My name is Ray Rector.  I will be your
 
online geology instructor this semester
 
and I'd like to be the first one to say
 
Greetings! to our online class and
 
welcome you.
 
I'm standing here on the greensand
 
Grotto Beach here in South Kona on the
 
Big Island of Hawaii.   I picked this
 
location to introduce myself because
 
this is one of the most amazing
 
geology places on Earth. And we're
 
basically standing here on the edge of
 
Mauna Loa - the world's tallest active
 
volcano in the world.
 
So, for our online course this semester,
 
we're going to be covering a broad range
 
of subjects in geology.  We are going to be
 
studying plate tectonics, isostasy;
 
We're going to study earth materials,
 
including the various types of minerals
 
that make up rocks.
 
We are going to study igneous rocks,
 
sedimentary rocks, and metamorphic rocks,
 
including volcanism.   And then we're going
 
to look at historical geology - looking at
 
the different types of geologic
 
dating methods, including using fossils.
 
Then we'll move on to
 
surface processes, including surface
 
water movement: rivers, lakes, and the
 
ocean.   Then we'll move on to other
 
surface process topics that involves
 
deserts, glaciation, and shorelines.
 
Then we'll finish our semester studying
 
climate change  - a very important topic.   So
 
here in South Kona,  there are a lot of
 
those things that I'm talking about  going
 
on right here as I speak.   We have very
 
young lava flows right here - basaltic
 
lava flows - coming off with the southern flank
 
of Mauna Loa - situated over the Hawaiian hotspot.
 
These igneous rocks are undergoing weathering by
 
surface processes,
 
particularly by ocean action, turning rock
 
into sediment.  The sediment can cement
 
together to make a lava-sand sandstone
 
that can eventually wear out to make
 
another beach.
 
So, the Earth is constantly changing over
 
huge amounts of time.  We're talking about
 
geologic time over hundreds of thousands,
 
millions,  even billions of years
 
it shape our planet
 
as it looks today.   So you'll be
 
looking at all these different topics
 
through the semester, and I will be your
 
guide on our wondrous journey into
 
geological sciences.   ALOHA! and  I'll see you
 
online.
P.S.  As a reminder, please read the course syllabus and schedule, along with my written greeting message and other course start-up documents, in order to best preapred in starting this class.  Aloha.
