AG-326 Arctic Quaternary Environments (10 ECTS)
ID:
AG-326
CREDITS:
10 ECTS
APPLICATION DEADLINE:
March 01, 2025
START DATE:
September 22, 2025
END DATE:
October 31, 2025
COURSE PERIOD:
Autumn semester. Teaching block 6
AG-326/826 students studying glacier erosion. Photo: Anne Hormes/UNIS.
| Grade: | Letter grade (A through F) |
| Course Cost: | None |
| Course Capacity Min/Max: | 10/20 students (AG-326/826 in total) |
| Language of instruction: | English |
| Examination support material: | Bilingual dictionary between English and mother tongue |
Course responsible
Course requirements
Enrolment in a relevant master programme. Students should have general background in Quaternary geology.
Academic content
The course will provide insight into the development of the Arctic through the Quaternary Period with emphasis on the interaction and feedbacks between, and evolution of, climate, the cryosphere, and the oceans across glacial and interglacial cycles. This will be achieved through literature studies, state-of-the-art lectures, student seminars and discussions of the glacial histories of the Svalbard-Barents Sea, Greenland, Iceland, Arctic Canada, Alaska, Northern Russia and Siberia. Whilst the course focuses on terrestrial archives, marine and ice core records will also be discussed in order to highlight environmental changes around the circumpolar North and to discuss causes for climatic change, feedbacks, and ice-ocean-atmosphere linkages.
The preconditions for correlating different Quaternary records is a robust geochronology, thus recent developments in dating techniques like optically stimulated luminescence, cosmogenic nuclide exposure, and radiocarbon dating will be highlighted in case studies. Recent advances in ice-sheet modelling and studies of palaeo-ice dynamics and landscape development in the Arctic will also be discussed. The concept of distinctive ice dynamics and glacier regimes reflected in landform-sediment associations characteristic of cold-based low-erosive glacier ice and fast flowing ice streams will be studied.
Learning outcomes
Upon completing the course, the students will:
Knowledge
- describe the large-scale Late Quaternary and Holocene glacial, climatic, and environmental changes in the Arctic
- compare and contrast the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets and their subsequent deglaciation and how ice sheet configurations have been reconstructed for various key Arctic regions
- explain causal links in the build-up and decay of high-latitude large ice sheets and justify these through an understanding of natural palaeoclimatic variations
- describe in detail the evolution and history of key concepts and paradigm shifts within Arctic glacial and climate science and describe and critique the major challenges in current Arctic palaeoglacial and palaeoclimatic research
- describe, explain, and critique certain “hot” topics in Arctic Quaternary science (theme will vary between individual years), such as “Little Ice Age in the Arctic”, “Fingerprints of the Anthropocene in the Arctic”, “Chronological challenges in the Arctic”, “modelling Arctic ice sheets”, etc.
Skills
- analyse, critically assess, and generate hypotheses from large datasets that are the basis of important syntheses on the development of the Arctic glacial and climate systems through time
- communicate, analyse, and critique extensive works in Quaternary and palaeoclimate research through the application and mastery of Quaternary and palaeoclimatic terminology
- formulate and present complex overviews on key topics and take lead roles in group discussions, analysing and reflecting on outstanding questions concerning regional Quaternary palaeoenvironmental developments.
General competences
- analyse, critically discuss, and assess glacial and palaeoclimatic reconstructions from the literature and formulate alternative hypotheses, being well acquainted with current conceptual thinking in Quaternary geology
- describe, analyse, and reflect upon important research questions and themes, both orally and in writing.
Learning activities
The course extends over 1 + 5 weeks including compulsory safety training, and is run in combination with AG-826.
The course will have a theoretical part with lectures, literature studies and discussion seminars, and up to four excursion days, depending on weather conditions. Prior to the course, the students must prepare (approximately one week of full-time study) for the excursion days by reading primary literature that will be sent to them in advance. The excursion will give the students an opportunity to experience glacial sediments, stratigraphies, and landforms.
Summary
- Total lecture / class room activity hours: 30 hours.
- Total exercise hours: 12 hours
- Total seminar hours: 16 hours.
- Excursion: 1–4 days.
Compulsory learning activities
All compulsory learning activities must be approved in order to sit the exam.
- Take part in planning and leading one seminar
- Active participation in all seminars and excursions
- Make in-weekly short reports
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.
| Method | Learning outcomes assessed | Duration |
Percentage of final grade
|
| Key concept oral exam | K1-5, S1-2, C1-2 | 20 minutes | 40% |
| Written take-home exam | K1-5, S1-2, C1-2 | 48 hours | 60% |
Student life
