Environmental Geology
(EGE201T)
Study guide
Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences
Faculty of Science
Tshwane University of Technology
(TUT)
Table of Contents
Page
1. Introduction 3
2. Topics to be covered 4
3. Study material 8
4. Schedule 20
5. Assessments and Predicate marks 25
6. Lecturer information 26
7. Other information 28
Introduction
Environmental Geology is the study of natural disasters caused by the interaction of man with earth's systems.
Wikipedia give the definition as
Environmental geology, like hydrogeology, is a multidisciplinary field of applied science and is closely related to engineering geology and somewhat related to environmental geography. They all involve the study of the interaction of humans with the geologic environment including the biosphere, the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and to some extent the atmosphere. It includes:
* managing geological and hydrogeological resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, water (surface and ground water), and land use.
* defining and mitigating exposure of natural hazards on humans
* managing industrial and domestic waste disposal and minimizing or eliminating effects of pollution, and
* performing associated activities, often involving litigation.
(Wikipedia, 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_geology)
Topics to be covered
The following topics will be covered during the semester
Earthquakes
We will have a look at why earthquakes happen, where they occur and what damage is caused by them if they occur.
Landslides
Landslides are caused by unstable soil and rocks flowing downhill. The damage caused by them can wipe out small towns and kill hundreds of people.
Tsunamis
Tsunamis are massive waves caused by undersea earthquakes or movement of tectonic plates. You will learn about the destructive power of water.
Hurricanes
Hurricanes form over tropical waters with winds of up to 300km/h which can clear neighborhoods in the wake of their destruction.
Tornados
Tornadoes form underneath storm clouds and rip apart anything in their path.
Floods
Floods occur when precipitation and the landforms cause water levels to rise very rapidly.
Volcanoes
Volcanoes spew lava, gas and ash. Their destructive power has destroyed cities in the past and can do so again.
Meteorite or Asteroid Impacts
Probably the most destructive natural hazard of all. Meteor impacts have the potential to wipe out human life on earth.
Study Material
Information on the Dvd
You will be provided with a dvd containing some of the material you will require to prepare for the tests and the exam. The dvd contains the following:
Opensource programs – I have included some free opensource programs for opening the files on the disk, they include Firefox 3.5 web browser, Openoffice 3.1 and the VLC video player.
Pdf document files – the pdf documents contain information on all of the topics that will be covered during the semester. Only a few of those have to be studied for the exam. Others have been added purely for advancement of knowledge on the topics presented.
Mp4 video files – a number of documentaries have been encoded into the mp4 file format. You need a special codec or player to play back the files and those have been provided on the dvd.
Ppt (Powerpoint) Presentations – as far as possible all presentations used in class will be added to the dvd.
Doc (Word) Documents – notes have been included as word documents. It is a good idea to print these out as you will need to study them for test and exam purposes.
HTML Documents – a number of web pages have been saved to the disk. Use these as a point of departure to find other pages and sites on the internet containing additional information on the topics covered.
Information on how to open the files are also located in text files on the dvd if you do not have your study guide with you.
Books
The prescribed textbooks are
Earth: Portrait of a Planet, Stephen Marshak, 2005, New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-9250-21
Living in the Environment, G. Tyler Miller, Jr and Scott E. Spoolman, Sixteenth Edition, 2007, 2009, Brooks/Cole Publishers, International Edition, ISBN-13: 978-0-495-55671-8 ISBN-10: 0-495-66671-8
These books for the very foundation of your knowledge in environmental sciences and geology and it is therefore highly recommended that you purchase them and read through all of the chapters during the year. If you cannot buy the books at the moment, take note that copies of them are available in the library.
Other textbooks are available in the library.
Notes
In addition to other materials, you will be given printed notes before the topics will be dealt with. These printed notes are essential for exam preparation as they form the core of knowledge you will need to pass.
Notes are often also available on the internet and you can go there to reprint them if you loose them.
Documentary Videos
You will be shown a number of documentaries in class. It is therefore for you own benefit that you attend all of the theory classes.
Some of the documentaries you will be watching include the following:
Six Degrees
Volcanoes 2.
Amazing Earth 1.
Amazing Earth 2.
Built for Destruction - Deserts.
Built for Destruction - Volcanoes 2.
Built for Destruction - Volcanoes.
Burma Cyclone.
Earth - Power of a Planet.
Earth Investigated - Colliding Continents
Earth Investigated - Landslides.
Earth Investigates - Hurricane 1
Earth Investigates - Hurricane 2
Earthquake
Formation of the Solar System
Glaciers
History Channel Volcanoes.
Hubble
Hurricane 1
Hurricane 2
Journey to the Edge of the Universe.
Megavolcano 1.
Naked Science - Volcanic Eruptions.
