Module Information
Module Identifier
GG30420
Module Title
RIVER SYSTEMS AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Academic Year
2010/2011
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Lecture | 20 Hours. 10 x 2 hours |
Seminars / Tutorials | 2 Hours. 5 x 2 hours |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | 750 word seminar report. | 10% |
Semester Assessment | 2500 word assessed essay. | 30% |
Semester Assessment | 10 minute seminar presentation. | 10% |
Semester Exam | 2 Hours Written examination. | 50% |
Supplementary Assessment | Resubmission of failed CA component. | 50% |
Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours Re-sit: written examination | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module students should be able to :-
- Demonstrate the relationships between environmental change and river behaviour
- Critically analyse and assess the relative importance of natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for catchment disturbance and river instability in both the Developed and Developing World.
- Evaluate and forecast the likely impact of changes in climate, land-use, pollution and engineering on rivers and catchment systems.
Aims
This module is designed for students to develop a conceptual, factual and practical knowledge of channel, floodplain and catchment response to environmental change over the last 20,000 years resulting from natural and anthropogenic perturbations.
Content
Drainage basin & river response to the last glacial-interglacial transition (18,000-10,000 BP):
Pleistocene context & inheritance in catchment dynamics
Pleistocene context & inheritance in catchment dynamics
- Britain & Northern Europe
- Quaternary environmental change in the Mediterranean
- Pleistocene river histories in the Mediterranean
- Africa
- Britain & Northern Europe
- The Mediterranean
- North America
- Flood histories in Britain in North America
- Mountain river systems in the Old & New World
- Heavy metals in river systems
Reading List
Recommended TextBrown, A.G. (1997) Alluvial Geoarchaeology: floodplain archaelogy and environmental change Cambridge Primo search Knighton, D. (1998) Fluvial Forms and Processes Arnold: London Primo search Lowe, J.J. & Walker M.J.C. (1997) Reconstructing Quaternary Environments Longman Primo search Roberts, N. (1998) The Holocene: an environmental history. Blackwell, Oxford Primo search Thorne, C.R., Hey, R.D. & Newson, M.D. Applied Fluvial Geomorphology for River Engineering and Management, John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Chichester Primo search
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6