Module GEOG2601: RECONSTRUCTING QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Department: Geography

GEOG2601: RECONSTRUCTING QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module aims to introduce students to aspects of long-term and short-term natural climate variability on global and regional scales over the last ~2 million years of geological time (the Quaternary).
• We will examine the mechanisms that act to drive this environmental change and will focus on the various forms of evidence that have been used to reconstruct it.
• The module is designed to provide students with a sound theoretical background to natural environmental change. Selected case studies will be used throughout to provide practical examples of the application of these theoretical principles to reconstructing Quaternary environments from field and laboratory data.
• Practical work in the field and laboratory will also provide hands-on opportunities to work with Quaternary stratigraphic data and experience scientific research methodology.

Content

• Basic Concepts: Mechanisms of Quaternary environmental change.
• Analysis of Sediments.
• Methods of dating.
• Understanding of environmental change in a global and regional scale: Climate changes in high and low latitudes.
• The Asian Monsoon systems.
• Sea-level change and coastal evolution.
• Oceanic circulation and climate change.
• Key Skills for environmental reconstruction: Field and laboratory skills.
• Microfossil analysis and interpretation.

Learning Outcomes

• The history and scales of environmental changes that occurred during the Quaternary.
• The mechanisms that act to drive environmental change.
• The long-term natural climate variability on a global and regional scale.
• The importance of natural environmental change, against which to assess human impacts, recent climate change and issues of future environmental change.

• Key field and laboratory skills for environmental reconstruction including description, analysis and interpretation of Quaternary sediment sequences and microfossils.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• 1. The core of the material and key concepts are presented during 20 one hour lectures followed by self-paced group discussion sessions.
• 2. A number of workshops will be organised, supported by demonstrators, to allow students access research facilities and learn and practise the intellectual and key analytic skills designed by the module.
• 3. Independent group research projects will be arranged to help students apply their knowledge and skills to the reconstruction of environmental history.
• 4. A fieldclass will help students appreciate the link between the basic concepts and key skills.
• 5. The module will be assessed by both unseen examination and group projects.
• These teaching methods are designed to ensure students obtain the full range of knowledge and understanding the module intends to deliver.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

In line with the Board of Studies policy for all Level 2 optional modules, formative assessment is provided through formative feedback on summative coursework.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University