Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following university standard late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration. 

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted: In this unit, late submissions will accepted for all assessments following the standard late penalties described above. The dates for submission of assessment tasks are listed on the schedule. Students must keep a photocopy of their reports.

Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit, you should attempt all assessments and must achieve a total mark greater than or equal to 50%.

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short- term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment.

Written Assessments: If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the written assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Weekly practice-based tasks: To pass the unit you need to demonstrate ongoing development of skills and application of knowledge in 10 out of 13 of the weekly practical classes. If you miss a weekly practical class due to a serious, unavoidable and significant disruption, contact your convenor ASAP as you may be able to attend another class that week. If it is not possible to attend another class, you should still contact your convenor for access to class material to review in your own time.

Note that a Special Consideration should only be applied for if you miss more than three of the weekly practical classes.

Week 1 class: EESC2150 runs a Workshop (3hr) and starts the Virtual Field Trip (3hr) in week 1, i.e., you must attend both classes in week 1.

Methods of communication: We will communucate with you via your university email (if personal) and through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors must be placed on the iLearn discussion board (if not personal) or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn (if personal).

Introduction: This is a hands on unit of study that will reinforce skills developed in first year (EESC1150 Planet Earth) and acquaint you with the essential features of the materials that constitute the Earth, processes that shape the Earth’s surface, and the deeper Earth processes that lead to rock change. The unit is an introduction to deep Earth processes and interpreting Earth history and not only forms the vital stepping stone for future studies in Earth and Environmental Science, but also sets out to give students from other disciplines a basic understanding of the physical Earth.

We aim to help you develop the skills necessary for study of the physical Earth. By the end of the unit, you should have the skills to:

• Make critical observations of geology for yourself
• Identify minerals and rocks
• Determine geometric relationships between rock units, as depicted on geological maps
• Use geological information to better understand the physical Earth

STUDY PROGRAM

This unit concentrates on five major themes that will be explored and revisited in various ways throughout the unit. These themes include:

• Deep time (prehistorical and ancient geological past)
• Plate tectonics
• The rock cycle
• Geological skills, e.g., mineral/rock identification, cross-sectioning, interpreting geological history, mapping
• How geoscience can be used to solve some of the problems of the 21^st century

There are two modules that investigate different aspects of geoscience. The main ideas and objectives for the modules are:

Module 1: Applied Geology (approximately two-thirds of the unit)

By the end of this unit module students should be able to:

• Understand the rock-cycle and key deep earth processes that make and change rocks
• Distinguish typical hand specimens of different rock types and investigate these in thin section
• Read and interpret geological maps using cross sections to determine geological history

Module 2: Stratigraphy, geological time and palaeontology (approximately one-third of the unit)

By the end of this unit module students should be able to:

• Characterise sedimentary rocks and interpret sedimentary facies
• Describe methods of dating the Earth 
• Describe body and trace fossils and use these in biostratigraphy
• Illustrate how knowledge of mass extinctions can be useful to understanding diversification and evolution
• Reconstruct paleoenvironments from sedimentary rocks and fossil records

FIELD TRIPS

During this unit of study you will be required to participate in field trips: on-campus (in-person during the workshop class) and virtual (completed with the help of a tutor in weekly classes). These excursions form an essential part of the unit and give you an introduction to field geology.

SCHEDULE:

IMPORTANT DATES:

Week 4 – 20% 'Literature Review' is due

Weeks 4–7 – 15% iLearn 'Quiz' is due

Week 8 – 25% ‘Field Report’ is due

Week 8 – 40% ‘Final Exam’ (in class)

This unit is experiencing a change of academic staff and so the content for the current offering is being developed as we deliver the unit. Please help us by providing feedback each week on how the unit is progressing.