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, żEl Gordoż 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
| Not being delivered |
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 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 | Prof Simon Mudd
Tel: (0131 6)51 9090
Email: simon.m.mudd@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sarah Thomas
Tel: (0131 6)50 8510
Email: Sarah.Thomas@ed.ac.uk |
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