Class summaries

Dr. Kline's Classes

At Arkansas Tech, Dr. Kline has offered courses in the Geology curriculum since 1992. On a yearly basis he has taught Structural Geology (GEOL 3004) and Petrology (GEOL 3164). The Mineralogy course (GEOL 3014) is sometimes taught by Dr. Kline and sometimes by Dr. Cohoon. Twice Dr. Kline has taught Historical Geology (GEOL 2024). Of the courses listed in the Mining and Minerals Technology curriculum, Dr. Kline covers the Hydrology course (MMT 2083). The basic content and philosophy of each of these courses is presented briefly below. For each course, a recent syllabus can be viewed. There are also links to some field trips that have been conducted in connection with these classes that you may look at.

Go directly to the class summary you are interested in using these bookmarks:

** MINERALOGY ** PETROLOGY ** STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY ** HYDROLOGY **
** HISTORICAL GEOLOGY **GEOLOGY SEMINAR

To see a recent class syllabus for MINERALOGY, click here.

Viewed in a certain way, MINERALOGY is the most basic of geology courses. It deals with the fundamental ingredients of the solid earth, minerals. Of course, more fundamental than mineralogy is chemistry, because minerals are essentially naturally occurring chemical compounds; hence, Chemistry is a prerequisite. The laws of chemistry and the physical conditions in various parts of the earth dictate which minerals will form and remain stable and which will break down. Said in other words, a mineral’s chemical and physical properties influence how it will behave in various physical environments of the earth. However, much about minerals can be understood without a rigorous chemical treatment, and Dr. Kline reviews the chemical principles that apply as they are encountered in the course.

In the course, Dr. Kline emphasizes the chemical principles that influence the growth and behavior of minerals. As minerals grow, the physical arrangements of atoms in growing crystals result in various forms of symmetry. The science of crystal symmetry is "crystallography". Crystallography is a commonly taught component of mineralogy courses, and the geologic literature often "speaks" with the assumption that the reader is versed in crystallography. To understand crystallography in a thorough way would take an entire course in itself. Dr. Kline covers primarily the "morphological" aspect of crystallography, that is, the symmetry that can be seen in the external shape of well-formed crystals, and seeks to prepare students in the basic understanding of the vocabulary of crystallography.

While attempting to cover the fundamental principles of mineralogy, Dr. Kline also makes an effort to touch on many practical aspects, such as the economic importance of many minerals and the role of various minerals in the balance of the natural environment. Because many of the economically important minerals form in systems that are not usually discussed in other basic geology courses, Dr. Kline spends some time to discuss these systems, such as hydrothermal ore-forming systems and supergene enrichment of metallic ore deposits.

Dr. Kline’s goal in the lab part of the course is that students would be able to recognize, in hand specimens, a suite of the most commonly occurring minerals. Although some analytical instruments that are useful in mineral identification are used, Dr. Kline’s emphasis is on field identification, using those tools that would be brought into the field. At least one field trip is always an important element of the course. Study questions for preparing for exams for the course can be accessed on the web.

To see a recent class syllabus for PETROLOGY, click here.

Rocks are simply aggregates of minerals. With mineralogy as a background (and prerequisite), PETROLOGY is the study of rocks. The various physical and chemical conditions of various parts of the earth influence which minerals will occur together in those environments. For example, under high temperature conditions, certain mineral components of existing rocks in that high temperature environment will begin to melt. The ones that melt, and thus the elements that are contributed to the melt, are based on the chemical make up of the minerals that are present. In turn, the melt may move to a cooler environment and begin to solidify. Melts that are rich in silica commonly will crystallize to form minerals such as quartz, alkali-feldspar, plagioclase, and biotite. The rock with this set of mineral components is called "granite".

At ATU, the Geology curriculum is designed with a petrology course that includes all three of the major rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The goal in the course is that students would be brought to understand the chemical and physical processes that operate in various environments of the earth and how they influence the nature of the rocks that are formed in those environments.

The lab section of the course is of great importance. As in mineralogy, Dr. Kline emphasizes field identification of rocks. Maybe the most important thing in the course is the basic knowledge of the classification systems of rocks, because even though most students will not become professional petrologists, everyone who goes into some geologically related profession will encounter rock names constantly. Trying to practice geology without knowing the difference between andesite, granulite, arenite, and micrite is like trying to discuss football strategies without knowing the difference between a tackle, a fullback, a quarterback, and a tight end. As in other courses, seeing rocks in their natural setting, in the field, is of great importance. Click here to see two field trips that petrology classes have taken: Spring 1997 and Spring 1998.

Double click here to see study questions for the lecture tests of the Spring 1999 Semester.

To see a recent class syllabus for STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY, click here.

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY has to do with the arrangement of rocks in the earth. Sedimentary rocks are commonly "arranged" in horizontal layers, but in many places these layers are folded in various ways and the layers may be broken up by faults. Many important practical applications in various subdisciplines of geology, such as petroleum geology, ore-deposit geology, environmental geology, and engineering geology, depend on an understanding of geologic structures such as these.

