EA2120 - Palaeontology and Stratigraphy

[Offered in odd-numbered years]

Credit points:	03
Year:	2005
Student Contribution Band:	Band 2
Administered by:

An extended introduction to the fossil record in relation to biosphere evolution through deep time and change in past environments with an outline of how fossils are used to interpret and date sedimentary rock systems in which they occur. The subject concentrates on fossil marine invertebrates and includes treatment of: completeness of the fossil record, palaeonenvironmental and palaeobiological interpretation of fossil remains and broadscale evolutionary and extinction patterns through time and their interpretation. An introduction to stratigraphy provides a conceptual framework for evaluation of sequence in sedimentary rock systems, based on their layered properties and fossil contents and the interpretation of stratigraphic patterns in terms of past environments.

Learning Outcomes

• provision of a conceptual framework for the evaluation of biosphere patterns through deep time, based on the fossil record;
• the methodologies for analysis of sedimentary rock systems to determine their age properties coded by sequence and fossil contents;
• the provision of a conceptual framework for interpretation of sedimentary rock systems as broadscale indicators of past environmental succession;
• the recognition and interpretation of common fossil categories and assemblages as indicators of past biological systems and of episodes in Earth history.

Graduate Qualities

• The ability to think critically, to analyse and evaluate claims, evidence and arguments;
• The ability to adapt knowledge to new situations;
• The ability to define and to solve problems in at least one discipline area;
• The ability to speak and write logically, clearly and creatively;
• A coherent and disciplined body of skills, knowledge, values and professional ethics in at least one discipline area;
• The ability to use a variety of media and methods to retrieve, analyse, evaluate, organise and present information.

Prerequisites:	EA1110 or EA1210 or ZL1001
Inadmissible Subject Combinations:	EA2100

Availabilities
, , Study Period 1
Census Date 31-Mar-2005
Coord/Lect:	Professor Bob Henderson.
Contact hours:	24 hours 36 hours
Assessment:	(50%); (10%); (40%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.