The overall goal of this module is to provide undergraduate students with a sound knowledge of the marine and seabed environments: how they formed over geological time, what processes presently affect them, and how human activities impact it. This will equip the students to make rational assessments with regards to environmental and engineering challenges related to climate change and the energy transition. Students will learn about the complex interplay within the marine environment, and the role of various geological, biological, oceanographic and hydrodynamic processes. On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to integrate a wide range of complicated datasets to provide robust assessments of the seabed and marine environment. They will be able to communicate effectively complex ideas around marine geoscience to an audience of peers. They will have a firm understanding of marine and seafloor processes and how they can create, or be exploited for, various resources, and the environmental implications.

Indicative Module Content:
1. The geological evolution of the seas and oceans
2. Oceanic processes and circulation
3. Seabed morphology and sedimentary environments
4. Processes on continental shelves
5. Sea-level rise
6. Marine sediments as environmental archives
7. The seafloor supporting habitats and providing ecosystem services
8. Carbon in the marine environment
9. Marine geohazards
10. Marine renewable energy
11. Anthropogenic impacts
12. Seafloor extraction (e.g. aggregates, deep sea mining)

Not applicable to this module.

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

Students will have the opportunity to discuss their progress with the MC throughout the trimester, both informally and formally. Grades for In trimester assessments will be posted on Brightspace