Module outline
1) Introduction to global environmental change

Section 1 - Environmental Change on a Geological Time Scale

2) Origin of Earth and early formation processes

3) The geological time scale

4) Climate change/ice ages/mass extinctions over geological time

Section 2 - Environmental Change from the Pleistocene to Recent

5) Climate change through the Pleistocene to the Holocene

6) Historical records of change

Section 3 - Anthropogenically influenced environmental change

7) Problems of pollution

8) The constructed environment

9) Desertification, Soil erosion/degradation

10) Coastal erosion and coastline change

Aims of the module
This 20 credit module, extending over two semesters, will provide students with a knowledge of the nature and magnitude of
change that has occurred in the physical environment over a range of temporal and spatial scales. Specifically the course will
contrast natural and anthropogenic processes of environmental change. These considerations will then be used as a basis for a
discussion of the potential for future environmental change.

Objectives
Students taking this course will be able to describe the nature of environmental change over a wide range of timescales. They
will be capable of relating this information to current concerns about global environmental change. It will make them aware of
the need to consider past records of change when planning future developments, or when assessing current environmental
concerns.