Global Environmental Processes (U01919)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 8 ? Acronym : GEO-2-GEP

The course analyses the geological, chemical, physical and biological processes, together with their interactions, which determine the characteristics of the environment in which we live and how it changes with time. The course comprises three principal components: evolution of the Earth and the driving mechanisms for change; major physical and biochemical processes and how they change through time; understanding the operation of the 'Earth System'. It covers issues such as Earth origin, extinction events in Earth history, solar forcing of climate change, ice ages, natural archives of change from the oceans, ice sheets, lakes, etc., the history of the hydrological carbon cycle and other biochemical cycles, climate trends, El Nino events, human impact, global climate models and the future of the environment. The course is appropriately combined with Oceanography.

Entry Requirements

? Costs : none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Earth Science, (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Other subject areas

Environmental Courses, (School of GeoSciences, Schedule N)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 2nd year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 3 hour(s) per week for 6 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
19/09/2006	09:00	09:50	Lecture Theatre 250, Joseph Black Building	KB

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Tuesday	09:00	09:50	KB
Laboratory	Tuesday	14:00	17:00	KB
Lecture	Thursday	11:10	12:00	KB
Lecture	Friday	12:10	13:00	KB

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

This course is intended as a foundation course for those students interested in studying Environmental Science from a Geoscience perspective, with emphasis on processes that operate at the global scale. In particular, the concept of the Earth System as the operation of inter-linked components of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere is stressed. This concept is used to study the interaction between geology, chemistry, physics and biology affecting the surface processes of the planet that together form the characteristics of the environment in which we live.

Assessment Information

Lectures, practicals and lab work. Class exams. Exemptions awarded on the basis of Class exam plus practical assessments. Class exam plus practical assessments = 40%, Degree exam = 60%.