Undergraduate Course: Spain Fieldcourse: Mountain Building and Destruction (EASC09042)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course examines both geology and physical geography within the Betic Cordillera of Southern Spain. Fieldwork will be based primarily in the Sorbas and Tabernas basins, located inland from Almeria. The basins abut high terrain composed of metamorphic rocks and the landscape offers excellent opportunities to examine mountain uplift, erosion and the deposition then subsequent dissection of sediments over the past ~10 million years. The course will involve mapping of metamorphic rocks, examination of a basin sedimentary sequence involving turbidites, marls and limestones, mapping of sedimentary features, and examination of how uplift and geologic structures have influence landscape evolution. The course will build on both geologic and geographic field techniques, so that students will be prepared to embark on an independent dissertation project following the course. The course will involve 10 days of fieldwork. |
| Course description |
NOTE: This itinerary is provisional and subject to change depending on weather and other factors.
Day 1
Metamorphic section from S to N from Nijar to Lucainena.
Day 2
Metamorphic map near Tabernas. Time permitting, look at sediments ~ 1-2 km to NW: Tortonian/Quaternary
Day 3
Rambla Sierra, then turbidites nr Lucanena in canyon. Then Tortonian/Messinian contact
Day 4
Solitary channel, ¿El Gordo¿ an interesting sedimentary structure.
Day 5
Carbonates near Los Molinos; structural contours (look at units: limestone, shell hash, marl, sandstone), Gypsum, Sorbas beds.
Day 6
AM: work on rock relation diagram, PM delta deposits near Vera.
Day 7
Mapping and geomorph near Los Molinos.
Day 8
Mapping and geomorph near Los Molinos.
Day 9
AM: work on geomorphology/mapping project; PM: Independent neotectonic section near Penas Negras.
Day 10
Cabo de Gata (volcanics + beach mapping section).
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2014/15, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Fieldwork Hours 93,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
0 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam: 0%, Course Work: 100 %, Practical Exam: 0%.
Assessment consists of 4 components. All components are weighted equally at 25% each.
i) A rock relation diagram showing the rock units in the Sorbas and Tabernas basins in their relative position in three dimensions.
ii) A geologic map of a small basin near Sorbas, Spain.
iii) A geomorphology ¿poster¿ combining both measurements and theory that explain the geomorphic evolution of the same basin that is mapped for assessment ii.
iv) The field notebooks. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- The ability to identify various metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.
- The ability to reconstruct depositional history from spatially distributed sedimentary rocks.
- The ability to infer depositional environments from sedimentary rocks.
- Mapping of landscapes in which geologic structures and geomorphic processes interact.
- An understanding of how channel steepness and channel width modulate the transient evolution of channel profiles.
General field skills such as mapping, note-taking and observational skills.
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Reading List
| Scientific papers relevant to the trip will be distributed in in Semester 2 prior to the trip. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
Students who are immobile will be asked to carry out an independant research porject using remotely sensed data and geologic maps with hand specimens. |
| Keywords | Field studies, mountain building, basin filling, surface processes |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simon Mudd
Tel: (0131 6)51 9090
Email: simon.m.mudd@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Ken O'Neill
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: koneill3@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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