GLOBAL GEOPHYSICS

Subject

Subject Category

Course(s):

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN APPLIED PHYSICS WITH ELECTRONICS AND INSTRUMENTATION

Year:

Semester:

Info

AP443

Hours and credits:

Lecture	Tutorials	Laboratory
3	0	1

Department:

Department of Applied Physics

Subject content

Learning outcomes:

On completion of this subject the student should be able to:

1. Describe briefly the interior of the Earth and the basis of its stratification;

2. Describe how Earth’s gravity field accounts for the internal mass distribution and how isostatic compensation accounts for the surface undulation of the Earth;

3. Explain the origin of geomagnetic fields, the effects of both internal and external variations and Earth’s rotation;

4. Explain how seismology reveals the broad divisions of the Earth into crust, mantle and core, how this discipline provides the most certain information on the parts of the Earth which cannot be directly examined;

5. Establish a time scale for events in the past history of the Earth and to show how the varying distribution of the products of radioactive distribution provides a means of tracing the history of minerals;

6. Explain detailed characteristics of the modern concepts of plate tectonics and continental drift.

Syllabus:

Origin and development of solar system, the planet Earth: its evolution, surface features, structures and chemical compositions; The dynamic Earth, crust, mantle and core, phase changes, lithosphere and asthenosphere boundary; The Earth’s gravity field and its measurement, gravimeters, figure of earth, gravity formula, geoid, Mechanism of isostatic compensation, Earth tide; The Earth’s magnetic field and its measurement, magnetometers, dynamo theories, time variation of the magnetic field; Seismology and global tectonics, seismic wave propagation, seismic body waves, travel-time tables, surface waves, free oscillations; Earthquakes: cause, magnitude and energy, seismicity, faults and fractures, theory of elastic rebound, source mechanism, fault plane solution, tsunamis, seismographs, synthetic seismograms, strategies for earthquake prediction; Age and thermal state of Earth, radioactivity and geochronology, heat flow measurements, volcanic eruptions; Concepts of modern plate tectonics, plate motion and driving force, seafloor spreading and continental drift, mantle convection, geophysical history of Papua New Guinea.

Text books:

Garland, G. D., Introduction to geophysics, Saunders, Philadelphia, USA, 1982.

References:

Bullen, K. E., Bolt, B., An introduction to seismology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1986.

Aki, K., Richards, P. G., Quantitative seismology: theory and methods, W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, USA, 1980.

Kenneth, B. L. N., Seismic wave propagation in stratified media, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1983.

Assessment:

Continuous assessment 40%

Written examination 60% (1×3 hrs.)

Postgraduate Applications for 2020 Open	Monday, July 1, 2019 - 11:00
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