Palaeoceanography provides an overview of ocean and climate history through time, including an introduction to the main proxies (geochemical and palaeontological) used to reconstruct past ocean environments.
Coordinator: Prof. Bridget Wade
- Module details
Title Palaeoceanography UG Code GEOL0044 Coordinator Prof. Bridget Wade Other Contributors Various Term 1 Credit 15 credits Written Exam 60% Coursework 40% Pre-Requisites None Maths & Stats Content and Requirement Total Number of Hours of Student Work 188 hours Hours of Lectures/Seminars 40 (4 hours per week) hours Hours of Practicals/Problem Classes 20 hours Hours of Tutorials As needed for the practical assignments Days of Fieldwork 0 Other Categorizing Student Performance Levels - Content
Ocean basin structure and marine sediments; General circulation of the oceans; wind driven and thermohaline circulation; Primary production, nutrients and the marine carbon cycle; Life in the oceans; Micropalaeontological and geochemical proxies for temperature, productivity, weathering and circulation; Pre-Cenozoic palaeoceanography, including 'oceanic anoxic events'; K/T boundary; Early Cenozoic warmth and hyperthermals; the transition from the Greenhouse to the Icehouse world,'; fluctuations in climate and ice volume in the Neogene; the glacial world.
AIMS
To introduce key principles of oceanography, the proxies used for palaeoceanography and the history and evolution of Cretaceous to Recent oceans, through case studies.
OUTCOMES
Knowledge of:
- temperature and productivity of the oceans;
- controls on biogenic sedimentation;
- the development and history of oceanic circulation;
- understanding of analytical techniques used to obtain that knowledge.