THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Geosciences : Earth Science

Undergraduate Course: Earth Modelling and Prediction 2 (EASC08026)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Geosciences CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryA mathematical description of Earth systems can both aid in prediction of these systems and lead to deeper understanding. In addition, many disciplines in the geosciences are becoming increasingly quantitative. This course is designed to give students mathematical skills needed to understand geoscience problems involving differentiation, integration, differential equations and the derivation of conservation equations. These topics are presented in a geoscience context, with techniques applied to environmental fluid mechanics, geochemistry, geomorphology, glaciology and thermal properties of the Earth.
Students will learn through problem sets, online quizzes, readings and tutorial sessions.
Course description Week 1: Introduction, application of mathematics to natural systems
Week 2: Differentiation, applied differentiation
Week 3: Integration; introduction, rules, applied integration
Week 4: Partial differentiation and coordinate systems
Week 5: Ordinary Differential Equations and Applied partial differentiation
Week 6: Conservation equations: Diffusion within porous media
Week 7: Conservation equations: Diffusion of heat and energy (dynamic and steady-state)
Week 8: Hydrodynamics applications: River dynamics
Week 9: River dynamics continued; Ocean dynamics
Week 10: Review week
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 196 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 60 %, Coursework 40 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Written Exam: 60%, Course Work: 40%, Practical Exam: 0%.

Course work: 3 equally-weighted online multiple choice assessments based on course material and tutorial problem sets.

The exam will be worth 60% of the overall course. Of the exam, 60% of the marks are for short questions very similar to the tutorial problems and the online assessments; 40% of the marks will be for 2 longer questions that require some creative thinking. We will show you how to do well in the longer questions in Week 10.
Past exams will be available on Learn in the same format as the final exam. The exam questions will vary in difficulty ¿ to get the best marks will require you to think creatively about new problems. Partial credit will be given for working.

Assessment deadlines
Assessments will be released on the Learn page every 2 weeks, starting mid-semester (exact dates will be given in the fall) and approximately 1 week will be allowed for the electronic completion and submission of each. Late submission is penalised by 5% a day, up to a maximum of 5 days after which a mark of zero will be awarded.
Feedback - Tutor-led tutorial sessions in which students will arrive having worked through some or all of the current week's tutorial problem set and ask the demonstrators to work through more challenging problems on whiteboard. The course organiser will be present at some of these tutorials as well to enable face-to-face contact.
- Answers to select problems from tutorial problem set will be posted on LEARN in following week

Examples of feedback can be found here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/geosciences/teaching-organisation/staff/feedback-and-marking
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:
  1. Differentiate simple equations
  2. Integrate simple equations
  3. Solve simple differential equations
  4. Derive and solve conservation equations for natural systems
Reading List
Stroud and Booth, Engineering Mathematics, Palgrave MacMillan
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsCalculus,conservation,statistics
Contacts
Course organiserDr Daniel Goldberg
Tel: (0131 6)50 2561
Email: Dan.Goldberg@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Katerina Sykioti
Tel: (0131 6)50 5430
Email: Katerina.Sykioti@ed.ac.uk
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