Module Information

Module Identifier
GG30420
Module Title
RIVER SYSTEMS AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Professor Mark G Macklin
Semester
Intended for use in future years
Pre-Requisite
GG22510
Other Staff
 

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.  Course Work:  10%
Semester Assessment 2500 word assessed essay.  Essay:  30%
Semester Assessment 10 minute seminar presentation.  Presentation:  10%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   Written examination.  50%
Supplementary Assessment Resubmission of failed CA component. Resit failed examination.  50%
Supplementary Exam 2 Hours   Re-sit: written examination  50%

Learning Outcomes

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

  • 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
  • Britain & Northern Europe
  • Quaternary environmental change in the Mediterranean
  • Pleistocene river histories in the Mediterranean
  • Africa
River Environments & Holocene environmental change (10,000-300 BP)
  • Britain & Northern Europe
  • The Mediterranean
  • North America
River environments & recent environmental change (300 BP to present)
  • Flood histories in Britain in North America
  • Mountain river systems in the Old & New World
  • Heavy metals in river systems

Reading List

Recommended Text
Macklin, M. G. & Lewin, J. (1997) 'Channel, floodplain and drainage basin response to environmental change'. Pages 14-45 in: Applied Fluvial Geomorphology for River Engineering and Management, Edited by C.R. Thorne, R.D. Hey & M.D.Newson Chichester & John Wiley & Sons Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6