Earth & Space Sciences

This course examines topics such as the nature of science and matauranga Maori; the origin and age of the Universe and our solar system; the origin and evolution of life on Earth; extremophiles and the environmental limits of life; the search for habitable environments in the Solar System; exploration of Mars and Icy Worlds for extra-terrestrial life; extrasolar planets; planetary protection; and the ethics and future of space exploration. 

This introduction to Natural Resource Economics examines the scarcity and optimal allocation of freshwater resources in the Western Cape, South Africa. The theoretical framework is neo-classical microeconomics, market failure, and climate change are being addressed. Assessment: tests and essays (40%), final examination (60%).

This course examines mineralogy, igneous and metamorphic petrology, and related ore deposits, and their use in interpretation of geological environments. It covers geologic processes sensitive to pressure, temperature and volatile availability, including magma crystallization and gold mineralization.

This course offers students the possibility to grow the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize, describe, and interpret structural and tectonic features at all scales of observation, and how to use structural geology to constrain tectonic and geodynamic scenarios recorded in the rock record. After completing the course, students are able to: recognize, measure, and plot the geometric features of a significant variety of geological structures, from the outcrop to the regional scale; understand the mechanics of deformation and assess the dynamic and kinematic framework within which deformation and strain localization have taken place; reconstruct modes and timing of deformation; and decipher the geodynamic environments that govern the first-order evolution of our Planet. Teaching includes a combination of theory lessons, practical sessions and one excursion to deformed areas of the Northern Apennines.

A working knowledge of regional geology represents the basis for any practical application of geology, including land planning, engineering geology, and the sustainable development of mineral, hydrocarbon, and water resources. This course provides the student with a modern synthesis of the geology of Italy in view of its many practical applications. The course discusses topics including the main geophysical features of the Italian peninsula and the adjacent marine basins; and the main Italian geological domains: the Alpine orogen, the Corsica-Sardinia block, the Calabria-Peloritani terrane, the Apennines, the Apulia and Hyblean platforms, the geology of Sicily, and the Quaternary.

This course focuses on the estuarine, coastal, and marine processes and morphological features that determine the morphodynamic behavior of coastal systems. Coastal morphodynamics is defined as the mutual co-adjustment of coastal landforms and processes. Emphasis is on the behavior of sedimentary coastal systems, such as beaches and dune coasts, barrier island systems, tidal inlets, estuaries, and deltas. It includes the behavior of both sandy and muddy coasts. The time scales involved vary from less than a second (e.g., intra-wave processes; short-term) to decades (e.g., the coastal response to sea level rise; long-term). The course starts with the dynamics of wave-, tide- and current-driven processes and the effect on sediment transport processes and associated morphological change. The second part of the course deals with the morphodynamic character of different types of coastal systems. This is analyzed by discussing, evaluating, and quantifying the dominant processes, the relevant morphological features, and sedimentary products. Exercises, papers, and case studies are an integral part of the course and are used to develop skills in analyzing and solving coastal problems. The course also contains several lectures on coastal instrumentation (for example, remote sensing) and on the societal relevance of coastal processes in mitigating coastal erosion.

Topics in this Astronomy and Geodesy course include: figure and gravity field of the earth; geometric geodesy; spatial geodesy; positional astronomy; astronomical reference systems; diurnal motion and Earth's rotation; planetary motion; time scales; stellar, galactic, and extragalactic astronomy; large-scale structure of the universe.

This course introduces the Earth System as a basis for characterizing and understanding natural hazards, their causes and consequences. The major types of natural hazard are described, analyzed, and assessed in terms of their underlying causes as well as their socio-economic and environmental impacts. This course capitalizes on natural synergies between subsurface, surface, and human dimensions of the Earth System. Hazards for consideration include earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic hazards (local, regional and global scale), meteorological hazards (hurricanes, tornadoes, dust storms, El-Nino, flooding and coastal erosion), topographic hazards such as collapse of unstable slopes, and hazards arising from climate change. The evidence for past natural catastrophes and hazards, recorded in natural archives, are described along with remote sensing methods for documenting current hazards and hazard risk. The principles and application of risk assessment and analysis are considered with respect to case studies. The course concludes with an overview of human settlement, planning, and policy in relation to natural hazards in the light of their socio-economic impacts. The course comprises lectures supplemented by a series of laboratory classes, together with a directed program of reading. 

The course focuses on the study of sediments and sedimentary rocks, erosion, transport processes and accumulation of sediments, and sedimentary facies and facies associations. Emphasis is placed on linking practical work and lectures. Exercises are conducted in the field and in the laboratory. Students are taught to log sedimentary sections and to map sediments and sedimentary rocks, to take samples, and perform basic sedimentological analyses of physical properties in the lab.

This course examines the study of global climate systems and climate change. It covers the controls of temporal and spatial variations in earth's climate and its histories of past climates preserved in the geological record, as well as modern research methods that are used in paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions.