Environmental Earth System Science

This course provides foundational knowledge, understanding and practical skills aligned to complex challenges of the modern era from an Earth Science perspective. We currently face a number of critical problems that result from the complex interaction of Earth Systems that have no simple solution. Such challenges are known as ‘Wicked Problems’. From an Earth Science perspective, wicked problems include the modern period of human-induced climate change, access to critical resources, and the risk posed from natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides. This course explores these problems and outlines the geologic approaches available to help better understand these problems. The course will develop fundamental geologic skills including geoscientific data collection, analysis and visualisation, hazard analysis, spatial mapping, and written communication. Upon completion of this course, you will have acquired an appreciation for the role geoscience plays in creating, understanding and mitigating some of the most pressing issues facing humanity today, including * Rock and mineral derived contaminant cycling * Geologically derived carbon cycling and climate change * Hydroclimate, water resources and geosphere-hydrosphere-anthrosphere interactions * Novel metal resources * Plate tectonics; mountain building; faulting & folding * Natural hazards; earthquakes; landslides; tsunamis; volcanoes * Disaster risk; human-earth system interactions