This course aims to engage students in global scale geological and environmental processes and challenges.

4 x 1 hour lectures per week, 2 x 2 hour labs per week.  7 day UK-based residential field class. Self-guided tutorials.

EARTH2002 - Palaeobiology 2Q

EARTH2004 - Structure, Maps and Exploration 2U

EARTH2010 - Earth Science: 2A

40% - Written exam

30% - Portfolio of field based activities (maps, sections, logs, notebook)

30% - Integrated practical skills assessment

This course aims to engage students in global scale geological and environmental processes and challenges from deep geological time, to the present, and into the future. This will be achieved using a variety of spatial, numerical, geochemical, computational and field data collection methods and analysis.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Discuss how we reconstruct Earth's climate and past environments and explain how such observations will help us understand future change and challenges using a variety of numerical and analytical methods.

■ Use maps and cross sections to analyse in 4-D geological and environmental change at a variety of scales.

■ Describe and interpret a variety of rocks and superficial deposits in the laboratory and field, and construct maps and cross sections to explain temporal and spatial relationships.

■ Discuss the various geological, geochemical and geophysical techniques used to assess the internal structure and composition of the Earth.

■ Explain the deformation of rocks and the structural features generated, and how these may be used to determine geological histories and landscape development at a variety of scales.

■ Explain the geological and geophysical characteristics of plate tectonic boundaries and discuss global tectonic processes.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.