600-201 Physical Environment

Earth sciences 625-101; biology 600-142; chemistry 610-122 (before 1998), 610-142 or 610-162; or 121-012 Environmental Change (121-171 before 1999).

Topics covered include fundamental controls on the large-scale physical environment, including external factors, geological factors, and internal processes; Milankovitch cycles; use of proxy data in studying environmental change including signals in ice cores, tree rings, corals, sediments; soil descriptions and soil formation processes; the hydrological cycle; the roles of water in the environment, including soil moisture, surface hydrology, flow behaviour and erodibility of streams, ground-water occurrence and processes, forms of recharge and discharge; the oceanic circulation, tide and wave behaviour and the evolution of coastal environments; the climate story told by the western Victorian lakes; and greenhouse effect and the global atmospheric carbon budget.

Students completing this subject should understand the underlying scientific principles and processes of climate, water and landforms that have a major influence on the structure of the past, present and future environments, and of the rates of change of these processes.

A 2-hour written examination (60%); a 2-hour practical examination (40%).