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B016187 - ISOTOPE GEOLOGY
Main information
Teaching Language
Course Content
Suggested readings
Learning Objectives
Prerequisites
Teaching Methods
Type of Assessment
Course program
Academic Year 2018-19
Course year
First year - Second Semester
Belonging Department
Earth Sciences (DST)
Course Type
Single education field course
Scientific Area
GEO/07 - PETROLOGY AND PETROGRAPHY
Credits
6
Teaching Hours
56
Teaching Term
25/02/2019 ⇒ 14/06/2019
Attendance required
No
Type of Evaluation
Final Grade
Course Content
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Course program
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Lectureship
Teaching Language
Italian
Course Content
The main stable and radiogenic isotope systematics. Analytical methods. Isotopes and geochronology. Radiogenic isotopes as geological tracers: time series analysis. Radiogenic isotopes and their applications to the Earth and Solar system.
Suggested readings (Search our library's catalogue)
Lectures' handouts
Dickin: Radiogenic Isotope Geology. Cambridge.
Dickin: Radiogenic Isotope Geology. Cambridge.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired: The aim of the course is to provide a general framework on the main isotopic systematics along with their applications to Earth Sciences.
Competence acquired Students acquire the needed skills to understand and work with Isotope Geology.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):Students acquire the ability to understand natural processes related to the Earth System throughout isotopic systematics.
Competence acquired Students acquire the needed skills to understand and work with Isotope Geology.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):Students acquire the ability to understand natural processes related to the Earth System throughout isotopic systematics.
Prerequisites
basic knowledge of chemistry, geochemistry, petrography and petrology.
Teaching Methods
Lectures in class, practical exercise with specific softwares, laboratory activity at the Laboratory of Geochemistry of radiogenic Isotopes.
Type of Assessment
The oral examination is aimed at determining the learning by the student of the knowledge provided during the course. The student will be required to present and discuss a scientific article in English related to one or more topics covered during the course, and to answer some questions about the program. The student’s ability to critically discuss and connect the topics of the course will also be evaluated.
Course program
Physics of the nucleous: laws of radioactive decay. Common isotopic systematics used in Earth sciences and geochronology (e.g. K-Ar, He, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb). Outlines on the theory of errors. The thermal and plasma-ionisation mass spectrometers. The Earth system: Extinct nuclides and planetary differentiation; U-Th systematics in different geodynamic environments (MORB, OIB convergent margins; isotopic and geochemical models of the Earth's mantle; formation and growth of continental crust. Magmatic Residence times in active volcanic systems and constraints on degassing processes; Environmental geochemistry: Sr isotope stratigraphy on mineral phases; Examples of applications in magmatic systems.