CH3044:03
Marine Chemistry
Townsville
Prerequisites: CH2042
Inadmissable Subject Combination: CH5042
36 lectures, 32 hours practicals, four hours fieldwork. Second semester.
Staff: Dr G Jones, Dr K Burns, Dr G Brunskill.
This subject follows on from second year, consolidating basic principles in marine chemistry and is designed to provide students with increased chemical understanding of many of the pollution and climate change issues associated with the sea and ocean. Subjects include: dissolved gases and air-sea exchange, the sea surface microlayer. The carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide, the carbonate system, alkalinity, seawater buffering, greenhouse effect and global warming. The sulphur cycle. Chemistry of marine sediments, iron-manganese nodules, metalliferous sediments and hydrothermal vents. The application of radioisotopes, stable isotopes and HPLC to the study of chemical oceanographic processes. Marine pollution at the land-ocean interface. Heavy metal pollution. Influence of water chemistry on trace metal bioavailability and toxicity to marine organisms. Methods for evaluating risks to marine organisms and human health from exposure to marine discharges. Toxicity of heavy metals to fish. Tributyl tin. Toxic organic chemicals. Oil pollution. Factors affecting the behaviour of chemical contaminants in the sea. Oceanographic instrumentation and analytical methods used to monitor the health of the ocean.
Learning Objectives:
- to provide an increased chemical understanding of many of the pollution and climate change issues associated with the sea and ocean;
- to understand the interdisciplinary nature of marine chemistry;
- to obtain an introduction to research in this discipline.
Assessment by a three-hour examination (60%), assignment and laboratory practical work (40%).