurst@mtu.edu)

 


Lecture: MW: , Dillman 320

 


Lab: F: or (partially self-paced) DOW 709

 


Office Hours: By appointment

AIM and Yahoo IM: kelvolcano

MSN: kelvolcano@hotmail.com

 


Course Overview and Objectives: We will focus on a broad range of natural hazards, with a focus on volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods. We will explore the causes, impacts, and mitigation of natural hazards. We will learn about agencies in the United States which are responsible for hazard mapping, warnings, and information. Technical skills are obtained by hazard mapping with ArcGIS, a widely used GIS software package, as well as satellite imagery including Landsat, ASTER, and SRTM data. Multidisciplinary reading and analysis are a large part of this course; material will come from books, journals, technical papers, and the internet.

 


Assignments and Homework: Any writing assignments must be typed, double-spaced, and are due in class one week later, unless noted otherwise. No late assignments will be accepted, unless prior approval is given due to extreme circumstances. 

 


Required Texts: None

 


Prerequisites: GE2000, GE2100, or GE2200, and junior or senior standing for GE4150

 


Grading:

Lab Assignments: 50% (includes the term project)

Homeworks and Class Assignments: 20%

Midterm and Final: 30%

 

Dates

Lectures

Labs

September 4-7

 

Hazard Intro

Intro to GIS

September 10-14

 

Hazard Response

Hazard Planning

September 17-21

 

Hazard Warnings & Presidential Disaster Declarations

Hazard Mitigation & Recovery

September 24-28

 

Volcanic Observatories & Hazard Warning Systems

Volcanoes

October 1-5

 

Volcanoes: Ground & Air hazards

Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens

October 8-12

 

Volcanoes: Galeras

Santiaguito

October 15-19

 

Wildfires & Landslides

Landslides

October 22-26

 

Midterm Exam, Seismic Activity

New Madrid Fault Zone

October 29- Nov. 2

 

Seismic Case Studies

Earthquake Mitigation

November 5-9

 

Seismic Mitigation

Earthquake Recovery

November 12-16

 

Hurricanes & Tornadoes

Hurricanes/Tornadoes Lab

November 19-23

 

Thanksgiving- No Class

No Lab

November 26-30

 

Flood Hazards & Mitigation

Flood Hazard Analysis

December 3-7

 

Flood Case Studies

Flood Mapping

December 10-14

 

Human-Caused Disasters

Toxic Spill Lab

December 17-21

 

Finals Week

No lab