To acquaint students with the fundamentals of marine geology, of physical, biological,
and chemical oceanography, of paleoceanography, and of the environmental aspects of
oceanography, and to improve their skills in problem-solving and in written
communication.

This course on Oceanography examines human activities that 
include fishing by lines, nets, and dredges, overfishing of 
marine ecosystems, human impacts on coral reefs, offshore 
drilling, pollution, and waste disposal in the ocean. In this 
context, it examines how cultural, economic, or political forces 
lead to these activities and how they influence enactment of 
solutions and remediation. Exercises examine data about human 
impacts, such as overfishing, and their geopolitical context.

Overview of human interaction with the oceans
The seafloor and ocean basins
Ocean currents and human harvesting of their mechanical energy
Waves, their impact on coastlines, and human harvesting of their 
mechanical energy
Tides and human harvesting of their mechanical energy
Marine ecosystems:
Natural and anthropogenically-influenced cycling of nutrients, 
and the economic drivers of the latter
Changes in nutrient availability with warming of the sea surface
Marine organisms and human influences on them
Fishing and overfishing, and geopolitical constraints on 
solutions
Coral reefs and effects of warming and acidification on them
Vent and seep ecosystems, effects of subsea mining on them,
and the economics of such mining
Paleoceanography and responses of the oceans to climate change 
in the Quaternary period
Oceans of the future in response to anthropogenic climate change 
and acidification

All academic work must meet the standards contained in "A Culture of Honesty."