Keith Meldahl

Professor of Geology & Oceanography

Physical Sciences Department

Mira Costa College

· Ph.D. in Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1990

· M.S. in Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1986

· B.A. in Geology, University of Chicago,1983

kmeldahl@miracosta.edu Office phone: (760) 757-2121, ext. 6412

Consider making an Oceanography or Geology course part of your educational experience at Mira Costa College. Here in coastal San Diego County we are surrounded by a fascinating and readily accessible geologic and oceanographic environment. Studying oceanography and geology here is interesting, fun, and relevant to all of our lives. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about oceanography or geology classes, including my ONLINE sections of Oceanography and Environmental Geology (see below).

I have taught college earth science for most of my professional life, first at the University of Arizona in Tucson, then at Oberlin College in Ohio, and now Mira Costa College, where I have been since 1997.

Hard Road West (my recently published book)

KM HRWcover In addition to teaching, I do research on the geology of the American West and how it influenced the route of the historic overland trails and the experiences of mid-nineteenth century overland emigrants. I recently completed a book about my explorations along the historic California Trail—the overland route the forty-niners took during the California gold rush.

Click here to see Hard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail on Amazon.com.

Click here to view my Powerpoint presentation on Hard Road West. NOTE: All educators are welcome to download and view this presentation provided that they 1) use it for to educational purposes only; 2) acknowledge the source; 3) mention that the presentation is based on the book. Thank you!

Note: the Powerpoint above is a 21 mb file.

Frontier (my new book project)

I’m currently working on a new book. Frontier: a Geologic Trek across the American West from San Francisco to the Rocky Mountains takes the reader on an armchair “field trip” across the West and explains the science behind the scenery. The book begins at the California coast and travels 1200 miles to the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Colorado.

Information for ONLINE courses

OCEANOGRAPHY (OCEA101) ONLINE

Go to the OCEANOGRAPHY ONLINE HOME PAGE to learn about the course.

Log in to ETUDES-NG: http://etudes.org/gateway/login-mcc.html

ETUDES-NG is the courseware program used to run OCEA101 ONLINE. To participate, you need to be a registered student with a SURF id and password. Your course section will not be available for login until the start date. OCEA101 section # 1711 starts August 25, 2008; OCEA101 section # 1726 starts September 8, 2008.

Etudes Student Help: http://etudes.org/gateway/etudes-student-help-mcc.html

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY (GEOL120) ONLINE

Go to the ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY ONLINE HOME PAGE to learn about the course. (Note: this course is currently being taught by Phil Farquharson; please contact him for course information.)

Tu-Th 10:30am OCEANOGRAPHY class

ABCDcard.pdf World Plates.jpg

EXTRA CREDIT ACTIVITIES

OCEANOGRAPHY articles online

GEOLOGY articles online

EXTRA CREDIT MATH PUZZLERS

(print out and do any or all of the puzzlers, in any order you want—the more you do, the more credit you will earn)

Virtual Geology Field Trip of San Diego’s Backcountry

By Michelle Mudge

Geology of San Elijo Lagoon (13 mb .ppt file)

TEXTBOOK WEB SITES

OCEANOGRAPHY (OCEA101) textbook (Trujillo & Thurman, 9^th edition)

ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY (GEOL120) textbook (Pipkin and others, 5^th edition)