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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Earth Science

Undergraduate Course: Geophysics International Field Course (EASC10111)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryCourse in field geophysics run in conjunction with partner universities in France and Germany (80%). Presentations during Innovative Learning Week (20%)

***Field course locations may change for a variety of reasons, including security risks, increased costs or inability to access field locations. Any changes to the main destination of the field course will be announced as soon as possible***
Course description This course includes two components, both of which are essential components of the geophysics senior honours year, but which are otherwise independent of each other.

The first component is the field trip. This forms 80% of the course. The field trip is held in the week running Saturday to Saturday which contains October 1st (usually week 3 of the semester). The trip is run in conjunction with the Université de Paris Sud (France) and the Universitet Münster (Germany) and is held in locations in the UK, Germany and France on a 3-year cycle. The current planned locations are as follows:

2019: Germany (Location, Daun)
2020: France (probably Montalivet-les-Bains)
2021: England (Derbyshire or Shropshire)
2022: Germany again

While on the field trip, students will apply a variety of geophysical techniques (gravity, seismic, resistivity, electromagnetic surveying, magnetic surveying, ground-penetrating radar) to the same study area in order to learn as much as possible about the subsurface properties of that study area.

The second component is a presentation given during week 10 of Semester 2. The subject of the presentation is the project work which the student carried out over the course of the year.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Research Training for Geophysics (EASC09055)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs N/A
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Full Year
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 12, Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 18, Fieldwork Hours 48, Summative Assessment Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 10 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Fieldwork in-field competence assessment: 40%
Fieldwork report: 40%
Presentation in Week 10: 20%

Assessment deadlines
Fieldwork in-field competence assessment: Semester 1, Week 3
Geophysics Field Work Report: Semester 1, Week 7
Presentations: Semester 2, Week 10

Feedback The students get continuous feedback during the field course: in the field on their field skills, and in the late afternoons and evenings when they are doing data processing and interpretation. Staff are always on hand, often teaching but even more often answering questions and giving feedback. Feedback on the presentations is given by all staff present, but also by the rest of the class.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. operate pieces of equipment commonly used for near-surface geophysics.
  2. understand the value of each technique, and when it should and should not be used, and what it can tell you about the Earth.
  3. make decisions and interpretations where data is limited and comes from a range of sources.
  4. work in international, cross-disciplinary teams to tackle a common problem.
  5. give conference presentations to a professional standard.
Reading List
Applied Geophysics, 2nd Edition W. M. Telford, L. P. Geldart & R. E. Sheriff
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Teamwork. Presentation skills. Fieldwork skills. Report-writing skills.
KeywordsGeophysics,field
Contacts
Course organiserDr Hugh Pumphrey
Tel: (0131 6)50 6026
Email: Hugh.Pumphrey@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Katerina Sykioti
Tel: (0131 6)50 5430
Email: Katerina.Sykioti@ed.ac.uk
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