Volcanoes, Environment and People

Description

This course aims to assess relationships between volcanoes, the environment and people and focusses on how tephra (volcanic ash) layers can be used to study these interactions. Whilst tephra layers provide valuable information on volcanic activity and its impacts, they also offer a means of studying wider environmental change and the potential impacts of the environment on people, and humans on the environment. You will study volcanic eruptions, investigate how their direct and indirect effects can be used to exemplify extreme events, and how tephra layers can be used as chronological tools (through tephrochronology) to date a range of archaeological and environmental features, and to assess rates of change and their spatial patterns. This requires a multidisciplinary approach and will combine a number of disciplines ranging from geology, volcanology, glaciology, geomorphology, soil science, climatology, history and archaeology. Assessment Information: Written Exam 50%, Coursework 50%, Practical Exam 0%