Marine Environmental Geology

Catalog description

This course is an introduction to the aspects of coastal and marine geology and oceanography that are societally linked through environmental issues and marine resource availability. This will provide a basic science introduction to topics that include estuarine oceanography and sedimentation, eutrophication of coastal waters, primary productivity and deep sea sedimentation, waves and tides, sea level history and the evolution of coastlines, and the geology of the Gulf coastal region. However, the larger goal of the course will be to focus on a series of societally relevant environmental issues with a marine geological connection either in causation or in mitigation/adaptation/solution strategies. These issues are divided broadly into topics relevant to land-ocean connectivity, natural hazards, global climate change, and local/regional anthropogenic effects. In addition to a critical analysis of global (marine) environmental issues, another goal will be to improve presentation skills, both oral and written.