GEOLOGY
cod. 00464

Academic year 2008/09
2° year of course - Second semester
Professor
Academic discipline
Geologia stratigrafica e sedimentologica (GEO/02)
Field
Discipline della scienza della terra
Type of training activity
Characterising
80 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub:
course unit
in - - -

Learning objectives

The Geology course aims to give the student of the Natural Sciences degree course an integrated and dynamic vision of the Earth and its evolution. The final aim is to provide an outline of the knowledge and methodologies necessary for correct comprehension of environmental systems and the factors that regulate their changes over time. During the course, basic geological topics are dealt with; in addition, the mechanisms that regulate environmental changes, with special regard to global climatic variability, are covered in an introductory manner. The lectures will be integrated with theme seminars, field trips and exercises.

Prerequisites

The Geology Course is integrated with the Petrography course and requires prior knowledge of basic elements of Mineralogy and Geography.

Course unit content

<br />Time and environmental changes: the geological perspective<br />The Earth as a self-regulated system: the Gaia hypothesis<br />Rocks and geological processes<br />Sedimentary rocks and surface processes<br />Basic principles of Stratigraphy<br />Meaning and importance of sedimentary successions<br />Dating techniques<br />Origin and meaning of cyclicity in sedimentary successions<br />Structure and internal processes of the Earth <br />Rock deformation<br />Plate tectonics and Geodynamics<br />The geological evolution of the Alpine and Apennine systems<br />The course programme also includes seminars on some specific themes concerning large paleoenvironmental changes of the geological past that are of particular interest since they registered by the sedimentary successions of the northern and central Apennines and the Italian seas.<br />The mass extinctions <br />The Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean <br />Genesis and paleoceanographic meaning of sapropels<br />The recent evolution of the Po-Adriatic basin: climatic and environmental changes over the past 20,000 years.<br />The exercises (some of which will be carried out in the field) regard rock recognition, reading of geological maps and the basic practices of geological data collection and cartographic representation.

Full programme

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Bibliography

<br />Recommended text books<br />Press F. & Siever R.  Capire la Terra.  Zanichelli, Bologna<br />Ricci Lucchi F.  La Scienza di Gaia - ambienti e sistemi naturali visti da un geologo. Zanichelli, Bologna<br />Bosellini A., Mutti E. & Ricci Lucchi F.  Rocce e Successioni sedimentarie. UTET, Torino <br />Lovelock J.  Gaia, nuove idee sull'ecologia. Bollati Boringhieri<br />Lovelock J.  Le nuove età di Gaia. Bollati Boringhieri<br /><br />Other literature<br /><br />Ricci Lucchi F.  I ritmi del mare  La Nuova Italia Scientifica, Roma<br />A.A.V.V La Vena del Gesso. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Collana naturalistica<br />Ricci Lucchi F.  Sedimentografia  Zanichelli, Bologna<br />Hallam A.  Le grandi dispute della Geologia Zanichelli, Bologna

Teaching methods

<br />Classroom lectures and classroom and field exercises; teaching trips in Apennine and/or Alpine areas<br />Final oral exam

Assessment methods and criteria

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Other information

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