• Offered by Research School of Earth Sciences
  • ANU College ANU Joint Colleges of Science
  • Course subject Earth and Marine Science
  • Areas of interest Earth and Marine Sciences, Geography, Earth Physics, Geology
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • Prof Trevor Ireland
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Second Semester 2020
    See Future Offerings

This course includes an on campus activity. Check timetable for details. Contact course convener if you are unable to travel to Canberra.

This course will explore frontier geoscience problems in a holistic manner. In this course you will develop skills needed to define and interpret Earth's history, and past and present environmental change. You will learn about the application of chemistry to the Earth Sciences. Major areas covered include elemental transport by water, the chemical composition of rocks and the use of isotopes as tracers of geological processes. This course will test your ability to synthesise course content and demonstrate an understanding of interactions between solid Earth materials and surficial processes.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Understand the behaviour of elements in a geochemical context and relate this to how elements redistribute within the Earth.
  2. Learn to think of Earth chemistry in terms of interactions between reservoirs.
  3. Understand the major processes that form and modify the Earth's crust and mantle.
  4. Use isotopes to trace geological processes and age date specific events.
  5. Evaluate published geochemical and isotopic data.
  6. Understand the theory and applications of analysis of materials.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Theory exam after the mid-semester break (35) [LO 1,2,3,4]
  2. Final exam (35) [LO 1,4,6]
  3. Seven best assignments based on the 10 practical exercises held weekly throughout the semester. (30) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]

In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle. 

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:

  • Face-to face component which will consist of 1 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 2 hour lecture plus 1 x 3 hour laboratory class per week.
  • Approximately 58 hours of self-study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.


Inherent Requirements

To be determined

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must have previously completed CHEM1101 and EMSC2023.

Prescribed Texts

"Geochemistry" by William M. White

Assumed Knowledge

Basic chemistry and geology

Majors

Minors

Specialisations

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
2
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $4050
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2020 $5760
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
8545 27 Jul 2020 03 Aug 2020 31 Aug 2020 30 Oct 2020 In Person N/A

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