Global Climate Change in Context (GEOG30023)

This subject examines the nature and causes of past changes in Earth’s climate during the Quaternary Period (the last 2.7 million years), with a particular emphasis on the last glacial-interglacial cycle. It aims to place modern climate and the projections of future global warming into a longer-term perspective, and will allow students to understand why human interference in the climate system may be a legitimate cause for concern. Emphasis is placed on how Earth materials (ice, rocks, sediments, landforms, biological materials) record past climate changes, the techniques used to extract this ‘palaeoenvironmental information’, and the principles that govern how this information is interpreted. Most of the subject will run prior to the start of semester one and be based around a field trip to the South Island of New Zealand. A pre-field trip essay will give students the basic background to the nature of Quaternary palaeoclimate. A series of lectures (held in Melbourne) will then cover the theoretical aspects of the subject in more detail, providing an important primer to the field work. The field component itself focuses on how particular environments (coastal, lake, fluvial, cave, and glacial) preserve evidence of past climate change. A further series of lectures and practicals will be conducted during the first 4 weeks of semester, and will focus on the nature of palaeoclimate data and how these are processed and interpreted. By the end of the subject, students will not only appreciate the dynamics of Earth’s past climate and the mechanisms that have forced it, but also the way in which we practice this important and growing field of study.

The estimated cost of the field trip is in the vicinity of $900. The field trip will take place in the weeks immediately prior to the first week of Semester 1.

Note this subject may be taken as the Capstone subject in the Geography major of the BSc. All students, whether they are capstone students or not, will be required to complete online introductory materials that are common across all field classes, and will be invited to a discussion session together at the end of their Capstone study and experience.