This course covers the causes and effects of earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis and post glacial flooding.
No prior knowledge of Geology is needed. During the five sessions there will be a variety of practical activities to enhance your understanding of the processes involved.
In the first session, we shall look at how the earth works, in particular the movement of the plates and how this causes both earthquakes and volcanoes and is a major contributor to the occurrence of ice ages.
We will look at the causes of earthquakes and how they are detected and recorded. We will study the different types of earthquake waves and the different types of hazards earthquakes present. We shall examine the changes in the physical properties of the rocks immediately preceding an earthquake and whether these changes could be used to predict earthquakes.
The course will cover the different products emitted by volcanoes and how these are related to the different types of activity and to the chemistry of the molten rock. We will cover the different types of hazard caused by volcanic activity and will describe the eruptions of some notable volcanoes.
Volcanoes emit carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide both of which effect the earth’s climate but in opposite ways. We shall look at the Laki eruption in Iceland in 1783 and the disastrous effect it had on the world’s climate. We also look at the major eruption 65 million years ago which may have caused 75% of the species then living to become extinct, including the dinosaurs.
We shall examine the causes of tsunamis, how they travel and what are the most dangerous coastal situations.
In the last session, we shall start by looking at the causes and extent of the Ice Ages. A very large amount of water was turned to ice at the start of the last Ice Age and this resulted in the lowering of the sea level by over 100 metres. Once the ice began to melt, sea level rose rapidly flooding previously dry land, thus displacing any humans that were there. Major floods also occurred when water was trapped behind ice or land barriers which eventually gave way.
