Undergraduate Course: Quaternary Environmental Change (EASC09007)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course unit presents an integrated approach to the processes that have driven the observed environmental changes at various time scales during the Quaternary period. Discussed are the interactions between the oceans, ice sheets and continents and the way in which climate change drives/affects Earth surface processes. The environmental records that preserve signals of environmental change on time scales of millions of years to decades and drivers are discussed. Practical sessions introduce techniques used in retrieving information on, and reconstructing, past environments from environmental archives (e.g. sediments, corals) and comparing data from different settings. |
| Course description |
Week 1
Lecture 1
Introduction to the Quaternary (SJ)
Lecture 2
Long-term climate change: Uniqueness of the Quaternary (DK)
Week 2
Lecture 3
Nature of Pleistocene climate cycles 1 (DK)
Practical 1
Interpretation of time-series spectral analysis 1 (DK)
Week 3
Lecture 4
Nature of Pleistocene climate cycles 2 (DK)
Practical 2
Interpretation of time-series spectral analysis 2 (DK)
Week 4
Lecture 5
What drives glacial-interglacial climate change? (SJ)
Practical 3
Retrieving environmental information from O- isotope curves (SJ)
Week 5
Lecture 6
Sea level change: Past and Future (DK)
Practical 4
Sea level change (DK)
Week 6
Lecture 7
Rapid Climate Change: Processes and climate records 1 (SJ)
Lecture 8
Rapid Climate Change: Processes and climate records 2. (SJ)
Week 7
Lecture 9
Variability in Tropical climate: Monsoon, rainfall & gases (SJ)
Practical 5
Climate change and Sapropels (SJ)
Week 8
Lecture 10
Dating records of climate change (1) (SJ)
Practical 6
Dating long-term climate change (SJ)
Week 9
Lecture 11
Dating records of climate change (2) (SJ)
Practical 7
Synchronizing climate records across the hemispheres (SJ)
Week 10
Lecture 12
Climate and hominid evolution: Droughts and trade winds (DK).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Global Tectonics and Sedimentology (EASC08019)
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 100 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 14,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 3,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
69 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam: 50%, Course Work: 50 %, Practical Exam: 0%.
All course work components will be assessed. The practicals are computer based and involve data processing and answering relevant questions. These marks combined count 50% towards the final mark.
The remaining 50% of the overall mark are based on an exam, where students will have to answer all the questions, whose number will range from eight to ten. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will be able to explain the nature, mechanisms and processes involved in past climate variability at million to decadal time scales and the way climate change has affected human evolution.
- Students will be able to describe the methods used in retrieving palaeoclimate information from various environmental archives.
|
Reading List
W.F. Ruddiman, Earth's Climate: Past and Future, W. H. Freeman and Company
R.C.L. Wilson, S.A. Drury & J.L. Chapman, The Great Ice Age: Climate Change and Life, The Open University
R.S. Bradley, Quaternary Palaeoclimatology, Unwin
J.J.Lowe & M.J.C. Walker, Reconstructing Quaternary Environments, Longman |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | QEC_ |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simon Jung
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Ken O'Neill
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: |
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