Lakes of the world and their sediments

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

The course is addressed to wide audience, representing not only Earth Sciences (geology, geography, environmental protection, etc.) but it also expected to bring interest of students of archaeology, and tourism. It is aimed to give in a student-friendly way an insight into fundamental knowledge on physical, geochemical and biological processes in lacustrine cold and warm environments. Lacustrine sediments are among the most important terrestrial archives of past environmental changes and as such are intensively studied e.g. by palaeoclimatologists.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Basic knowledge in Earth sciences (secondary school level)

Syllabus

Week 1: Lakes of the world: distribution, genesis, types (geochemical, trophic) (2h). Week 2: Lake sediments – types, genesis, sampling methods (2h). Week 3: Varves – biogenic laminated sediments - an excellent, highly valued palaeoenvironmental archive. Sediment trap studies of varves sedimentation (2h). Week 4: Dating of lake sediments (1h). Week 5: Lakes in glacigenic environments. Types of glacigenic lakes and their characteristics. Glacial lakes in the geological time (2h). Week 6: Fundamental physical background of processes in glacigenic lakes (2h). Week 7: Depositional mechanisms and sediments of cold lakes (2h) Week 8: Lake sediments as an excellent archive of catastrophic events (2h).

Reading list

Benn, D.I., Evans, D.J.A. Glaciers and Glaciation
Cohen, A.S. 2003. Paleolimnology. The History and evolution of lake systems. Oxford University Press