After a thorough coverage of "primary" structures and their significance, especially in their use in determining stratigraphic "facing", the course goes into a very fundamental discussion of strain and the mechanical response of rocks to stress. This is done from a qualitative rather than quantitative approach. A basic understanding of these principles is very useful in understanding essentially all tectonically produced geologic structures, which are the main subject of the course. With this basis, faults, folds, and joints in crustal rocks are discussed in detail, both in terms of how these structures are described and categorized, and in terms of processes involved in their formation.

Several matters are covered in labs. A few weeks are dedicated to geometric solutions to some basic types of structural problems. For example, what if someone owns a parcel of land. If you know from outcrops of bedrock in that area what the orientation of bedrock strata is there, how far down would you expect to have to drill to hit a particular stratum that constitutes a good aquifer, in order to install a well on the property? Some other weeks are used to cover certain ways to statistically analyze geometric structural data, such as "stereonets" and "rose diagrams", and computer programs for plotting these are introduced. Field recognition and description of geologic structures is covered in field trips associated with the course. The close proximity of ATU to the tectonically deformed Ouachitas and other deformed belts is advantageous.

To see a recent class syllabus for HISTORICAL GEOLOGY, click here.

HISTORICAL GEOLOGY is only briefly discussed here, because it is not one of Dr. Kline’s "regular" course offerings. This course covers how earth history is interpreted by analysis of what can presently be observed in the earth—its minerals, rocks, structures, fossils, etc. What is understood about the processes involved in the formation and preservation of various rocks is applied to what is observed, and interpretations are generated as to what has taken place to produce the result of what now exists.

Many instructors approach this course with a brief discussion of principles and then a "broad-brush" coverage of the geologic history of North America and the world in general and the whole history of life as interpreted from fossils. In Dr. Kline’s opinion, the principles of interpreting geologic history get lost in a forest of widely scattered information. In his historical geology course, Dr. Kline spends more time on the principles of interpreting relative timing of geologic events based on what can be observed in bedrock outcrops, and on how to interpret past geologic environments based on the nature of the rocks. These principles are then seen in application, through a series of field trips in Arkansas, where examples of many of the principles can be demonstrated. Things viewed in the field trips are tied directly in to the interpreted geologic history of the southern mid-continent. Students actually see much of the "hard evidence" upon which the historical interpretation, from the early Paleozoic through the Tertiary, is based. The itineraries and some photos from these field trips can be viewed by clicking here: Northern Arkansas, Arkoma Basin, and Arkoma Basin/Ouachitas/Coastal Plain.

To see a recent class syllabus for HYDROLOGY, click here.

HYDROLOGY is the science of the properties, distribution, and circulation of water at the earth’s surface and beneath the surface. Dr. Kline’s emphasis is on groundwater, covering the residence and movement of groundwater, as well as the chemistry of groundwater. Thus the course involves the interaction of the water that soaks into the ground and the rocks, minerals, and structures of the soil and underlying bedrock.

Since the course is on water in the geologic environment, it can be called "hydrogeology". Knowledge of geology through an introductory level before entering the course would be helpful, but the basic geologic aspects are also covered within the framework of the course, so there is not a prerequisite. Groundwater is an extremely important resource for human existence, and the pollution of groundwater is a major aspect of environmental concern. For this reason the course is useful to students of a variety of disciplines who are taking an environmental emphasis within their major. This is one reason for not having other geology courses as prerequisites.

In addition to the qualitative knowledge that is the basis of the course, a number of quantitative aspects of hydrogeology are also covered (so that students will not end up the "geologist who knows everything about groundwater except how much"). A rigorous quantitative treatment of the physics of water in porous media (much of the subsurface in which groundwater resides is essentially that, a porous medium) would involve "heavy-duty" differential calculus, but most practicing hydrogeologists apply algebraic expressions that have been derived from the calculus. Dr. Kline’s approach is strictly using algebraic expressions applied to various practical situations. A student with a decent command of college algebra should not have serious problems with the course. The quantitative side of the course does not involve the memorization of numerous formulas; it is covered through homework problems and take-home quizzes, all of which are open-book.

If you are enrolled in the course, you can prepare for lecture tests by carefully answering the study questions. Most test questions will be the same, or from modifications of these questions. Check with Dr. Kline from time to time to see if you are answering thoroughly enough.

Although the course’s main subject is underground, and thus out of view, it is nevertheless useful to take a field trip. This time, it is not to see groundwater itself, but to see such things as the process of drilling to examine the subsurface. For example, one year we went to the Brushy Island Landfill, an important landfill for Pulaski County, to see drilling being done for subsurface exploration to prepare for a permit application for expanding the landfill. Before constructing a landfill or expanding an existing landfill, the subsurface hydrogeology must be clearly understood, in order to know if the intended land use is environmentally safe, or to determine what measures must be taken to insure that it will be safe.

[ Tech ]