MSci (Hons) Earth, Climate and Environmental Change Integrated Master's degree at Royal Holloway, University of London

Introduces the 4.6 billion-year history of Earth through two complementary streams: palaeontology (story of life from origin to human evolution, covering systematic palaeontology, palaeoecology, palaeobiology, evolution, and taphonomy) and sedimentology (earth surface processes and palaeoenvironments, teaching rock classification, textural analysis, facies analysis, graphic logging, palaeoflow analysis, and stratigraphy).

Explores key themes in human-Earth interaction including anthropogenic climate change, geohazards, environmental pollution, and sustainable exploitation of energy resources and energy-critical elements.

Teaches three interconnected phenomena: the global climate system and the atmospheric and oceanic processes that regulate the climate system over timescales of seconds to millions of years, with emphasis on practical skills in data handling, manipulation, statistics and interpretation, and exposure to active research topics in atmospheric and oceanic chemistry and understanding of climate change.

Develops understanding of basic concepts in chemistry and physics and how to apply these to geological processes, covering atoms and atomic structure, periodic table, reactions, equations, geochemical analysis, Earth composition, phase diagrams, mineral solubility, weathering, hydrological cycle, Newton's Laws, kinematics, circular motion, planetary orbits, gravity, magnetism, electricity, resistivity, stress, strain, seismicity, isostasy, radioactivity, and geochronology.

Develops skills required to practice geology in the field through fieldwork in South Devon and Pembrokeshire, covering description and interpretation of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks, geological mapping and cross-section preparation, stereographic projections, sedimentary logging, stratigraphic columns, and structural feature analysis using stereonets.

Develops understanding of hazards associated with geological activity, their causes, and approaches to risk management, covering volcanoes, earthquakes, radon, and hazards from geological resource exploitation and anthropogenic activity including asbestos, mining, and contaminated land, with examination of geological and geochemical data for risk assessment.

Research-led module developing skills in scientific writing, communication and data interpretation alongside understanding of current research topics in Earth, Climate and Environmental Change through seminars led by experts, literature review exercises with training in literature searching and reference management, and data interpretation through guided quantitative projects.

Develops understanding of advanced chemical concepts relevant to Earth Sciences, focusing on isotope geochemistry and techniques directly applicable in most geological contexts, with practical classes and a project involving analysis and interpretation of real geochemical datasets.

Module where students gain appreciation of anthropogenic impact on the environment through field site visits, understand principles of environmental sampling including sampling strategies and error sources, gain experience of sample preparation methods and analytical data production, learn ICP-AES use for environmental analysis, develop safe laboratory practices and team working skills, and plan and undertake independent field-based environmental projects.

Embeds GIS and programming skills for creation, analysis and interpretation of geospatial data and coding skills to facilitate data collection, analysis, modelling and interpretation, covering GIS origin, georeferenced data creation, raster and vector data combination, data analysis, Python introduction, arrays, reading and writing, branching, repeating, and plotting.

Teaches key features of major climatic events in Earth's history and rates and magnitudes of change characterising these episodes, demonstrating techniques for quantitative palaeoclimate reconstruction using chemical, biological and physical proxy data and Earth-System models, with class practical exercises and summative tasks requiring interpretation of raw palaeoclimate datasets.

Projects can be field and/or laboratory based generating new scientific data, or computational analysing existing data, with project plan submission in term 1, written feedback on project plan, formative feedback after term 1 presentations, regular supervisor meetings, and results presented as scientific report and oral presentation.

Covers hazards associated with geological activity, their causes and risk management including volcanoes and earthquakes, and those associated with anthropogenic activity such as mining and land contamination, with small group investigations of geohazards pertinent to a city of choice and formative assessments involving geological, numerical and geochemical data analysis and interpretation.

Student designs and executes independent research project under departmental supervisor guidance, utilising data collected in field, laboratory, and/or scientific literature, with data handling using statistical or GIS techniques integrated into project. For Earth, Climate and Environmental Change students, project must be in topic appropriate to their degree. Written report submitted in style appropriate to topic and oral presentation given at end of project.

Integrates sedimentary, palaeontological, oceanographic and atmospheric information from geological and modern record to understand evolution of modern Earth, investigating climate record through geologic time and what it tells about future climate change challenges using varied palaeoclimatic proxies from palaeontology and sedimentology, exploring links between climate, tectonics and sedimentary systems, and assessing relationship between evolution of land life and atmosphere.

Student designs and executes independent research project under departmental supervisor guidance to be submitted for examination as report of 45 pages, utilising data collected in field or laboratory and may involve industrial placement. Field-based projects normally based on 7-10 days of fieldwork.