Undergraduate Course: Earth Science Fundamentals for Geophysicists (EASC08022)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | THIS COURSE IS AVAILABLE FOR SECOND YEAR DIRECT ENTRY GEOPHYSICS STUDENTS ONLY
This course takes the most essential material from the Earth Dynamics and Introduction to Geophysics courses, compulsory courses for those on the 4 year undergraduate geophysics degrees, sufficient to allow students to take Global Tectonics and the Rock Cycle, Physics of the Earth, and Structural Geology, in later years, and hence courses for which they are pre-requisites.
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| Course description |
Lectures:
Earth formation, composition and age: 1 lecture
Seismology (including earthquakes) and internal structure: 3 lectures
Plate tectonics: 3 lectures
Gravity: 2 lectures
Geomagnetism: 1 lecture
Igneous and metamorphic rocks and processes: 2 lectures
Deformation (faulting and folding, stress and strain): 2 lectures
Tutorial:
Maps practical exercise (week 6)
IT exercises:
Web based Virtual Fieldtrip - accessed via Learn; to be completed before 1st field trip
Introduction to Holyrood Park - Learn exercise to be completed before 2nd field trip
Field trips:
October 1st OR 2nd. FIELD TRIP 1: PEASE BAY & SICCAR POINT.
Meet at Appleton Tower, ready to depart at 09:00am. ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY.
Sat 22nd October OR Sun 23rd October. FIELD TRIP 2: Holyrood Park / Salisbury Crags / Arthur's Seat
Meet at 09:00am sharp at the grassy parkland area near the roundabout just inside from the St Leonards /
Pollock Halls entrance to Holyrood Park. Field trip ends at approximately 12:30 pm. ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY
Practicals:
Assay of the Earth - Earth materials and Composition (week 1)
lithospheric plate motion practical in (week 2)
'Be a seismologist' (week 5)
Salisbury Crags exercise; rocks in hand specimen and thin section (week 8)
Pentland Fault gravity interpretation; density measurements (week 9)
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Mathematics and Physics at a level suitable for University entrance to study Physics. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will develop a broad understanding of key, defining geological concepts and theories: the internal divisions of the Earth and its dynamic evolution via plate tectonic processes; the formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks;
the mechanisms by which rocks deform and break at depth in the Earth; and the dynamic geological settings in which these processes operate.
- They will also develop an overview of the physical processes operating within the Earth, and understand the principles of some of the geophysical techniques by which this information is derived. They will have gained practical experience of how geophysical observations can be interpreted.
- They will understand the basics of geological and
geophysical fieldwork, keeping a field notebook, and
laboratory practical work. They will develop skills in writing a scientific report, including references to previous work, and understanding the role played by new observations and an assessment of their errors in the process of scientific inference.
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Reading List
Marshak, S (2008) Earth: Portrait of a Planet.
(International Student Edition) (Norton Publishing Co.).
ISBN 0-393-93036-X
Smith, GA & Pun, A (2006): How Does Earth Work?
(Pearson Prentice-Hall), ISBN 0-13-034129-0 and ISBN
0-13-186-747-4.
Grotzinger, J, Jordan, TH, Press, F & Siever, R
(2007): Understanding Earth (5th edition) (WH
Freeman). ISBN 0-7167-6682-5.
Lowrie, W (2007) Fundamentals of Geophysics
(Cambridge University Press)
Stacey, FM & Davies, PM (2008) Physics of the Earth
(CUP, 4th edition)
Christiansen, EH & Hamblin, WK Dynamic Earth - An introduction to Physical Geology
(Jones & Bartlett Learning)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Fieldwork; IT skills; practical work
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| Additional Class Delivery Information |
2 x 1 hr lectures and 4 practicals |
| Keywords | Earth structure,Earth composition,rocks,plate tectonics,geophysical techniques,geological maps |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Kathy Whaler
Tel: (0131 6)50 4904
Email: Kathy.Whaler@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Nicola Clark
Tel: (0131 6)50 4842
Email: nicola.clark@ed.ac.uk |
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