Academic Team:

Thomas Giachietti (tgiachet@uoregon.edu) 
First-Year Experience Seminar Instructor

Madelyn Rutledge (mrutled3@uoregon.edu)
FIG Assistant

9 credits

UGST 109 First-Year Experience Seminar - 1 credit
PETR 101: F 9 - 9:50 AM
CRN: 15014

ERTH 306 Volcanoes and Earthquake - 4 credits
STB 245: MW 12 - 1:50 PM
CRN: 11862

ANTH 145 Principles of Archaeology - 4 credits
Lecture
LIL 282: TR 10 - 11:20 AM
CRN: 10125
Discussion
CON 204: F 10 - 10:50 AM
CRN: 15530
 

About the FIG:

Some of the earliest evidence of our ancestors is a set of footprints preserved in volcanic ash 3.7 million years ago. Since then, a few large volcanic eruptions have greatly impacted local populations (e.g., Pompeii) or have participated to the decline of whole civilizations (e.g., Santorini and the Minoans). As writing was invented only about 4,500 years ago, the story of these cataclysmic events and other problems posed by the natural environment came to us in the form of legends and stories. In a complimentary way, Earth Sciences enable us to read the story of our past by reconstructing volcanic and seismic events that shaped the habitats colonized by our species. In this FIG we will travel back in time through stones and see how scientific and literary study can be combined to investigate what we can learn about past natural disasters from the traces they leave buried both in the ground and in cultural memory.  

We will, for example, analyze how the graphical description of a volcanic eruption by a layman made about 2,000 years ago is still used as an accurate description of a type of major volcanic eruption that could affect one of our Cascade volcanoes. We will discuss how official reports about large waves destroying coastal cities in Japan in 1700 helped modern scientists put a date on the latest major Cascadia earthquake. Altogether, we will use what you learn in "Volcanoes & Earthquakes" and " Origins of Storytelling" to create and tell a story about a major natural hazard that we will make up based on scientific facts. We will try to take advantage of some of your potential hobbies (e.g., dance, music, sculpture, painting, writing, drama?) to tell the story and pass some notions in a non-traditional manner. 

Deep-Dive FIG: Please note this FIG contains an intermediate course at the 300-level. This course has been vetted by First Year Programs to ensure first-term students can achieve success. The instructor will be available to assist students along the way. 

ERTH 306 Volcanoes and Earthquake - CoreEd or major satisfying course

After a brief introduction to plate tectonics, this class will address how the Earth melts rock & makes volcanoes, why there is such a variety of volcanic types, and how volcanoes behave. This is followed by examining how faults make earthquakes and mountains, and how earthquake waves shake the ground and allow us to imagine the interior of the Earth. Many examples are taken from the Pacific Northwest, where all the different types of faults are active and where some of the largest earthquakes on Earth occur.

ANTH 145 Principles of Archaeology - CoreEd or major satisfying course, 4-credits

Introduction to archaeology methods and interpretation.