Undergraduate - UnitESC3201 - Deformation of the crust

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Geosciences
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Professor Roberto Weinberg

Synopsis

Geology is essentially a forensic science, and every geologist needs to know the vital clues to look for in rocks in order to work out how the earth evolved. The unit will:

focus on case studies from modern and ancient mountain belts
teach the basic skills necessary to unravel the history of deformation in zones of the Earth's crust affected by tectonism
show how these observations can be linked and used to infer the large scale evolution of the earth.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Identify and classify small to large scale structures and interpret their significance;

Apply concepts of geometric and kinematic structural analysis;

Identify deformational behaviour of major rock forming minerals at different conditions;

Develop a sound understanding of analysis and documentation of three-dimensional structures in the field;

Combine scientific data to understand the relationship between tectonic settings and deformation.

Assessment

Closed book theory examination (2 hours): 45%
Open book practical examination (3 hours): 25%
Practical/field exercises: 30%

Students must pass the theory examination to achieve an overall pass grade. Students who do not pass the theory examination will receive a mark of 45%, unless their aggregate mark is lower in which case that mark will be recorded.