This course will cover:

• The weathering of rocks, and the development of Regolith.
• Development of soils.
• Sediments, cations and anions will be tracked into various depositional environments, from rivers, to deserts, to marginal marine environments to the deep sea.
• Fundamental concepts for deciphering depositional environments such as sedimentary textures and structures.
• Treatment of modern Stratigraphic disciplines: Lithostratigraphy, Magnetostratigraphy, Seismic Stratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Geologic Time.

Laboratory: Practical work will be designed to help students recognise sedimentary structures in hand specimen and microscopic thin section. Students will be taught to recognise depositional environments in the field during a field trip to the NSW South Coast.

Note: Graduate students (EMSC6014) attend joint classes with undergraduates but will be assessed separately.

On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Observe and recognise sedimentary depositional environments from outcrops, drill cores and diagrams.

2. Demonstrate understanding of stratigraphic methods.

3. Describe  the basic principles, chemical and physical processess at the surface of the Earth.

4. Describe the debates and history of the early thinkers in Geology and how that has influenced modern Earth Science.

5. Recognise and understand fundamental weathering processes.

Assessment in Undergraduate level course EMSC2014 will be based on:

• Laboratory and field work reports (50%, LO 1 - 3 & 5)
• Examination (50%, LO 1-5)

Students in the Graduate level course EMSC6014 will be assessed separately as below: 

• Theory Exam (50%, LO 1-5)
• Laboratory and field work reports (30%, LO 1 - 3 & 5)
• Research paper (20%, LO 1 - 3 & 5)

3 hours of lectures, 2 hours of laboratory per week, total 65 contact hours.

At least one first year EMSC, GEOL or CHEM course

Online materials