Earth and Ocean System

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Understand the general functioning of the Earth as a system.
• Appreciate the fundamental processes which determine the environment of the Earth.
• Read course literature efficiently and successfully gather useful information from the WWW
• Describe the major events in the formation of the Earth and its environment.
• Give an account of major attributes of the Earth environment, now and in the past.
• Use library skills
• Undertake basic numeracy in problem evaluation.

At the end of the module you should be able to describe and explain (at a basic level) the major attributes of the Earth environment, now and in the past, provide a summary of key processes and events in the development of the Earth and its environment, and describe the fundamental processes which determine the environment of the Earth and the general functioning of the Earth as a system.

Formal lectures: will provide an introduction to the theory underlying the general functioning of the Earth as a system. Topics covered will include the origins of the Universe and the Solar system, the structure and composition of the solid Earth, the atmosphere, the oceans (hydrosphere) and climate, sediments, weathering and erosion, the rock cycle, the development of life on Earth, life in the oceans and the nutrient and carbon cycles. The module will culminate in development an understanding of climate change and global warming.

Lectures are supported by a series of formative self-assessment methods.

A wide range of support can be provided for those students who have further or specific learning and teaching needs.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.