625-101 Earth Sciences - The Global Environment

Subject presented by Professor A J W Gleadow, Dr T Lane and Professor M Sandiford.

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

On completion of this subject, students should comprehend the materials that the Earth is made of; 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; and the structure of the Earth's atmosphere. Students will have developed the skills to observe, in the laboratory and the field, basic properties of the global environment.

Short tests held during practical sessions (10%); a 2-hour practical examination held during the semester (40%); a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (50%). A reading topic will be assessed in the examination.