Details of ES1201 (Spring 2024)

Level: 1 Type: Theory Credits: 4.0

Course CodeCourse NameInstructor(s)
ES1201 Earth System Processes Gaurav Shukla,
Manoj Kumar Jaiswal

Preamble
This course introduces issues of modern problems of global change with observational data and how the Earth responds under stress. The surface process section of the course would cover topics on how the Earth works as a system, and on global events in the history of the Earth that provide lessons for the future. The next section of the course would cover topics related to lithospheric process.

Syllabus
Earth as a system- an introduction
I. Lithospheric processes
a) Isotopic reservoir: Introduction to evolution of isotopic reservoirs particularly relevant to core, mantle
and crust formation.
b) Exogenous processes and products: Agents and processes responsible for shaping landscapes Tectonics
and landform evolution Tectonics and climate

II. Atmospheric and oceanic processes in relation to climate
a) Climate system concepts: state, coupling, feedback, equilibrium; formation of the atmosphere;
composition of the early atmosphere; formation of oceans.
b) Role of the atmosphere and oceans in energy redistribution: global energy distribution; general
circulation of the atmosphere; surface and deep-ocean circulation; energy redistribution over short and
long timescales; global profiles of temperature and precipitation.
c) Global energy balance and climate change: fundamentals of planetary energy balance and the
greenhouse effect; long-term climate regulation glacial-interglacial periods and Milankovitch cycles;
long-term CO2 records; examples of climate regulation by natural factors the faint young sun paradox
and the snowball earth; a critical review of the Gaia hypothesis and the Daisyworld climate system.

References
L.R. Kump, J.F. Kasting and R.G. Crane, The Earth system, Prentice Hall, (2012)
B. Skinner and B. W. Murck, The Blue Planet, Wiley.
C.M.R. Fowler, The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics, Cambridge University Press
(2005).
G. Davies, Dynamic Earth, Plates, Plumes and mantle Convection , Cambridge (2001).
G. Schubert, D. Turcotte, and P. Olson, Theory of Mantle Convection and Plumes , Cambridge (2000)

Course Credit Options

Sl. No.ProgrammeSemester NoCourse Choice
1 IP 2 Not Allowed
2 IP 4 Not Allowed
3 IP 6 Not Allowed
4 MP 2 Not Allowed
5 MP 4 Not Allowed
6 MR 2 Not Allowed
7 MR 4 Not Allowed
8 MS 2 Core
9 RS 1 Not Allowed
10 RS 2 Not Allowed