625-101 Earth Sciences: the Global Environment

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Objectives:

On completion of this subject, students should:

Comprehend:

• the materials that the Earth is made of -- rocks, minerals and fossils;

• the diverse processes from continent-scale to microscopic-scale which shape the Earth;

• the mode of formation of the rocks which make up the geological record;

• the structure of the Earth's atmosphere;

Have developed:

• the skills to observe, in the laboratory and the field, basic properties of the global environment.

Content:

The Earth: The origin of the Earth in a planetary system; the physical and chemical structure of the Earth; the geosphere; hydrosphere; and atmosphere; origin and composition of the atmosphere. Geological Materials: Minerals: the nature of crystalline substances; the relationship between crystalline structure, chemical composition and physical properties of common minerals; rocks as aggregates of minerals; an introduction to igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Plate Tectonics: Why plate tectonics; where plates collide: volcanoes, earthquakes, continental collision and mountain building; where plates part: continental drift, sea-floor spreading, mid-oceanic ridges; within plates: uplift, weathering and erosion, transport of sediment, subsidence and sedimentation, volcanism. The Basics of Weather and Climate: The Earth in space; the importance of its orbital characteristics; the ellipticity of the orbit; eccentricity, obliquity, cold poles and warm equator. The Atmosphere Basic properties of the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere; the friction layer; temperature; pressure and density in the vertical; the lapse-rate; mean sea-level; distributions of pressure, temperature, rainfall.

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