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Current Geological Areas

Code: 101071 ECTS Credits: 4
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Geology OT 3
Geology OT 4

Contact

Name:
Ramon Mercedes Martin
Email:
ramon.mercedes@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites


It is recommended to have basic knowledge in Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and a good level of comprehension of writings in English.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The course Present Geological Environments provides the fundamental formation in a field of sedimentary geology that today is expanding strongly and is basic for the needs of today's society, such as environmental sedimentology.
This branch of Stratigraphy and Sedimentology, which can also be understood as a branch of Applied Sedimentology, deals with the function and dynamics of today's sedimentary systems, focusing the study on how these systems respond to changes or due to natural or antropic processes as by the disturbances disturbances.
										
											
										
											The course wants wants the student to go beyond the knowledge that has already acquired in the subjects that affect the sedimentary geology and that have been oriented to a fundamental knowledge of the history of the Earth.
The course addresses the relationship between Geology and the Environment and seeks to ensure that the student is able to identify the factors of specificity that are involved in current sedimentary media towards fossils and, taking into account the main sources and dynamics of production and of sediment accumulation, be able to explore the impact of a wide range of disturbances of a given medium, whether natural or artificial

Competencies

  • Analyze and use information critically

  • Learn and apply acquired knowledge in practice and solve practical problems

  • Demonstrate interest in quality and quality practices

  • Become familiar with different types of geogenic and anthropogenic sediments,study their formation environments and their distribution in current sedimentary systems

  • Integrate physical, chemical, and biological evidence with theory to solve practical cases of present-day environments under natural and anthropogenic pressures

  • Recognize current sedimentary processes and their impact on the inhabited surface of the Earth

  • Communicate information effectively, both verbally, in writing, and graphically, using available communication and information technologies

  • Work independently and in teams

     

Learning Outcomes

  • Critical thinking

  • Learn and apply acquired knowledge in practice and solve practical problems

  • Demonstrate interest in quality and quality practices

  • Recognize the main geogenic and anthropogenic sediments and the main current sedimentary environments

  • Relate each type of sedimentary environment to the characteristic risks derived from excess or lack of sediments

  • Integrate observations of sediments, and their physical, chemical, and biological properties, into their behavior in current sedimentary environments

  • Propose mitigation strategies related to excess or lack of sediments

  • Communicate information effectively, both verbally, in writing, and graphically, using available communication and information technologies

  • Work independently and in teams

 

Competences

    Geology
  • Display understanding of the size of the space and time dimensions of Earth processes, on different scales.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply Geochemistry concepts to solve problems of land and water pollution.
  2. Assess changes to geological environments and their level of degradation resulting from direct anthropogenic action or climate change.

Content

1-Introduction: Concept and scope of environmental sedimentology. Factors of uniqueness of current media with regard to fossil media. Sediment response to environmental changes. Processes and management of sedimentary media.
										
											

2-Coastal environment: Sedimentary processes, control factors and interaction with anthropic activity.
										
											
										
											
3-Lacustrine environment: Types of lakes and lacustrine sediments. Lake pollution. Processes and impacts of natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
										
											
										
											
4-Mountain environment Types of mountain environments. Environmental sedimentological characteristics. Interaction with the anthropic activity
										
											
										
											
5-Desert environment Sedimentary processes and their impacts. Aridification and anthropogenic impacts.
										
											
										
											
6-Fluvial environment Sedimentary processes and impact of anthropogenic activity.
										
											
										
											
7-Urban environment Geology-city interaction: the case of a large city.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Practices 16 0.64 1, 2
Theoretical lessons 18 0.72 1, 2
Type: Supervised      
Report on a study case 9 0.36 1, 2
Type: Autonomous      
Theory study, Report performance 45 1.8 1, 2 

Three types of activities will be carried out: (a) mentoring, (b) supervised and (c) autonomous
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											Directed activities
										
											
										
											Theoretical lessons. Master classes of the subjects by the teachers
										
											
										
											Practices: Sediment analysis of some current environment. Case studies on the evolution of a current environment
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											Supervised activities:
										
											
										
											A proposed real case which the student develops on the basis of bibliographic search. This work must be presented in class.
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											Autonomous activities
										
											
										
											In addition to the study of conceptual issues, the student must complete the practice exercises and prepare the reports of the proposed works as well as, if applicable, the presentations of the works.


Talk at the ICGC (voluntary activity). A talk will be scheduled at the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (Montjuic, Barcelona) given by geology professionals with expertise in geological risks derived from sediments. They will talk to us about the day-to-day work of geologists carrying out tasks of assessment, prevention and intervention in geological risks. This activity will not be assessed but aims to raise awareness of the possible job opportunities of the subject.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Evaluation of theoretical contents 40 4 0.16 1, 2
Practices evaluation 20 0 0 1, 2
Report on a sedimentary environment 40 8 0.32 1, 2 

Evaluation
										
											
										
											Evaluation of the theoretical contents according to the score obtained in partial tests. Accounts for the 40% of the final score.
										
