Newcastle University

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

•       To develop an understanding of global environmental change during the Quaternary.
•       To develop an awareness of geological time and the evolution of the Earth's natural systems.
•       To understand the human adaptations and cultural development, and the impacts of humans on the environment.
•       To understand how natural system change is deciphered using the tools of modern science for palaeoenvironmental investigation.
•       To provide broad grounding in knowledge and skills necessary for Stage 3 modules palaeoenvironmental modules and dissertations.

Outline Of Syllabus

In each semester the module will be delivered by means of lectures and practical sessions. Lectures will deliver the knowledge base while practicals with give hands-on experience of a range of proxies useful in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, and in the analysis of geochronological and palaeoenvironmental datasets. Themes explored in the module include:
•       Introduction to the Pleistocene: Establishing a broad global framework using isotopic records from the oceans.
•       Ice-core proxies and millennial-scale change.
•       Establishing land-ocean correlation: An introduction to geochronology.
•       Continental Records: Interpreting the sedimentary record of the “Cold Stages”.
•       Continental Records: Interpreting the palaeoecological records of the “Warm Stages”.
•       Reconstructing Environmental Change during Termination 1
•       Introduction to the Holocene: climate, environment, human development and impacts.
•       Proxy records of Holocene environmental change.
•       Early Holocene climate and environmental change: LG-Holocene transition, vegetation change and sea-levels, human adaptation during the Mesolithic.
•       Human responses to changing environments: Early agriculture and agricultural dispersions, environmental constraints and impacts.
•       Intensification of agriculture: Forest clearance in Europe, desertification in the Mediterranean, and the rise of civilisation in the Middle East and Mesoamerica.
Late Holocene environmental change: Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age; western colonisation, land-use change and its ecological consequences.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

At the end of this module you will be able to demonstrate:

•       A basic understanding of how our climate and natural systems operate and how they change through time.
•       An understanding of human cultural development during the Holocene and the role of humans in shaping present-day cultural landscapes.
•       The ability to infer past (Quaternary to Recent) environmental change by analysing physical, biological and chemical data derived from sedimentary records.
•       Ability to identify appropriate analytical methods and data interrogation in relation to modern environments and Quaternary samples and datasets

Intended Skill Outcomes

At the end of this module you will have the:

•       Ability to apply appropriate methodology to palaeoenvironmental investigation.
•       Ability analyse palaeoenvironmental datasets.
•       Ability to present conclusions based upon data analysis.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Any attempt at successful reconstruction of Quaternary environments requires proficient practical skills surrounding the range of methods employed, underpinned by a significant academic knowledge base which addresses the theory behind the methods and awareness of the wider conceptual and theoretical issues. Here we consider it essential to assess all these elements and to place equal weighting on the practical and more academic skills. Practical portfolios will assess technical skills including data production and analysis, whereas the written examination will assess the more theoretical and conceptual aspects of palaeoenvironmental reconstruction.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

We consider it essential to assess all these elements and to place equal weighting on the practical and more academic skills. Practical portfolios will assess technical skills including data production and analysis, whereas the take home examination will assess the more theoretical and conceptual aspects of environmental change during the Quaternary. The take home exam assessment provides a time limited aspect, not present in essays, that more closely mirrors skills that students may be expected to have in the graduate workplace.

General Notes

N/A