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).
Close to the exam
Q&A session (date and venue to be announced during class).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
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%.
50 % of the overall mark is based on the final exam. The remaining 50 % reflect the combined marks for all (six) course work components. All course work needs to be handed in by email. The final course work has a word count of 1,500.
Starting with week 3, the default hand-in deadline for course work is 10.00 am of the Wednesday after the practical took place. The exception to this is the hand-in for the final practical (research article exercise), which is the 24th of November. |
| Feedback |
Feedback will be provided on all course work components. Also, there will be a Q&A session at the end of the course. Date and venue will be announced in class once the date for the exam has been announced. Staff and demonstrators on the course are available for individual feedback upon request. |
| 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.
- During the practical classes, students will also receive training in a number computer programs relevant to analysing environmental data.
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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: simon.jung@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Casey Hollway
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: Casey.Hollway@ed.ac.uk |
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