											
										
											Evaluation of the practices. Attendance is taken into account, together with the profiting of the sessions and the correction of a dossier with the set of the finished practices. Questions about the papers presented in class can be included. It accounts for the  20% of the final score. This part is considered continuous evaluation
										
											
										
											Evaluation of a study case. Accounts for the 40% of the final score. The questions, queries and progress of the work will be considered for this evaluation and in the  continuous evaluation
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											Final recovery test
										
											
										
											Fail partial theoretical tests (score less than 5) may be recovered in a final test on the scheduled date in the course  general program.
										
											
										
											 
										
											
										
											There will be no tests (partial, recovery or synthesis) other than in the scheduled days.

Bibliography

Arche, A. (2010). Sedimentología: del proceso físico a la cuenca sedimentaria. Publicaciones del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Colección Textos universitarios, Ref. CSIC 11761, 1287p

Bird, E. C. (2011). Coastal geomorphology: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.

Bridge, J., & Demicco, R. (2008). Earth surface processes, landforms and sediment deposits. Earth Surface Processes. Cambridge University Press. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805516

Burt, T. P., & Allison, R. J. (2010). Sediment cascades in the environment: An integrated approach. Sediment cascades: An integrated approach, 1-15. Wiley-Blackwell.

Lewis, S. L., & Maslin, M. A. (2015). Defining the anthropocene. Nature, 519(7542), 171-180.

Lovejoy, T.E. and Hannah, L. (2005). Climate Change and Biodiversity. Yale University Press.

Masselink, G., Hughes, M., & Knight, J. (2014). Introduction to coastal processes and geomorphology. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203785461 .

Patsch, K., Griggs, G. (2006). LITTORAL CELLS, SAND BUDGETS, AND BEACHES: UNDERSTANDING CALIFORNIA S SHORELINE. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

Perry, C.T. and Taylor. K.G. (2007). Environmental Sedimentology, (C. Perry and K.G. Taylor, eds.) Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Roberts, H., Brooks, T. (2018). Sediment budget analysis: practitioner guide. Environment Agency, Horizon House, Deanery Road, Bristol.

Smerdon, J. (2018). Climate change: the science of global warming and our energy future. Columbia University Press.

Solomon, S., Quin, D., Manning, M., Marquis, M., Averyt, k., Tichnor, M. Lery-Miller, H. Eds.  (2008). Climate Change. Cambridge University Press. The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I to the 4th assesment report of the Intergornmental Pannel on Climate Change.

Walker, R. (1984). Facies models. Geosciences Canada, Reprint Series 1 (2nd. Ed. Revised). Geol. Assoc. Canada, 317 pp.

Waters, C. N., Zalasiewicz, J. A., Williams, M., Ellis, M. A., & Snelling, A. M. (2014). A stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene? Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 395(1), 1-21.

Waters, C. N., Zalasiewicz, J., Summerhayes, C., Barnosky, A. D., Poirier, C., Gałuszka, A., & Wolfe, A. P. (2016). The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science, 351(6269).

Wagner, M., & Lambert, S. (2018). Freshwater microplastics: emerging environmental contaminants? (p. 303). Springer Nature.

Zalasiewicz, J., Waters, C. N., Williams, M., & Summerhayes, C. P. (Eds.). (2019). The Anthropocene as a geological time unit: A guide to the scientific evidence and current debate. Cambridge University Press.

 

Webs:

IPCC Sixt Assessment Report on Climate Change: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/

The Working Group on Anthropocene: http://quaternary.stratigraphy.org/working-groups/anthropocene/

The Anthropocene Info: https://www.anthropocene.info/index.php

The Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene:  https://www-sciencedirect-com.are.uab.cat/referencework/9780128135761/encyclopedia-of-the-anthropocene

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):  https://www.noaa.gov/

Global MonitoringLaboratory NOAA: https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/carbontracker/

Ocean and Coastal Hazards NOAA: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/

The Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project https://www.isimip.org/

Unlocking the secrets of mangroves: mapping and tracking mangrove forests to safeguard these ecological treasures :https://www.fao.org/interactive/remote-sensing-mangroves/en/

The GAR atlas: Unveiling global disaster risk (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction): https://www.undrr.org/publication/gar-atlas-unveiling-global-disaster-risk

Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Hazards: The Basics (NOAA): https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/training/nbs-basics.html

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) http://www.undrr.org/

Costal Regions: people living along the coastline, integration of NUTS 2010 and latest population grid. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Archive:Coastal_regions_-_population_statistics

 

 

Al Campus Virtual s'aniran afegint les referències dels articles que els alumnes han de cercar i sobre els quals han de fer un treball  

 

 

 

 A list with references will be uploaded in Campus Virtual. Students will search for these references to build up a report on them.  


Software

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Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 1 Catalan first semester afternoon
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester afternoon