GG30710 - ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE LAST 18,000 YEARS

Module Identifier	GG30710
Module Title	ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE LAST 18,000 YEARS
Academic Year	2001/2002
Co-ordinator	Dr Henry Lamb
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-Requisite	GG21110
Course delivery	Lecture	24 Hours 12 x 2-hour lectures
Assessment	Course work	Critical reviews of recent research articles.	33%
	Exam	2 Hours	67%
	Resit assessment	The resit examination will consist of 1 x 2-hour examination only.

Module Outline (Lecture Themes)

Full-glacial environments

The last glacial-interglacial transition

Tropical palaeoenvironments

Changing forest composition in Europe and North America

human palaeoenvironments

Module Aims

The module examines the evidence for natural and anthropogenic environmental change during the last 18,000 years, with an emphasis on evidence from the continents. It aims to show how continental palaeorecords contribute to our understanding of earth system processes, emphasising the interactions between the biosphere, the atmosphere, and the oceans.

Objectives

1. To familiarize students with recent research into long-term change on the continents.
2. To enable students to critically assess current knowledge of the causes and effects of continental environmental change during the last 18,000 years.
3. To provide students with an understanding of the importance of long-term processes in relation to contemporary global environmental issues.

Learning outcomes

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

glacial environmental conditions

climate change processes

the transition between glacial-interglacial conditions

long term environmental records of climate change

low and high latitude palaeoenvironmental conditions

environmental recovery from glacial conditions

the spread of agriculture

anthropogenic environmental impacts

Reading Lists

Books
Bell, M. and Walker, M.J.C.. (1992) Late Quaternary Environmental Change - Physical andHuman Perspectives. Longman
Bradley, R.S. (ed). (1991) Global Changes of the Past. OIES/UCAR
Goudie, A.S. 1983. Environmental Change. 2nd ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford
Lowe, J.J. & Walker, M.J.C.. (1984) Reconstructing Quaternary Environments. Longman
Roberts, N.. (1989) The Holocene: an environmental history. Basil Blackwell
Williams, M.A.J, Dunkerly, D.L., De Deckker, P., Kershaw, A.P. and Stokes, T.. (1993) Quaternary Environments. Edward Arnold