Undergraduate Course: Volcanoes, Environment and People (GEGR10139)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course aims to assess relationships between volcanoes, the environment and people and focusses on how tephra (volcanic ash) layers can be used to study these interactions. Whilst tephra layers provide valuable information on volcanic activity and its impacts, they also offer a means of studying wider environmental change and the potential impacts of the environment on people, and humans on the environment. You will study volcanic eruptions, investigate how their direct and indirect effects can be used to exemplify extreme events, and how tephra layers can be used as chronological tools (through tephrochronology) to date a range of archaeological and environmental features, and to assess rates of change and their spatial patterns. This requires a multidisciplinary approach and will combine a number of disciplines ranging from geology, volcanology, glaciology, geomorphology, soil science, climatology, history and archaeology. |
| Course description |
The course begins with an introduction to volcanoes, eruptions, tephrochronology, geochemical analysis and dating techniques in the first four weeks. This provides the contextual knowledge needed for later in the course. Firstly, different types of volcanic activity will be introduced and the implications for tephra production discussed. Next, several case studies are used to illustrate the environmental and cultural impacts of eruptions. As recent Icelandic eruptions have demonstrated, even relatively small eruptions can have serious consequences for modern societies. The principles and practice of tephrochronology will be introduced using mainly examples from the North Atlantic region. This will include the important concepts of tephra isochrons, how they can define intervals of time can be environmental tracers. The teleconnections between tephra layers, ice cores, tree rings and ocean cores will also be assessed. This will emphasise how tephrochronology records not only volcanic histories, but also establishes, dates and evaluates rates of environmental change and human-environment interactions. Geochemical methods of characterising tephra layers will be considered next, and how this information can be used to identify sources, types of eruptions and correlate deposits. There will also be a hands-on session, where you will get to see the range of material produced by volcanoes. The dating of tephra layers is considered next and the methods of obtaining dates, which include historical information, ice core records, and radiometric dating. There will also be an exercise in calibrating radiocarbon dates and the chronological interpretation of a complex tephra stratigraphy at an Icelandic archaeological site.
The rest of the course builds on the introductory knowledge gained during the first four weeks to discuss the application of tephrochronology to volcanology, glaciology, archaeology, environmental studies and human-ecodynamics. The interaction of volcanic activity and glaciers in Iceland, floods and the dispersion of tephra from explosive eruptions in 1918, 1996, 2010 and 2011 will be explored. This will be followed by the application of tephrochronology to identifying and dating eruptions and floods from Eyjafjallajökull during the 6-7th and 10th centuries CE, as well as dating glacial geomorphological features and aiding our understanding of past climatic fluctuations. The ongoing activity on the Reykjanes Peninsula will also be included depending on if an eruption occurs during the course. Before moving onto consider how tephrochronology can be applied to understand human-environment interactions, the extent of soil erosion in Iceland will be discussed and the reasons why Icelandic soils are so susceptible to being eroded. Next, the Norse colonisation and settlement of the North Atlantic region and Iceland will be introduced and how tephrochronology can be applied to studying cultural and environmental change. Iceland provides a superb natural laboratory to study these interactions between the environment and people. Precisely dated tephra layers enable detailed patterns of landscape change to be determined, which is something very difficult to measure to do elsewhere. We will then move on from using tephra layers as chronological marker horizons, discuss what their relative preservation tells us about environmental conditions and processes at the time they were deposited. We will then explore how this can help us understand both past environments and what people were doing in the landscape.
The course incorporates a fieldtrip, which in the past has visited East Lothian and provides an opportunity to study exposures of Carboniferous age tephra layers and apply knowledge gained in the course. The exact location and timing of this fieldtrip will be confirmed at the start of the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | This course is open to 3rd and 4th year students. This course is open to all university students, but priority will be given to students on the Geography Degree Programmes. Students from other programmes may be able to join if there is space. Please contact geoset.ug.drummond@ed.ac.uk to check availability. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | This is a third-year honours level course; students are expected to have an academic profile equivalent to the first two years of this degree programme. Assessment of eligibility for honours level courses will be made on an individual basis.
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Fieldwork Hours 6,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree Essay (50%):
- AI-Assisted Generation: AI tools may be used to identify ideas, key themes, and plan your assessment, but not to generate content. If you use AI, you must acknowledge it in your submission.
- Coursework Extensions: Extensions are permitted for this assessment. Please review the guidance on the Registry Services website and apply via MyEd.
- Extra Time Learning Adjustments: Students with Extra Time Learning Adjustments may request additional time for this assessment. Applications should be made using the Extra Time Learning Adjustment (ETA) tool, available via the Disability Support page in MyEd.
24-Hour Take-Home Exam (50%):
- AI-Assisted Generation: AI tools may be used to identify ideas, key themes, and plan your assessment, but not to generate content. If you use AI, you must acknowledge it in your submission.
- Coursework Extensions: Extensions are not permitted for examinations.
- Extra Time Learning Adjustments: Extra Time Learning Adjustments are not permitted for this examination. The exam is designed to take approximately 2-3 hours to complete, and extra time accommodations have already been incorporated.
Course Pass Requirements:
Students must attain an overall mark of 40% (or above) in order to pass the course.
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| Feedback |
1. Formative feedback is given throughout the course during the lectures and group exercises that are embedded in the course. We will provide feedback to any questions asked in class and welcome students to talk to us individually after class or come to our offices.
2. In Week 4 you will submit a 1 page (between 400-600 word) plan for your Degree Research Essay; written formative feedback will be provided and there will a related discussion in Week 5.
3. Students are encouraged to complete the online quizzes on Learn which will be released throughout the course. These can be completed in your own time and provide feedback on your answers.
4. The practical sessions in Weeks 2, 3 and 4 provide an opportunity to engage with tephra and igneous rocks and learn how to calibrate radiocarbon dates and understand stratigraphy. Feedback will provided during these sessions. The fieldtrip also provides additional opportunities to discuss stratigraphy and the principles of tephrochronology with staff in an outside setting.
5. The final timetabled revision session also provides an opportunity for generic feedback on the Degree Essay, to ask questions about the course related to your examination preparations and an extra revision session will be provided about a week before the 24 hour exam.
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop a detailed understanding of the principles and practice of tephrochronology.
- Evaluate the use of tephras to reconstruct environmental change and to assess the role of tephras as agents of environmental change.
- Assess the significance of different types of change and recognise the causes of threshold-crossing events.
- Develop detailed knowledge of how to use tephrochronology to assess volcano-environment interactions, environmental and cultural change, human-environmental interactions and impacts of volcanism on people.
- Seek out and comprehend the essential relevant findings from literature in unfamiliar fields which will also mean you gain an understanding of the ways in which the subject is developed.
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Reading List
| Reading list is available via the Library Resource List on the course Learn page. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
This course is open to 3rd and 4th year students. This course is open to all university students, but priority will be given to students on the Geography Degree Programmes. Students from other programmes may be able to join if there is space. Please contact geoset.ug.drummond@ed.ac.uk to check availability. |
| Keywords | Volcanoes,Tephrochronology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anthony Newton
Tel: (0131 6)50 2546
Email: Anthony.Newton@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Leigh Corstorphine
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: lcorstor@ed.ac.uk |
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