Overview

This module provides insight into practical applications of marine geology. This is provided through a combination of baseline lectures by SOS marine geoscience staff as well as a series of guest lectures by specialists in the field. The baseline lectures will introduce the main underpinning physical and geological processes that need to be understood before that knowledge can be applied. The guest lectures will assume such understanding and will illustrate applications from their working experience. Key themes may include: climate reconstruction, carbon storage in marine sediments, oil and gas exploration, marine engineering (pipelines, communication cables, etc.), renewable energy, aggregate extraction, and seabed stability. These themes incorporate a variety of disciplines: palaeoclimatology, sedimentary geology, structural geology, process sedimentology, geotechnics, and geophysics.

The knowledge gained in this part of the module will then be applied in two ways: firstly, as a practical exercise in which you are presented with proxy data with which you perform a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Secondly, you will pick a topic of interest to you from within the module syllabus, and prepare and deliver a presentation to your peers as an oral presentation, and in written form as a Conversation-style article.

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -40% / D-Demonstrating a basic understanding of the methods used in palaeoclimatology, and a basic ability to integrate varied datasets of marine geological and other related data into a coherent narrative. Demonstrating a basic grasp of the applications of marine geology and their base in physical processes, and basic skills communicating these to an audience of peers.

-good -55% / C:Demonstrating a good understanding of the methods used in palaeoclimatology, and a good ability to integrate varied datasets of marine geological and other related data into a coherent narrative. Demonstrating a good grasp of the applications of marine geology and their base in physical processes, and good skills communicating these to an audience of peers.

-excellent ->70% / A-Demonstrating an excellent understanding of the methods used in palaeoclimatology, and an excellent ability to integrate varied datasets of marine geological and other related data into a coherent narrative. Demonstrating an excellent grasp of the applications of marine geology and their base in physical processes, and excellent skills communicating these to an audience of peers.

Learning Outcomes

• On succesful completion of this module, a student will be able to integrate a range of complex datasets in order to reconstruct ocean history

• On succesful completion of this module, a student will have demonstrated an ability to communicate an advanced topic within palaeoclimatology or applied marine geology, both clearly and effectively, to an audience of peers

• On succesful completion of this module, a student will have demonstrated an understanding of the major techniques used in palaeoceanography, and be able to critically analyse their application and their limitations.

• On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to explain how offshore developments and resource exploitation are linked to the physical processes that create and have created them.