Details of ES2203 (Spring 2025)
| Level: 2 | Type: Theory | Credits: 4.0 |
| Course Code | Course Name | Instructor(s) |
|---|---|---|
| ES2203 | Dynamics, mechanisms and timescales of Earth Processes | Manoj Kumar Jaiswal, Sanjay Kumar Mandal, Tarun Kumar Dalai |
| Preamble |
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| This course is designed to help students understand the dynamics, mechanisms and timescales of processes operating on Earth. The endogenic processes would focus on topics related to plate tectonics and mantle dynamics while the exogenic processes would explore landforms shaped by fluvial, glacial, aeolian and mass-wasting activities. The students will also learn to determine the time and timescales of short-term and long-term processes using selected radioactive isotope systems.
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| Syllabus |
|---|
| Syllabus
The deep interior of the Earth. Introduction, definitions, scope, and overview of plate tectonic framework: earth cooling and mantle-plate interaction, three kinds of plate boundaries and their roles and characteristics, cycle of oceanic lithosphere, growth of continents, supercontinents. Rheology of layered lithosphere and upper mantle. Isostasy and flexure of the lithosphere. Obduction systems. Collisions systems. Extensional systems. Basin evolution. Passive and active continental margin evolution. Earth surface processes and landforms fashioned by various exogenic forces and agents: Fluvial, Glacial, Shoreline, Mass wasting, and Aeolian. Basic applications of remote sensing to study the landforms. Basic equations of radioactive decay and radiogenic growth. Essential criteria for isotope geochronometry. Relative timescales using extinct isotope systems. U-Th series nuclide disequilibrium and its applications: dating of corals, time scales of metal scavenging in the oceans, export flux of carbon from surface oceans, estimation of instantaneous sediment flux. Determination of deep-ocean mixing time using box models of radiocarbon |
| References |
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| References:
Condie, K. C. 1997. Plate tectonics and crustal evolution. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Kearey, P. & Vine, F. J. 1990. Global tectonics. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford. Turcotte, D. L. & Schubert, G. 2002. Geodynamics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Fowler, C.M.R. 2005. The Solid Earth: An Introduction to Global Geophysics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Don Easterbrook: Surface Processes and Landforms. Pearson William Bull: Tectonic Geomorphology of Mountains: A New Approach to Paleoseismology. Blackwell Publishing G Faure and T.M. Mensing: Isotopes: Principles and Applications. John Wiley & Sons. W. White: Isotope Geochemistry. Wiley. |
Course Credit Options
| Sl. No. | Programme | Semester No | Course 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 | 10 | Not Allowed |
| 9 | MS | 4 | Core |
| 10 | MS | 6 | Not Allowed |
| 11 | MS | 8 | Not Allowed |
| 12 | RS | 1 | Not Allowed |
| 13 | RS | 2 | Not Allowed |