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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2014/2015
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Earth Science

Undergraduate Course: Global Tectonics (EASC09027)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryThis course provides an introductory framework for explaining the major features of current and past tectonic and magmatic activity of the Earth. The Earth has a hot interior and loses heat continually to space. Temperature controls the mechanical properties of the Earth's materials. The outer part is consequently cold and forms a relatively strong and dense layer (the plates). Deeper down the hotter material has no finite yield strength and will creep under stresses as low as those caused by temperature - and thus density - differences. Tectonic events are a reflection of the motion of the outer part of the Earth, driven primarily by gravity acting on these density differences, which arise, in turn, from the past and present thermal energy of the Earth and its dissipation. As an extra important complication, earth materials can melt. This can occur if they are heated, if they are brought to low pressure while still hot, if the movement of plates takes water into the hot interior, or if radioactive 'self-heating' cannot be dissipated by conduction fast enough. Melts move material and heat, and have profoundly influenced both the composition and the thermal state of the Earth's outer layer.
Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed Stratigraphy and Sedimentology (EASC08015) OR Global Tectonics and Sedimentology (EASC08019)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs None.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
1. The integrated knowledge required to explain the major features of current and past tectonic and magmatic activity on the Earth
2. An understanding of modern tectonic processes, current plate tectonic theory and the current views of the driving force of plate motion
3. The ability to understand geological phenomena in a plate tectonic context
4. An appreciation of how thermal models, constrained by observations, can successfully account for many basic lithospheric features and asthenospheric behaviour
5. An ability to critically appraise statements about tectonic processes
6. An understanding of the principles applied to reconstruct plate configuration
7. How to unravel continental collisional zones and orogenic belts to assist in continental reconfiguration
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information 1 hour(s) per week for 5 week(s). 11 lectures and 5 practicals in total.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Jennifer Tait
Tel:
Email: Jenny.Tait@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Katie Leith
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: Katie.Leith@ed.ac.uk
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