GEOL243-16S1 (C) Semester One 2016

Depositional Environments and Stratigraphy

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 22 February 2016
End Date: Sunday, 26 June 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 6 March 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 22 May 2016

Description

This course focuses on modern sedimentary environments, oceanography and marine organisms as a key to interpreting depositional environments, and the techniques and approaches that allow geologist to deal with geological time. The fundamental underpinning is stratigraphy, and using sedimentary features and fossils as palaeoenvironment indicators, with particular attention paid to New Zealand examples.

This course focusses on modern sedimentary environments at the surface of the Earth as a key to interpreting the past, and the techniques and approaches that allow geologists to deal with geological time. The course opens with lectures and laboratory classes that introduce the principles of fluid flow, sediment transport, and sedimentary depositional environments and how these processes affect the texture and composition of sedimentary rocks. The course then moves on to carbonate sedimentology and oceanography, and the interpretation of carbonate environments. The interaction of biota with substrates is introduced with trace fossils and the preservation potential of different fossils groups. The focus is on how sedimentary features, along with fossils, are used to interpret past environments. The fundamental underpinning is stratigraphy, that is, the study of the layers of sedimentary rocks in the earth’s crust, and using fossils as dating tools.

Timetable:
Lectures  - 3 lectures per week - TBA by central timetabling
Laboratories - 1 lab (2.5 hour) per week – TBA by central timetabling

Learning Outcomes

  • Goal of the Course:
    For students to be able to describe and interpret siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks and depositional environments, and and interpret stratigraphic successions from a palaeontological and sedimentary perspective.


    Learning Outcomes:
    Students successfully completing this course will:
  •  Have developed an understanding of sedimentary processes occurring at the surface of the Earth.
  •  Be able to classify and identify common sedimentary rocks in both hand specimen and under the microscope.  
  •  Be able to use sedimentary and biofacies analysis to interpret ancient environments and to reconstruct palaeogeography.
  •  Be able to construct and correlate stratigraphic columns from a variety of data.
  •  Be able to recognise and utilise important fossil groups used in NZ stratigraphy and environmental interpretation.

Prerequisites

(1) GEOL111, and (2) GEOL113 or GEOL115

Course Coordinator

For further information see School of Earth and Environment Head of Department

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Laboratory Assessment KNB 20% Laboratory Assessment KNB
Laboratory Assessment EH 20% Laboratory Assessment EH
Laboratory Assessment SW 10% Laboratory Assessment SW
Final Examination 50% Final Examination

Additional Course Outline Information

Summary of the Course Content

The topics coved by this course are:
•  Sediment transport processes and sedimentary textures
•  Terrestrial and marine depositional environments
•  Clastic and Carbonate sedimentology
•  Basic principles of oceanography
•  Use of microfossils in stratigraphy, and modern and ancient environment analysis
•  Trace fossils in marine environments
•  Sequence-, litho- and biostratigraphy.

Lecture / Laboratory timetable (minor revisions may occur prior to start of lectures)

Week #  -  Dates  -  Lectures (3 x 1 hr)  -  Lecturer  -  Laboratory (1 x 2.5 hr)

9  -  22 Feb  -  Sedimentary framework  -  KNB  -  Clastic Sedimentary Rock Textures
10  -  29th Feb  -  Sediment transport processes and textures  -  KNB  -  Sedimentary structures/flume
11  -  7th March  -  Sediment transport processes and textures  -  KNB  -  Braided river trip
12  -  14th March  -  Terrestrial depositional settings  -   KNB  -  Clastic Sedimentary Rock Compositions
13  -  21st March  -  Submarine depositional settings  -  KNB  -  LAB TEST
14  -  30th March  -  Carbonates  -  EH  -  Carbonates I
15  -  4th April  -  Carbonates  -  EH  -  Carbonates II
BREAK
19  -  2nd May  -  Oceanography & phosphorites  -  EH  -  Carbonates III
20  -  9th May  -  Micropal & Trace fossils   -  EH/CMR  -  Forensic Micropalaeontology
21  -  16th May  -  Taphonomy and Zealandia  -  EH/CMR  -  Trace fossils & macrofossils s
22  -  23rd May  -  Introduction stratigraphy and lithostratigrahy  -  SW  -  Stratigraphic correlation exercise
23  -  30th May  -  Litho-, sequence- and biostratigraphy  -  SW  -  Stratigraphic correlation exercise (cont.)

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $832.00

International fee $3,638.00

* 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.

Minimum enrolments

This course will not be offered if fewer than 30 people apply to enrol.

For further information see School of Earth and Environment .

All GEOL243 Occurrences

  • GEOL243-16S1 (C) Semester One 2016
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