Undergraduate Course: Environmental Geoscience 4th Year Field Course (EASC10086)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 10 |
| Home subject area | Earth Science |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | Marine Techniques and Processes Course: Five days' field work at Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory at the start of summer, end of the 3rd year.
The course is designed to build on skills first introduced/developed in the 3rd field course EASC09036 and laboratory techniques course EASC09045. The trip is designed to provide hands-on experience with water and sediment sampling methods, and bathymetric and hydrographic survey techniques, commonly used in coastal oceanography. Water and sediment samples are subsequently analysed for a variety of parameters and, together with bathymetric and hydrographic data, are used to provide insights on the physical and biogeochemical processes occurring in Loch Etive. A further element of the course focuses on coastal geomorphology and a prediction of how the local environment will respond to projected environmental change. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Fieldwork Hours 40,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
58 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Design and implementation of field sampling techniques and surveys.
2. Collection and interpretation of environmental data sets.
3. Parallel assessment of physical, biological and chemical processes in a natural setting.
4. Data quality assessment.
5. Written field-report techniques. |
Assessment Information
Written Exam: 0%, Course Work: 100 %, Practical Exam: 0%.
Assessment of the course is in the form of two written reports; one (75%, 2,500-3,000 words) based on the hydrographic and geochemical investigations; the other (25%, 1,500-2,000 words) based on coastal geomorphology studies.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Students are provided with all introductory lectures and materials during the field trip.
There are four days of fieldwork in which students are rotated in groups between the following four exercises.
1) Water and sediment sampling and CTD profiling on RV Seol Mara.
2) Hydrographic and bathymetric surveys.
3) Analyses of water column and sediment porewater samples (in laboratory at SAMS).
4) Coastal geomorphology studies and tutorial in Ocean Data View software package.
Objectives and skills development are as described in Course Description and Learning Outcomes sections. |
| Transferable skills |
Field techniques, Report writing |
| Reading list |
Libes, S., Introduction to Marine Biogeochemistry. |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
5-day field trip followed by write-up of reports over the Summer. The trip takes place late-May to early June (depending on availability of facilities, tides etc). |
| Keywords | Oceanography, Hydrography, Fieldtrip, Geochemistry, Laboratory |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Greg Cowie
Tel: (0131 6)50 8502
Email: Dr.Greg.Cowie@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Ken O'Neill
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: koneill3@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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