| Unit name | Quaternary Environmental Change |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GEOG35210 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Richards |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites | |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Geographical Sciences |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
This unit introduces fundamental concepts and debates in the study of past Earth system dynamics at timescales relevant to the past few million years (The Quaternary period). Modelling and data comparison strategies and data are discussed. The main focus is explanation of longitudinal records of environmental parameters, such as temperature, sea-level, greenhouse gases, precipitation and vegetation, using archives of data from ice cores, ocean-cores, speleothems and corals. The nature of past environmental change is explored in terms of rates, leads and lags, thresholds, cycles. Critical, in many cases, are chronological issues, dating techniques and methods of correlation. Lectures are supplemented with practical exercises that use manipulation and statistical evaluation of past climate data in the temporal domain.
