AG-353 Arctic Terrestrial and Marine Climate History (10 ECTS)

Course requirements

Enrolment in a relevant master programme. Students should have a fundamental understanding of Quaternary sedimentology, stratigraphy, and climate history or AG-209, AG-210, AG-211, AG-220, or AG-215 or equivalent.The course is intended for master students in Quaternary geology, marine geology, and physical geography. It links to AG-326 and AG-342, and students who have accomplished or applied for these courses will be given preference.

Academic content

Physical, geochemical, and biogenic characteristics preserved in geological, geomorphic, and sedimentary archives underpin the deciphering of Earth’s past climate. This hands-on course provides an overview of the acquisition and application of such proxies during the Quaternary period, with a specific focus placed on Arctic environments. The course takes advantage of relatively easy access from UNIS to the fjords and field sites around Svalbard. Students are trained in fingerprinting the signatures of Quaternary climate change – both marine and terrestrial – to develop a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the past interactions between cryosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.

After training in Arctic field safety, the course starts with introductory lectures on Svalbard geology and history of concepts concerning the Quaternary Svalbard-Barents Sea climate and glacial events, as well as key proxy techniques.

Postglacial sea level change and glacioisostatic rebound history across Svalbard will be reviewed and investigated through field and laboratory analysis. The characteristics of indicative subaerial and submarine glacial landforms and their application in reconstructing the glacial sedimentary environments will be explored. Arctic sediment types and lithofacies, the logging techniques as well as chronological challenges in the Arctic will be explored using acoustic and sedimentological methods. Students are introduced to climate proxy approaches, including existing (e.g., micropalaeontology, geochemistry) and emerging (e.g., biomarkers) methodologies, which will be reviewed, discussed, and applied. Key processes and products of glacial marine and terrestrial sedimentation from the glacier margins to their distal setting in the submarine as well as subaerial settings will be covered.  

The uniqueness of this course lies in that students receive advanced field training, working with both terrestrial and marine archives of palaeoclimatic change. This will be complemented with instruction via the study of literature, state-of-the-art lectures, laboratory work, student-led seminars, and discussions. 

Learning outcomes

Upon completing the course, the students will have good understanding of Quaternary stratigraphical successions on Svalbard and the Arctic, broad knowledge of Svalbard and Arctic geomorphology and landscape evolution on different temporal and spatial scales through glacial cycles, as well as an understanding of chronological and stratigraphic challenges on Svalbard and in the Arctic. They will develop a good understanding of the evolution of high-latitude continental margins from fjords to continental slopes in the Quaternary and be able to critically analyse the geological record in the light of existing theories on Quaternary and current climatic changes. Further, the students will have a solid understanding of various proxy methods employed in the reconstruction of Earth’s climate from marine and terrestrial archives, and a broad knowledge of the advantages and drawbacks of selected proxies. 

This course builds primary competencies applicable to higher-level geoscience fields relevant to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG13 Climate Action; SDG14 Life Below Water; SDG15 Life On Land

This course specifically addresses the following UN Sustainability Development Goals: SDG13 Climate Action

Upon completing the course, the students will:

Learning activities

The initial lectures are followed by seminars, where each student participant gives an oral presentation on a selected subject concerning the Quaternary and climate history of Svalbard, based on in-depth study of the literature. Field school will be conducted during a 5-7 day research expedition. Fjords and field sites visited will be different between years, but the overall aim is to visit areas where novel data can be collected from both marine and terrestrial archives. During the expedition, geological, geomorphological, and palaeoclimate data will be obtained from various glacial marine and terrestrial environments. These data will be discussed aboard the vessel and in the following classroom and laboratory exercises, if possible (subject to the timing of the fieldwork). Key sites on land will be visited for recovering lacustrine sediment records, mapping and sampling stratigraphies, and describing signatures of past environmental change (raised beaches, glacial landforms etc.). The fieldwork will give students hands-on experience of various data collection, sampling, and laboratory analysis procedures, under supervision.

The students will present their field and laboratory results in the form of a scientific report delivered orally and via poster presentation. The data and observations collected during field- and lab-work will be used to critically assess the validity of published interpretations of Svalbard’s Quaternary climate history. Laboratory analyses and the group report will be completed during 2-3 weeks of supervised time at UNIS, after the field school (subject to timing of the research expedition). The participants are offered individual tutoring and advice, where the supervising professors will discuss individual student’s competence development throughout the course.

Compulsory learning activities

All compulsory learning activities must be approved in order to sit the exam.

• Active participation in seminars
• Lab exercises
• Fieldwork

Assessment

All assessments must be passed in order to pass the course.

Each assessment is graded, and subsequently combined into a single grade. Partial grades for each assessment will be available.