OCEA 4130

Chemical Oceanography

Lec 01 selected

This course covers the major and minor constituents of sea water, the controls on its chemical composition, nutrient cycling, gas exchange and the influence of the oceans on atmospheric chemistry. Other topics included are chemical tracers, and radiochemical dating methods, stable isotope studies, chemical speciation and chemical models of sea water.

Sections

Lecture

From the syllabus

From the Fall 2024 syllabus by Doug Wallace. Open the PDF

Grading

20%QuizzesWeekly
5%ParticipationAssessed continuously
20%Mid-term examOctober 25–27, tentative
25%Final-term examWeek of December 9, tentative
30%Assignments (4)Best 3 of 4 problem sets

Textbooks

  • Chemical Oceanography: Element Fluxes in the Sea, Emerson and Hamme (optional)
  • Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon Cycle, Emerson and Hedges (optional)
  • An Introduction to the Chemistry of the Sea, Pilson (optional)
  • Global Environment: Water, Air and Geochemical Cycles, Berner and Berner (optional)
  • Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics, Sarmiento and Gruber (optional)

Course rules

Late work
Assignments lose 5% of their total mark per day late.
Collaboration
Students may discuss problem sets in groups but must submit their own independent answers and solutions.
Individual work
Essays and quizzes must be exclusively the student's own work.
Grade scaling
Undergraduates' final marks are scaled by 5%.

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