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• • GEO9630
    • Høst 2010

GEO9630 - Geodynamics

Course content

Plate tectonics. Stress and strain in solids. Rheology of the Earth’s materials. Elasticity and flexure of plates. Heat transfer in the Earth. Convection. Plumes and subduction zones. Earth’s gravity.

Learning outcomes

The course provides the fundamentals necessary for an understanding of the workings of the Solid Earth in the context of plate tectonics and mantle convection. The Earth is a heat engine, with decay of radioactive elements and cooling as source of energy. This results in movements in the deep Earth which have important consequences at the surface such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, sedimentary basin formation and mountain building. This course explains how surface observables such as surface heat flow, gravity field, topography of the oceanic floor, can be used to understand and analyse quantitatively the forces and the mechanisms behind the Earth’s dynamics.

Admission

PhD students admitted to a PhD programme at UiO.

PhD students from other universities who would like to take the course as a part of their theoretical syllabus for the PhD degree must apply for status as a visiting PhD student .

Only students admitted to the course may take part in instruction and tuition and sit for the examination.

Prerequisites

Recommended prior knowledge

The quantitative aspects of geodynamics are emphasised. It is useful to have some basic courses in mathematics, in particular on differential equations.

Overlap

10 credits against GEO4630 - Geodynamics.

Teaching

Lectures and seminars, 6 hours a week over 10 weeks. The students will present articles elaborating on subjects in the course. Obligatory exercises. The exercises presentations must be approved before you can take the final examination.

Exam information

Final written exam (3 hours) (counts 100%).

The exam questions will only be given in English.

Assessment and grading

Students are awarded either a passing or a failing grade. Read more about the grading system .

External auditor: Rolf Mjelde

An external auditor regularly evaluates the academic quality of the course, including the form of exam used on the course.

Explanations and appeals

Students can request an explanation of their grades, and can also appeal against their grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals

Possibility of make-up exams and re-takes

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam .

Withdrawing from exams and limits on re-takes

A student can sit for this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do this in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit for the exam.

Exam options for students with special needs

Students may apply for access to alternative exam resources or exam forms on the basis of chronic illness and/or special needs that create a marked disadvantage to other students in the exam situation. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.

Evaluation of this course

Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. As a student at the University of Oslo you will therefore be asked to participate in various types of evaluation of our courses, facilities and services. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, in-depth evaluation of this course, a so called "periodic evaluation".

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