Module Identifier EA12110  
Module Title PAST,PRESENT AND FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Dr Geoff Duller  
Semester Semester 1  
Other staff Dr Ronald Fuge  
Course delivery Lecture   20 Hours 1 HOUR LECTURES  
  Video Lecture   0 Hours  
Assessment Exam   2 Hours short answer and multiple choice examination   60%  
  Project work     40%  
  Resit assessment   2 hour short answer and multiple choice examination   100%  

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 module 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.

Learning outcomes


On completion of this module students should be able to :-

Reading Lists

Books
** Recommended Text
(1996) Global Environmental Change. Blackwell
(1996) Global environmental change: Past, present and future. Pentice Hall
van Andel, T.. (1994) New views on an old planet: A history of global change. 2nd. Cambridge University Press