GEOL112-11S2 (C) Semester Two 2011

Understanding Earth History

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 11 July 2011
End Date: Sunday, 13 November 2011
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 24 July 2011
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 9 October 2011

Description

An outline of the development and diversity of life on Earth, the forces controlling Earth history and the geological structure and development of New Zealand and the southwest Pacific. The course also considers the application of geological knowledge to society.

The Earth has had a continuously active history since its formation more than 4 thousand million years ago. The course will start by outlining the basic ‘rules’ of geological history that govern the relationship of different rock units in the Earth’s crust. The nature and origin of structures produced by deformation within the Earth’s crust will be explained. New Zealand’s dynamic setting astride an active plate boundary will be used to explain the relationship of structure, deformation and earthquake activity in New Zealand’s geological history.  

The Earth’s fossil record in sedimentary rocks documents changes in faunas and floras over time. The usefulness of fossils for dating and correlating rocks will be covered, together with the development of the Geological Time Scale. The major invertebrate and vertebrate fossil groups will be introduced and their significance in terms of the evolutionary history of life on Earth will be discussed. The relationships among tectonic, atmospheric, oceanic and biological processes will be explored along with the development of the early Earth.

Practical work includes an interpretation of simple geological maps and structures; types of fossilization and examples of common invertebrate fossil groups.

Learning Outcomes

  • The goal of the course is to introduce students to geological structures and geological time, and the interaction between tectonic, biologic and atmospheric processes in Earth history.

    Students successfully completing this course should have a basic understanding of:
  • interactions between geological, biological and climatic processes
  • the evolution of life on Earth
  • the major invertebrate and vertebrate fossil groups
  • simple geological structures and how they may be produced
  • the tectonic development of New Zealand.

    Students will be able to:
  • read a topographic map and identify landscape features on the maps produced by different geological processes
  • interpret simple geological structures shown on geological maps and write a simple geological history of a mapped area
  • identify common fossil invertebrates and appreciate their value in age-dating, correlation, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

Prerequisites

RP: GEOL111

Restrictions

ENCI271

Recommended Preparation

Course Coordinator

For further information see Geological Sciences Head of Department

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Online practical revision quizzes 5% Online practical revision quizzes - 10 quizzes, (weeks 2-11)
Short test 18 Aug 2011 15% Short question and answer written test
Practical laboratory test 30% Practical laboratory test (in laboratory classes - final week of semester)
Final examination 50% Final examination

Course links

Library portal

Notes

Field Trips
There is a mandatory one day field trip to North Canterbury provisionally scheduled over the weekends of 17/18 September and 24/25 September 2011. Trip lists should be finalised by the end of the fourth week of the 3rd Term. Once students have been assigned a field trip date, they should see the laboratory tutor as soon as possible if the field trip date clashes with any pre-existing commitment. As the field trip will involve several shallow traverses of the Waipara River a change of footwear and dry socks are necessary. Health and Safety forms (issued in the practical class) should be completed and submitted before the field trip.  

Students are reminded that non-attendance on scheduled field trips without either prior permission from the lecturing staff or a medical certificate to explain their absence means they may be ineligible to obtain examination credit for the course

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $690.00

International fee $3,225.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Geological Sciences .

All GEOL112 Occurrences

  • GEOL112-11S2 (C) Semester Two 2011