Earth & Space Sciences

This course explores cutting edge problems in earth, ocean, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. Topics are introduced through discussions of the current literature.

The course starts with five excursion days in Southwest and South Iceland. The excursions are always in the first week before official start of the semester at the School of Engineering and Natural sciences. Thus students attending the course must make sure that they arrive to Iceland in good time. The excursions focus on both constructive and destructive geological processes. Following the excursions an intensive program of lectures covering the main aspects of Icelandic geology occupy five additional weeks. The themes of the lectures are on volcanology, tephrochronology, tectonics, petrology, glacier, glacial geology, oceanography, geochemistry, Cenozoic climate, history, and natural hazards

The course gives a comprehensive summary of the environmental change that occurred during the Quaternary period with special reference to Iceland. Topics include the characteristics of the Quaternary and geological evidence for global climatic change; variations of Earth's orbital parameters; dating methods; glacial debris transport and glacial sedimentation on land and in water; evidence for climate change in glacier ice and marine and lake sediment; volcanic activity and the environment; the history of ice on Earth; paleoclimate reconstruction; and the glacial and climatic history of Iceland and the North Atlantic Ocean.

This class introduces the basic geological processes on earth and related rock records used by scientists. Topics include plate tectonics; minerals, sediments, and sedimentary rocks; metamorphism and metamorphic rocks; steam and drainage system; wind activity and the desert; development of terrain, cataclasis, and minerals; and energy resources.

The study of climatic and environmental changes that have occurred over the past few million years is one of the most exciting branches of Physical Geography. This course examines spatial and temporal patterns of climatic and environmental changes during the late Cenozoic and their potential causes. It also assesses the contribution of palaeoclimatology to our understanding of present and future climate.  The course stresses the multi-disciplinary nature of research into past environments.  On completion of the course students will have knowledge of major global patterns of climate change and environmental response on tectonic, orbital and millennial timescales and their regional expression e.g. northern vs southern hemisphere, low vs mid vs high latitude, an understanding of the different climate forcing variables and an appreciation of how climate scientists have used palaeoclimatic data to support projections of future climate.

This course provides introduces the main concepts and body of evidence that underlie our current understanding of the origin, structure, and evolution of the Universe. It offers exposure to the fundamental principles of special and general relativity and their significance to the evolution of the Cosmos. Topics such as stellar interiors, classification, and evolution along with galaxy dynamics are discussed in some detail. The course culminates with descriptions of current cosmological models and recent developments of the much discussed dark matter and dark energy mysteries, and what they entail to the evolution of the Universe.

This course examines ductile & brittle deformation; stress, strain & fracture theory; geometry & dynamics of faulting, folding & related structures; interpretation of geological maps & subsurface structures.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer systems for the collection, storage, visualization, and display of geographically referenced information. A GIS can be used to ask and answer complex questions that have a spatial component. This course utilizes GIS to examine spatial data in relation to a range of environmental and socioeconomic issues. This course introduces GIS using a popular desktop package called ArcGIS 10.x. Students use this software and some additional programs, called ‘extensions,’ for vector and raster (grid-based) analysis. The course is problem-based. Students solve problems using the GIS and  demonstrate their new knowledge through homework projects, practical exams, and a research project.