Naked Science - Volcanoes 2
Pacific Ring of Fire
Space Weather
The Core of the Earth
The Ultimate Guide to Volcanoes pt 2
The Ultimate Guide to Volcanoes
Tsunamis
Violent Planet 1
Violent Planet 2
Volcanic Eruption
Volcano Slayer
Volcanoes 1
The videos will be encoded into a smaller format and will be included on the dvd you will be given.
Websites on the internet
A number of sites on the world wide web contain information on the topics covered in environmental geology II.
Here are some recommended sites you can visit. Please note that the sites were selected out of thousands of other sites containing topical information. Great effort has been undertaken to list them here so please take the effort to visit them – it is for your own benefit.
Wikipedia
For volcanoes
Volcano Information, Photos and Stories
Thinkquest Volcanoes Online (http://library.thinkquest.org/17457/english.html)
Enchanted learning (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/volcano/)
How volcanoes work
(http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/)
VolcanoDB
Volcano Live
USGS Volcanoes
(http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/volc/)
Yahoo directory – Volcanoes
(http://dir.yahoo.com/science/earth_sciences/geology_and_geophysics/volcanology/volcanoes/)
Windows to the universe – Volcanoes
(http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/interior/volcanos_general.html)
National Geographic
How Stuff Works
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/volcano.htm)
Volcano Safaris
(http://www.volcanoessafaris.com/)
Volcanic Violence
(http://whyfiles.org/031volcano/)
Volcano presentations
(http://science.pppst.com/volcanoes.html)
USGS – Natural Hazards – Volcanoes
(http://www.usgs.gov/hazards/volcanoes/)
Cascades Volcano Observatory
Google directory – Volcanoes
(http://www.google.com/Top/Science/Earth_Sciences/Geology/Volcanoes/)
Thinkquest
(http://library.thinkquest.org/17457/volcanoes/)
Google books – Volcanoes
Academic info
(http://www.academicinfo.net/rocksvol.html)
NASA Mars Program
(http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/volcanoes/)
National Geographic Kids
(http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0405/quickflicks/)
Weatherwiz Kids
(http://www.weatherwizkids.com/volcano1.htm)
Solarviews
(http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tervolc2.htm)
Sciencedaily
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070829143713.htm)
Geological Survey of Canada
(http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/volcanoes/index_e.php)
Volcano World
(http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/)
Global Volcanism Program
(http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/)
Volcanoes of Canada
(http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/volcanoes/index_e.php)
The Nature of Volcanoes
(http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tervolc2.htm)
University of Cambridge – Department of Earth Sciences
(http://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/ivhhn/index.html/)
Geology.com
(http://geology.com/nasa/monitoring-volcanoes.shtml)
Nasa Earth Observatory
(http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/)
NOVA – Volcanoes Deadly Warning
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/volcano/)
For hurricanes
Wikipedia - Tropical Cyclone
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone)
Palm beach post
(http://www.palmbeachpost.com/storm/content/storm/homepage/index.html)
NASA – Hurricanes
(http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html)
How Stuff Works – Hurricanes
(http://www.howstuffworks.com/hurricane.htm)
Wired.com
(http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/weathermod/)
Hurricane Zone
(http://www.hurricanezone.net/)
Hurricane.com
Newscientist
(http://www.newscientist.com/topic/hurricane-season)
CDC Hurricanes
(http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/)
Hurricane Resources
(http://www.cln.org/themes/hurricanes.html)
Environment Canada
(http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/index_e.html)
Exploring the Environment
Hurricanes – Online metereology guide
(http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/mtr/hurr/home.rxml)
National Hurricane Centre
Pew Climate
(http://www.pewclimate.org/hurricanes.cfm)
Environmental Literacy Council
(http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/258.html)
Cuba Hurricanes
(http://www.cubahurricanes.org/)
Hurricanes and Climate Change
(http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/links/hurricanes.htm)
About.com
(http://geography.about.com/cs/hurricanes/a/hurricane.htm)
For tornado
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado)
FEMA
(http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/index.shtm)
NSSL NOAA
(http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html)
CDC
(http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/tornadoes/)
Whyfiles
(http://whyfiles.org/013tornado/3.html)
How Stuff Works
(http://www.howstuffworks.com/tornado.htm)
About.com
(http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/tornado.htm)
National Geographic
(http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/15/gk2/tornadowhat.html)
Discover Magazine
(http://discovermagazine.com/2009/may/10-worlds-biggest-tornado-hunt|)
SPC NOAA
(http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/)
Enchanted Learning
(http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/weather/tornado/)
Tsunami
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami)
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake)
Tsunami.org
Tsunami Book
World went wrong
(http://www.achr.net/000ACHRTsunami/Tsunami/Tsunami.htm)
Asian Tsunami Videos
(http://www.asiantsunamivideos.com/)
Tsunami help
(http://tsunamihelp.blogspot.com/)
UN Tsunami
(http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=102&Body=tsunami&Body1)
International Tsunami Information Centre
(http://ioc3.unesco.org/itic/)
Crystallinks
(http://www.crystalinks.com/tsunami.html)
