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After completing Earth Systems, students will be able to:

1.    Understand how the Earth acts a dynamicsystem, and the concepts of geological time and space;

2.    Describe the four components of Earth’s system: Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Biosphere;

3.    Understand the broad-scale structure of the Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere and Biosphere, and  their dynamic evolution;

4.    Have knowledge of how episodic events change Earth over short time scales;

5.    Have knowledge of how long-time scale events shape Earth;

6.    Appreciate the time-scales of naturallyoccurring cycles;

7.    Describe the impact of human activity on Earth;

8.   Appreciate from field observations how Earth acts as a system;

9.  Collate Earth Systems information to produce a web page project.

Two free, on-line text books will be used:

• Blewett RS (ed.) 2012. Shaping a Nation: A Geology of Australia, Geoscience Australia and ANU E Press, Canberra.
• W. Kenneth Hamblin, Eric H. Christiansen, Earth’s Dynamic Systems, Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602.

MyUni: Teaching materials and course documentation will be posted on the MyUni website ().

The course consists of three 50-minute lectures per week, three hours of practical work every second week and a one-day field excursion. The lectures are the source of most of the information assessed in tests and quizzes and required for practicals. Many subjects are covered in detail only once and most contain some element of specialized vocabulary or facts that are hard to reproduce by reading alone.

A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and practicals), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading and revision).

Week	Type of learning activity	Topic
Week 1	Lecture	Earth System Science
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 2	Lecture	Earth’s Surface
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 3	Lecture	Climate
	Practical	Lab 1
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 4	Lecture	The Carbon Cycle LECTURE TEST 1
	Practical	Lab 2
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 5	Lecture	Biogeochemical Cycles
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 6	Lecture	The Biosphere
	Practical	Lab 3 Hallett Cove Field Trip
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 7	Lecture	Field Geology LECTURE TEST 2
	Practical	Lab 4
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 8	Lecture	No Lectures
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity	Sellick’s Beach field trip
Week 9	Lecture	Rapid Earth Processes
	Practical	Lab 5
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 10	Lecture	Slow Earth Processes
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 11	Lecture	Very Slow Earth Processes
	Practical	Lab 6
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 12	Lecture	Earth System Science
	Practical	No Practical
	Tutorial or other activity
Week 13*	Lecture	LECTURE TEST 3
	Practical
	Tutorial or other activity

This course has a one-day field excursion to Sellicks beach.This trip is compulsory, but fortunately quite fun. There is no charge for transport. The trip will run from approximately 8 am to around 5pm; more details will be provided at the start of Semester 1.

Assessment task	Type of assessment	Percentage of total assessment for grading purposes	Hurdle (Yes/No)	Outcome being assessed
Practical assessment of learning (follow up quizzes on practicals)	Summative	20%	No
Web-based project	Summative	15%	No
Field report Sellick’s Beach (or alternative assignment)	Summative	5%	No
Theory Tests (3 at 15%, 15% and 30%)	Summative	60%	Yes (40%)

Practicals are compulsory. No practical may be made up if missed, unless on medical or compassionate grounds.

No test may be taken early or made up if missed, unless on medical or compassionate grounds.

To pass this course students must:

• Attain a minimum of 40% for the exam:

Lecture (theory) tests: Test material comes primarily from lecture material, and secondarily from assigned reading. Students may be tested on material that is not in the lecture material, but will be explicitly told what to read. The tests will consist of a mixture of multiple choice, short-answer and long-answer questions. The first two tests will be for 40 minutes; the last test for 50 minutes.

Practical work: Students are enrolled in a particular practical session, and are expected to attend that session. The assessment will follow as a MyUni on-line quiz or short answer exercises based on understanding gained during the practicals. Four (of the five) will be assessed, each is worth 5%.

Web-based assignment: The MyUni-based group assignment will be in lieu of lecture and practical sessions in week 8. The assignment will be on Earth System processes, and will require background research in groups, and development of on-line content. The content will be marked against criteria that will be clearly given to the students.

Submission of Assigned Work

Practical work is submitted at the end of each practical session. There are no extensions for the practical work as it is to be accomplished during the practical period, and the practicals themselves are a mandatory and non-redeemable part of the course. Practicals will be marked and returned or answer keys posted within three weeks of each session.

The web-based assignment is to be submitted by the due date. There is no late submission or extension possible, unless you make an application on the basis of medical or compassionate grounds.

Extensions for Assessment Tasks

Extensions of deadlines for assessment tasks may be allowed for reasonable causes. Such situations would include compassionate and medical grounds of the severity that would justify the awarding of a supplementary examination. Evidence for the grounds must be provided when an extension is requested. Students are required to apply for an extension to the Course Co-ordinator before the assessment task is due. Extensions will not be provided on the grounds of poor prioritising of time. The assessment extension application form can be obtained from:

Late submission of assessments

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply.  A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.