Also including a compulsory 5-day residential week, this module will introduce students to the techniques used in analysing sediments and sedimentary rocks to extract palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological information for research purposes.
The module aims to:
Provide the students with the skills to further interrogate the rocks, sediments and landscapes of Yorkshire and northern England
Develop the students' skills in analysing and interpreting palaeoenvironments
Develop the students' skills in reconstructing ancient ecosystems and depositional environments.
Discuss how sedimentary structures, macroscopic and microscopic palaeontological samples, sequence stratigraphy, geochemical, isotopic and petrophysical log and core data can be applied to different case studies
Use Yorkshire and northern England case studies to explain recent environmental and climate change.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
Understand how palaeoenvironmental analysis is carried out
Assess sediments and sedimentary rocks for palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological information
Make judgments based on which techniques are appropriate for which sample types
Integrate techniques and analyses in order to interpret samples and systems as completely as possible
Gather, manage and present data in order to produce reports summarising the palaeoenvironment and palaeoenvironmental evolution of a locality or region.
Assessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Essay/coursework Coursework
N/A
100
Special assessment rules
None
Reassessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Essay/coursework Coursework
N/A
100
Module feedback
The tutor will give regular individual feedback throughout the module on work submitted.
The assessment feedback is as per the university’s guidelines with regard to timings.
Indicative reading
Microfossils (2005). Armstrong and Brasier. Wiley-Blackwell.
Palaeoecology: ecosystems, environments, and evolution (1998). Brenchley and Harper.
The sedimentary record of sea-level change (2003). Angela L. Coe.
Sedimentology and stratigraphy (2009). Gary Nichols.
Isotopes in paleoenvironmental research (2006). Melanie J. Leng.
Invertebrate palaeontology and evolution (2009). E.N.K. Clarkson. Wiley-Blackwell.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): changes to courses
The 2020/21 academic year will start in September. We aim to deliver as much face-to-face teaching as we can, supported by high quality online alternatives where we must.
Find details of the measures we're planning to protect our community.