Welcome - Global Biogeochemical Cycles ERTH 3601   Global Biogeochemical Cycles
CREDIT HOURS: 3
We currently face daunting environmental challenges at the global scale that are expected to worsen in the 21st century, including a global water crisis, climate change and pollution of our waters and atmosphere; this course examines the science behind these environmental issues from the multidisciplinary framework of global biogeochemical cycling. With the global scale as the focus, this course pulls together the many disparate fields that are encompassed by the broad reach of biogeochemistry. You will learn about the processes that drive the movement of carbon, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur, through the earth system, and the residency of these elements in the atmosphere, soils, lithosphere, oceans and freshwaters. In the quantitative and analytical exercises you calculate and compare the effects of industrial emissions, land clearing, agriculture, and rising population on the processes driving the Earth's chemical cycles. Weekly journal readings for discussion in laboratory group cover the latest developments in this exciting and rapidly changing field. This course provides an excellent framework for those interested in the science of global change.
PREREQUISITES: CHEM 1011.03/ CHEM 1012.03 or equivalent, and one of ENVS 1100.03, SUST 1001.03, ERTH 1080.03, or (SCIE 1506.09 or SCIE 1507.09) and completion of 2 years of an undergraduate degree.
CROSS-LISTING: ENVS 3601.03
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