Grade 12: Earth Science

Here is a comprehensive contents outline for a Grade 12 Earth Science course, aligned with the British Columbia (BC) curriculum in Canada.

The BC Grade 12 Earth Science course is formally called Geology 12. It is a specialized course that delves deeper into geological processes, Earth’s history, and resource management. It is designed for students with a strong interest in geology, environmental science, or related fields.

The following outline breaks down the content into the core units as they are typically presented.

Geology 12 – Course Contents Outline

Big Ideas of the Course:

• The study of Earth’s history provides insight into the origins of life and the evolution of the planet.

• Earth’s materials are changed through cycling and recycling.

• Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains Earth’s geological processes.

• Earth’s geological and biological history is interpreted from the fossil and rock record.

Unit 1: Mineralogy and Crystallography

• Key Concepts:

  • Advanced Mineral Properties: Crystal systems, cleavage vs. fracture, specific gravity, and advanced diagnostic tests.

  • Silicate Structures: The silicon-oxygen tetrahedron and the classification of silicate minerals (nesosilicates, sorosilicates, cyclosilicates, inosilicates, phyllosilicates, tectosilicates).

  • Mineral Formation: Environments of mineral formation (igneous, metamorphic, hydrothermal, sedimentary).

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Processing and analyzing data, Planning and conducting.

Unit 2: Petrology – The In-Depth Study of Rocks

• Key Concepts:

  • Igneous Petrology: Bowen’s Reaction Series, classification based on texture and composition, detailed identification of intrusive and extrusive rocks.

  • Sedimentary Petrology: Clastic vs. chemical sedimentary rocks, detailed analysis of grain size, rounding, and sorting as indicators of depositional environment.

  • Metamorphic Petrology: Index minerals, metamorphic facies, and the interpretation of metamorphic grade and parent rock (protolith).

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Evaluating, Applying and innovating.

Unit 3: Structural Geology and Plate Tectonics

• Key Concepts:

  • Rock Deformation: Stress and strain, brittle vs. ductile deformation.

  • Geological Structures: Detailed analysis of folds (anticlines, synclines), faults (normal, reverse, thrust, strike-slip), and joints.

  • Orogenesis (Mountain Building): The geological processes of continent-continent, arc-continent, and oceanic-continental collisions.

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Questioning, Predicting, and Processing data.

Unit 4: Stratigraphy and Earth’s History

• Key Concepts:

  • Principles of Stratigraphy: Superposition, original horizontality, lateral continuity, cross-cutting relationships, inclusions, and faunal succession.

  • The Geologic Time Scale: Major eons, eras, periods, and epochs; key events in Earth’s biological and geological history.

  • Correlation: Using index fossils and key beds to correlate rock layers across different regions.

  • Unconformities: Recognizing and interpreting angular unconformities, disconformities, and nonconformities.

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Evaluating, Communicating.

Unit 5: Paleontology

• Key Concepts:

  • Fossilization Processes: Modes of preservation (permineralization, casts/molds, carbonization, trace fossils, original material).

  • Major Fossil Groups: Identification and significance of key invertebrate and vertebrate fossil groups.

  • Interpreting Past Environments: Using fossils to reconstruct paleoecology and paleoenvironments.

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Processing and analyzing data, Applying and innovating.

Unit 6: Economic Geology and Resource Management

• Key Concepts:

  • Ore Formation: Processes of ore genesis, including magmatic segregation, hydrothermal veins, contact metamorphism, and placer deposits.

  • Energy Resources: The geology of fossil fuel formation (coal, oil, natural gas) and alternative energy resources (geothermal, nuclear).

  • Mining and Sustainability: Exploration methods, mining techniques, and the environmental impact and management of resource extraction.

• Curricular Competencies Focus: Applying and innovating, Evaluating.

Additional Potential Topics (Varies by School/Teacher)

• Geophysics: Seismology, gravity and magnetic surveys.

• Hydrogeology: Groundwater flow, aquifers, and water resource issues.

• Engineering Geology: Slope stability, landslides, and geotechnical engineering.

• Planetary Geology: Comparative geology of other planets and moons.

Curricular Competencies (The “Doing” of Science)

Throughout all units, students will be expected to develop these skills:

• Questioning and Predicting

• Planning and Conducting

• Processing and Analyzing Data and Information

• Evaluating

• Applying and Innovating

• Communicating

This outline provides a solid foundation for what a student can expect to learn in BC’s Geology 12 course. The emphasis is on advanced identification, interpretation of geological history, and understanding the formation and management of Earth’s resources.