EA30710 - GEOCHEMICAL RECORDS OF QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

Module Identifier	EA30710
Module Title	GEOCHEMICAL RECORDS OF QUATERNARY ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Geoff Duller
Semester	Semester 2
Other staff	Dr Aled Rowlands
Pre-Requisite	GG21110
Course delivery	Lecture	20 Hours 10 x 2 hour
	Seminars / Tutorials	2 Hours 1x2 hour (for 'open literature' exam)
Assessment	Combined	In-course presentations of key papers and associated essay. Course work presentations occur throughout the semester, and essays are due in at the same time. A timetable is arranged in the first lecture.	40%
	Exam	2 Hours in-course examination	60%
	Resit assessment	Resit: 2 hour written examination (60%); In-course assessment marks to be carried forward.

Module Aims

This module describes in detail various records of environmental change through the Quaternary, building upon the knowledge acquired in GG21110. The physical principles of each technique will be covered, along with the records of environmental change that they provide.

Module objectives / Learning outcomes

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

describe the variety of geochemical records that are available for reconstructing Quaternary environmental change.

critically assess the importance of a particular piece of work in this field of research

synthesise the results of different geochemical techniques to form a coherent picture of Quaternary environments at various times over the last 130 kyr

Module outline

Subject areas:

1. Polar and Non-Polar Ice Cores:
Dust records
Oxgen isotopes
Accumulation rates
Trapped gases

2. Deep ocean cores:
Oxygen isotopes (more detail than in GG21110)
Sea surface temperatures
Palaeoproductivity

3. Loess:
Magnetic susceptibility
Accumulation rates
Grain size

4. Terrestrial calcite:
Oxygen and carbon isotopes
Growth intervals

5. Lake records:
Sr/Ca ratios
Biogenic silica production rates

6. Corals:
Oxygen isotope records of temperature and salinity
Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca records of sea surface temperature

Reading Lists

Books
Lowe, J.J. and Walker, M.J.C.. (1997) Reconstructing Quaternary Environments. 2nd ed.. Longman
Bradley R S. (1999) Paleoclimatology. 2nd. Academic Press