How Stuff Works
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/tsunami.htm)
Tsunami – Wall of water book
Tsunami 2004.net
IOC
World Bank
Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Site
Nationalgeographic
(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0107_050107_tsunami_index.html)
Forces of Nature – Very good
(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/forces-of-nature.html)
Nationalgeographic Environment
(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment)
Earthquakes
Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake)
How stuff works
(http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffworks/236-how-earthquakes-work-video.htm)
Brittannica
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/176199/earthquake)
Earthquake Country
(http://www.earthquakecountry.info/)
USGS
EERI
NASA
(http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/earthquake_worldbook.html)
3D Earthquake map
(http://www.wolton.net/quake.html)
Science daily
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/earth_climate/earthquakes/)
Explore
(http://42explore.com/quakes.htm)
Nationalgeographic
(http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/earthquake-profile.html)
Yahoo directory – Seismology
(http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/earth_sciences/geology_and_geophysics/seismology/)
Global Earthquake Model
(http://www.globalquakemodel.org/)
National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program
Flickr Earthquake
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/earthquake/)
FEMA
(http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/)
Wikinews
(http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Strong_earthquake_strikes_off_the_coast_of_Taiwan)
How Stuff Works
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/earthquake.htm)
USGS Earthquake Hazard Program
National Earthquake Information Centre
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/neic/)
ANSS – Advanced National Seismic System
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/monitoring/anss/)
Schedule
Here is a draft breakdown of what will be covered per week. Keep in mind that the dates can and probably will change. As you will notice, we have specious little time before predicate day, it is therefore important that you do not miss a single lecture. We will unfortunately have to utilize every minute of available time so set aside any others plans for Friday.
Date | Topic | Documentary to be watched |
31st of July 2009 | Introduction to Environmental Geology | Journey to the edge of the universe. Formation of the solar system |
7th of August 2009 | Volcanoes | Earth – Power of a planet Amazing Earth |
14th of August 2009 | Volcanoes | Built for destruction – Volcanoes Ultimate guide to volcanoes |
21st of August 2009 | Volcanoes | Megavolcano |
28th of August 2009 | Test 1 | Nothing |
4th of September 2009 | Earthquakes | Ultimate guide to earthquakes |
11th of September 2009 | Tsunamis and Floods | The day the wave struck Indian ocean tsunami Floods |
18th of September 2009 | Hurricanes | Burma Cyclone Hurricane 2 Hurricane 3 Hurricane 5 |
25th of September 2009 | TUT Holiday | Stay at home and watch something educational. |
2nd of October 2009 | Tornados | Storm chasers Tornado |
9th of October 2009 | Landslides and Asteroid Impacts | Earth Investigated - landslides Asteroid Impact |
16th of October 2009 | Wildfires | Wildfires |
23st of October 2009 | Test 2 | |
28th of October 2009 | Predicate day | Only look out for the predicate marks. |
30th of October 2009 | Tips and revision for exam | |
6th of November 2009 | Exam time | |
13th of November 2009 | Exam time | |
20th of November 2009 | Exam time | |
27th of November 2009 | Holidays | |
4th of December 2009 | Holidays |
Empty calender for time planning
Tests, Projects and Predicate
During the semester, you will write two semester tests and will have to do and hand in one project.
Dates have been proposed for the semester tests. Please note that the dates given may change, but you will be notified of any changes.
Your predicate will be calculated as follows
2 x Semester tests (34%) = 68%
1 x Project (32%) = 32%
________
Predicate = 100%
Please remember that you will need a sub-minimum of 40% for your predicate to be eligible to write the exam. If you do manage to write the exam you will need a 50% for a pass in the exam. Your total mark should also be 50% to pass. Anything between 40% and 50% entitles you to a supplementary exam.
Lecturer information
Rudolph Robbertze
Background: Environmental Sciences
Office: My Office (4-218) or the Environmental Chemistry Lab (3-131)
Directions to get to my office: In building 4, take the eastern set of stairs up to the second floor. Go through the purple double doors on the left in front of you. My office is the second one on the right hand side.
Cell: 082 860 4573
Tel: 012 382 6320
Email: Robbertzerpj@tut.ac.za
Email: Rudolph80@saol.com
Consultation times: 10:00 – 14:30 on Tuesdays for this subject.
Changes made to notes and slideshows
Some changes may have to be made to the slideshows and notes and since the DVD was created at the beginning of the semester it may not contain the most up to date version of the files. It is highly recommended that you create a free email address so that I can send any changes made to you during the semester. Email will also be used to communicate some other information to you like test results etc.
You can get a free email address at any of the following websites: www.,yahoo.com, www.hotmail.com or www.webmail.co.za
Make sure that you have given me your new email address so that the communications will reach you.
If possible only the newest versions of the files will be printed.
You are also welcome to visit the website specifically created for undergraduate students at TUT. This site can be found at tutundergrads.blogspot.com
Posts
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