GEOG4051: GLACIAL GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY: FROM PROCESS TO APPLICATION

• Glaciers and Glaciation (GEOG2531)

• None

• None

• To develop postgraduate level knowledge about the sediments, landforms and stratigraphy of glacial sedimentary environments
• To provide field and practical based training in the survey, analysis and interpretation of glacial materials and landforms with a view to serving and communicating with a variety of end users

• Glacilacustrine sedimentation and landforms
• Glacimarine sedimentation and landforms fjords
• Glacimarine sedimentation and landforms continental shelves and slope
• Terrestrial glacial sedimentation - tills
• Terrestrial glacial sedimentation ice marginal environments
• Glacifluvial sedimentation
• Subglacial bedforms
• Geomorphological and sedimentary imprints from the last British-Irish Ice Sheet
• Applied glacial geology and geomorphology
• Micromorphology of glacial sediments
• 2-day residential fieldtrip to western Cumbria

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Secure an advanced understanding of the sedimentology, geomorphology and stratigraphy of glacial sedimentary environments both modern and ancient
• Master the application of a detailed knowledge of sedimentary process/form relationships to professional field, remote sensing, and laboratory investigations in glaciated terrains
• Develop a postgraduate level of critical evaluation of the interpretation of glacial sedimentary sequences and associated landforms

Subject-specific Skills:

• Plan, design, execute and report at a postgraduate research level on a team-based investigation of glacial sediments, stratigraphy and landsystems
• Undertake advanced fieldwork, remote sensing, and laboratory analysis of field samples while taking due regard for safety and risk assessment at a professional standard
• Employ at a professional level a variety of technical and laboratory-based methods for the analysis and presentation of spatial and sedimentological/stratigraphic information, including field sedimentology, micromorphology, GIS, aerial photograph interpretation, geomorphology mapping
• Conduct advanced quantitative methods on, and synthesize a complex and large data set, and present project results at a professional standard ready for publication in a scientific journal

Key Skills:

• Critical analysis and interpretation of data at a research level appropriate to a Masters degree
• Planning, executing and reporting to a professional standard on intensive field-based investigations of glacial sedimentary environments
• Solving problems and making reasoned decisions
• Communicate effectively and professionally in written, oral and graphical media
• Apply advanced numerical and computational skills to complex data sets
• Identify, retrieve, interrogate and assimilate complementary data from primary and secondary sources

• Lectures provide an overview of the main concepts in advanced glacial sedimentology and formulate the context for the fieldwork programme, involving familiarization with and synthesis of complex location-based and conceptual literature
• Seminars encourage students to engage directly with the relevant literature and to deliver reasoned assessments of critical debates in glacial sedimentology and geomorphology.
• The field trip allows data acquisition by a co-ordinated investigation team and individually allows the implementation of field skills and best practice in field notebook management previously developed at Levels 1-3
• Post fieldwork workshops involve primary and secondary data collation, analysis and preparation
• The summative assessment consists of Oral Field Project Presentation (20%) designed to test key communication skills and critical presentation of key information; and a Written Field Project Report (80%) used to demonstrate effective written communication and graphical presentation, numerical and computational skills and the assimilation and critical analysis of data.

Oral formative feedback during student-led seminars and the fieldtrip. Staff will also provide formative comments on the content of the oral field project presentation to feed forward into the Field Project write up.

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