Department of Geography and Earth Sciences
The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences offers an interdisciplinary program of study that has two different but related components. Earth Sciences includes the study of the history and structure of the earth and its hydrosphere and atmosphere. Geography emphasizes the locational aspects of human activities as they are distributed over the earth.
Earth Sciences. The Earth Sciences program focuses on the earth as a dynamic natural system. Students pursuing the B.S. degree choose among four options within the curriculum. The geology option comprises coursework in areas such as mineralogy, geochemistry, structural geology, tectonics, sedimentology, petrology and optical mineralogy. Alternatively, some of the courses may be combined with other more applied courses such as soil science, hydrogeology, geologic mapping, remote sensing and fluvial processes to complete an option in geotechnology. The atmospheric-hydrology option focuses on the interaction of the hydrosphere and atmosphere with surficial materials. It includes courses in meteorology, climatology, hydrologic and fluvial processes. The environmental science option focuses on the interaction of humans and their environment through such courses as environmental dilemma, environmental geology, environmental planning and remote sensing.
Students majoring in earth sciences pursue careers in mining, oil and gas exploration, meteorology, environmental planning, site analysis, terrain analysis, and in teaching at all levels. There are employment opportunities in both government and private industry with the greatest range of positions available to students who earn graduate degrees. The program is designed to prepare students for advanced study in geology and earth sciences.
Geography. The Geography curriculum is oriented toward the methodologies of social science in which the importance of location is stressed. Traditional regional studies and conceptual courses that deal with land use patterns, transportation systems, industrial location, the distribution of retail activities, city planning, and urban systems are augmented by techniqueoriented courses such as map design and compilation, computer mapping, analysis of satellite images, statistical methods and geographic information systems. These courses prepare students in both the concepts and methods of contemporary spatial analysis.
Students majoring in geography find careers open to them in urban and regional planning, cartography, marketing research, transportation planning, real estate development and teaching. As in the earth sciences, the greatest range of opportunities is open to those who earn graduate degrees. (See The Graduate School section of this Catalog regarding the M.A. degree program).
A unique advantage of the Department's interdisciplinary curriculum is that students majoring in one component of the program may take related courses in the other component. A student concentrating in geology, for example, might study computer mapping as part of the earth sciences major. Conversely, a geography student interested in land use planning could take supporting course work in soil science or hydrology as part of the major.
Facilities. The Department of Geography and Earth Sciences is housed in modern, wellequipped facilities. Extensive rock, mineral and fossil holdings are available for instructional purposes. The optical mineralogy laboratory features highquality petrographic microscopes linked with an image analysis system. Analytical facilities also include a geochemical sample preparation laboratory, a plasma emission spectrometer and rapid sediment analyzers. The petrology lab employs a precision thin section machine and an automated photomicrography unit that is attached to a research grade polarizing microscope. A proton magnetometer and ground penetrating radar systems are available for groundbased field surveys. Frequent field trips are facilitated by the Department's vans, extensive field instruments and camping gear.
The atmospheric-hydrology laboratory houses the Department's Meteorology Data Acquisition System (McIDAS), a geographic information systems package that provides "real time" meteorological data via links to weather satellites. Stream gauges and soil analysis instruments are on hand for use in fluvial processes and soils labs.
Students have access to a Departmental computer lab equipped with networked Apple Macintosh and IBM microcomputers, a file server, and printer. This facility is networked to other labs on campus and to the University's mainframe computers. A separate Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing lab houses a Sun Microsystems 4/390 fileserver, Sun Sparc workstations, digitizers, and a large format color electrostatic plotter. Arc/Info and Erdas software packages run on the workstations and are used to support classes in GIS, remote sensing and image processing, and spatial decision support systems. The department also maintains a large collection of geographically referenced data for use by students and staff in the lab. These data sets include satellite imagery, U.S. Census Bureau files, and U.S. Geological Survey map data as well as locallydeveloped data sets.
The UNC Charlotte cartography lab has earned a reputation for its high quality production cartography. It has three fullyequipped darkrooms with process cameras, contact frames, platemakers and color proof exposure units. Two finishing rooms house cartographic equipment such as highend Apple computer workstations, laser printers and scanners, and a high resolution electronic image setter.
Cooperative Education in Geography and Earth Sciences. Students in the Geography and Earth Sciences programs may obtain practical work experience while pursuing their degrees by participating in the Cooperative Education program. The work experience is approved by the Department and is closely related to the student's field of study. Students interested in learning more about participating in this program should contact the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences.
GEOG 1101 World Regional Geography...................................3 ESCI 1101 Earth Science-Geography....................................4 GEOG 1105 Location of Human Activity.................................3 GEOG 2100 Maps and Graphs............................................3 GEOG 2101 Maps and Graphs Laboratory.................................1 GEOG 2110 Intro Geographic Research..................................3Community and Regional Planning Option Requirements: select 16 hours
GEOG 3200 Land Use Planning..........................................3 GEOG 3210 Regional Planning..........................................3 GEOG 3215 Environmental Planning.....................................3 GEOG 4115 Intro GIS..................................................4 GEOG 4205 Internal Structure of the City.............................3 GEOG 4210 Urban Planning Methods.....................................3Option-related electives to complete B.S. degree may be selected from:
GEOG 3100 The City and Its Region....................................3 GEOG 3115 Urban Transportation Problems..............................3 GEOG 3265 Behavioral Geography.......................................3 GEOG 4110 Computer Mapping...........................................3 GEOG 4155 Retail Geography...........................................3 GEOG 4255 Applied Population Analysis................................3 GEOG 4400 Internship in Geography..................................3-6 GEOG 5115 Advanced GIS...............................................4Economic Geography Option Requirements: select 15 hours
GEOG 3150 Manufacturing Geography.............................3 GEOG 4155 Retail Location............................................3 GEOG 4160 Geography of Transportation Systems........................3 GEOG 4205 Internal Structure of the City.............................3 GEOG 4255 Applied Population Analysis................................3 GEOG 3000 Topics in Regional Geography...............................3 GEOG 4000 Selected Topics in Geography...............................3
Geology Option. Required courses are ESCI 3115, 3124, 3130 and 4130 (16 hours). A minimum of 17 additional hours in earth sciences must be selected from ESCI 3120, 3190, 3190L, 3210, 4100, 4110, 4115, 4120, 4135, 4140, 4145, 4145L, 4160, and 4800.
Geotechnology Option. Required courses are ESCI 3115, 3130, 3210 and 4140 (15 hours). A minimum of nine hours in principles of earth sciences must be selected from ESCI 3120, 3124, 3190, 3190L, 3250, 4100, 4110, 4130, 4145, 4145L, 4155 and nine hours in applied earth sciences are to selected from ESCI 3150, 4115, 4120, 4160, 4400, and GEOG 4115.
Atmospheric Science--Hydrology Option. Required courses are ESCI 3250, 3251, 4140, 4150 and 4155 (19 hours). A minimum of 14 hours of electives must be selected from ESCI 2105, 3120, 3210, 4145, 4145L, 4160, 4800 and GEOG 4115.
Environmental Science Option. Required courses are ESCI 2101, 3190, 3190L, 3150, 4160 and GEOG 3215 and 4115 (21 hours). A minimum of 12 hours of electives must be selected from ESCI 2105, 3120, 3170, 3250, 3251, 4140, 4145, 4145L, 4150, 4155 and GEOG 3200.