Natural Disasters

Curriculum guideline

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Course
EAES 1122
Discontinued
No
Course code
EAES 1122
Descriptive
Natural Disasters
Department
Earth & Environmental Sciences
Faculty
Science & Technology
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Contact hours

Lecture: 2 hours/week

and

Lab: 2 hours/week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Lab
Learning activities

Lectures may include in-class assignments or other active learning activities. Labs will include practical activities such as manipulation of samples, interpretation of datasets, and maps. Field trips, if offered, will involve spending time outdoors and travel to and from a Douglas College campus to a field site, usually on a Saturday. 

Course description
This course examines a variety of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, meteor impacts, global climate change, and landslides. The course explores the origin of natural hazards, their related landforms, and the prediction and mitigation of these dangerous events. Field trips may be required. These field trips may take place outside of scheduled class hours.
Course content
  • Introductory Earth Science: minerals, rocks, rock cycle, plate tectonics, maps
  • Natural disasters and risk to humans
  • Tectonic disasters: volcanism, earthquakes
  • Climatic disasters: global climate change effects, atmospheric circulation, storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme weather, wildfires
  • Water disasters: large waves, tsunamis, floods, coastal events
  • Mass movements: falls, slides and flows, slope stability, subsidence
  • Mass extinctions: impacts with space objects, climatic and chemical extinctions
  • Lab topics to be selected from the following:
    • Minerals and rocks
    • Topographic maps
    • Air photo and satellite imagery
    • Earthquakes and seismograms
    • Volcanic landforms and hazards
    • Mass wasting landforms/hazards
    • Rivers and flooding
    • Groundwater contamination
    • Coastal landforms and hazards
    • Land use and site selection
Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  • identify the geological and climatic factors and processes that affect natural hazards;
  • describe how human activities interact with natural hazards;
  • describe some important types of natural hazards, and the factors and processes causing the hazards;
  • identify the landforms associated with important natural hazards, using topographic maps and visual/photographic methods;
  • recognize the presence of natural hazards and suggest mitigation, prevention, or avoidance strategies.
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. The instructor will present a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of the semester. Evaluation will be based on the following:

 

Attendance / Participation   0-5%
Lecture assignments 0-20%
Project(s) 0-20%
Lab assignments 9-15%
Lab tests 16-30%
Term test(s) 20-30%
Final exam 25-30%
Total 100%
Textbook materials

Consult the Douglas College Bookstore for the latest required textbooks and materials. Example textbooks and materials may include:

Abbott, Patrick. (Current edition). Natural Disasters. McGraw Hill.

Marshak, Stephen. (Current edition). Natural Disasters. W.W.Norton.

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

None