ESC2011

Crustal processes

(SCI)

Dr Ian Cartwright

6 points + Three 1-hour lectures and one 3-hour practical per week + One 1-day field trip + First semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: ESC1011 and/or ESC1022, or permission

Synopsis: Sedimentation stratigraphy and biostratigraphy. Sedimentary processes and their products in marine and terrestrial environments; depositional environments and tectonic processes; large scale stratigraphic relationships and changes in sediment types through time; biostratigraphic and palaeoecological inferences of fossil groups. Structural geology and tectonics. Large and small scale structural features of deformed rock sequences; relationships between geometry of structures and applied stress fields; structural make-up of orogenic belts, the geometry of thrust-belts and extensional terrains; rheological properties of the crust and mantle.

Assessment: Two 1.5 hour examinations: 60% + Practical work/fieldwork: 30% + Essay (3000 words): 10%