Heather Stoll: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2018 |
Name | Prof. Dr. Heather Stoll |
Name variants | Heather Stoll H.M. Stoll |
Field | Climate Geology |
Address | Professur für Klimageologie ETH Zürich, NO G 51.2 Sonneggstrasse 5 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND |
Telephone | +41 44 632 22 09 |
heather.stoll@eaps.ethz.ch | |
Department | Earth and Planetary Sciences |
Relationship | Full Professor |
Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
651-1091-00L | Colloquium Department Earth Sciences | 0 credits | 1K | H. Stoll, D. Vance | |
Abstract | Invited speakers from the entire range of Earth Sciences. | ||||
Learning objective | Selected themes in sedimentology, tectonics, paläontology, geophysics, mineralogy, paleoclimate and engineering geology on a regional and global scale. | ||||
Content | According to variable program. | ||||
Lecture notes | No | ||||
Literature | No | ||||
651-4043-00L | Sedimentology II: Biological and Chemical Processes in Lacustrine and Marine Systems Prerequisite: Successful completion of the MSc-course "Sedimentology I" (651-4041-00L). | 3 credits | 2G | V. Picotti, A. Gilli, H. Stoll | |
Abstract | The course will focus on biological amd chemical aspects of sedimentation in marine environments. Marine sedimentation will be traced from coast to deep-sea. The use of stable isotopes palaeoceanography will be discussed. Neritic, hemipelagic and pelagic sediments will be used as proxies for environmental change during times of major perturbations of climate and oceanography. | ||||
Learning objective | -You will understand chemistry and biology of the marine carbonate system -You will be able to relate carbonate mineralogy with facies and environmental conditions -You will be familiar with cool-water and warm-water carbonates -You will see carbonate and organic-carbon rich sediments as part of the global carbon cycle -You will be able to recognize links between climate and marine carbonate systems (e.g. acidification of oceans and reef growth) -You will be able to use geological archives as source of information on global change -You will have an overview of marine sedimentation through time | ||||
Content | -carbonates,: chemistry, mineralogy, biology -carbonate sedimentation from the shelf to the deep sea -carbonate facies -cool-water and warm-water carbonates -organic-carbon and black shales -C-cycle, carbonates, Corg : CO2 sources and sink -Carbonates: their geochemical proxies for environmental change: stable isotopes, Mg/Ca, Sr -marine sediments thorugh geological time -carbonates and evaporites -lacustrine carbonates -economic aspects of limestone | ||||
Lecture notes | no script. scientific articles will be distributed during the course | ||||
Literature | We will read and critically discuss scientific articles relevant for "biological and chemical processes in marine and lacustrine systems" | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | The grading of students is based on in-class exercises and end-semester examination. | ||||
651-4057-00L | Climate History and Palaeoclimatology | 3 credits | 2G | H. Stoll, A. Fernandez Bremer, I. Hernández Almeida, L. M. Mejía Ramírez | |
Abstract | Climate history and paleoclimatology explores how the major features of the earth's climate system have varied in the past, and the driving forces and feedbacks for these changes. The major topics include the earth's CO2 concentration and mean temperature, the size and stability of ice sheets and sea level, the amount and distribution of precipitation, and the ocean heat transport. | ||||
Learning objective | The student will be able to describe the factors that regulate the earth's mean temperature and the distribution of different climates over the earth. Students will be able to use and understand the construction of simple quantitative models of the Earth's carbon cycle and temperature in Excel, to solve problems from the long term balancing of sinks and sources of carbon, to the Anthropogenic carbon cycle changes of the Anthropocene. Students will be able to interpret evidence of past climate changes from the main climate indicators or proxies recovered in geological records. Students will be able to use data from climate proxies to test if a given hypothesized mechanism for the climate change is supported or refuted. Students will be able to compare the magnitudes and rates of past changes in the carbon cycle, ice sheets, hydrological cycle, and ocean circulation, with predictions for climate changes over the next century to millennia. | ||||
Content | 1. Overview of elements of the climate system and earth energy balance 2. The Carbon cycle - long and short term regulation and feedbacks of atmospheric CO2. What regulates atmospheric CO2 over long tectonic timescales of millions to tens of millions of years? What are the drivers and feedbacks of transient perturbations like at the latest Palocene? What drives CO2 variations over glacial cycles and what drives it in the Anthropocene? 3. Ice sheets and sea level - What do expansionist glaciers want? What is the natural range of variation in the earth's ice sheets and the consequent effect on sea level? How do cyclic variations in the earth's orbit affect the size of ice sheets under modern climate and under past warmer climates? What conditions the mean size and stability or fragility of the large polar ice caps and is their evidence that they have dynamic behavior? What rates and magnitudes of sea level change have accompanied past ice sheet variations? When is the most recent time of sea level higher than modern, and by how much? What lessons do these have for the future? 4. Atmospheric circulation and variations in the earth's hydrological cycle - How variable are the earth's precipitation regimes? How large are the orbital scale variations in global monsoon systems? Will mean climate change El Nino frequency and intensity? What factors drive change in mid and high-latitude precipitation systems? Is there evidence that changes in water availability have played a role in the rise, demise, or dispersion of past civilizations? 5. The Ocean heat transport - How stable or fragile is the ocean heat conveyor, past and present? When did modern deepwater circulation develop? Will Greenland melting and shifts in precipitation bands, cause the North Atlantic Overturning Circulation to collapse? When and why has this happened before? | ||||
651-4180-02L | Integrated Earth Systems II Only for Earth Sciences BSc, Programme Regulations 2016. | 5 credits | 4G + 1U | D. Vance, H. Stoll, S. Willett | |
Abstract | The surface Earth is often thought of as a set of interacting systems, often with feedbacks between them. These interacting systems control the tectonics, geomorphology, climate, and biology of the surface Earth. To fully understand the nature of the Earth System, including the controls on its past evolution, its present state, and its future, an integrated perspective is required. | ||||
Learning objective | To introduce students to an integrated view of the surface Earth, uniting perspectives from different disciplines of the earth sciences. To encourage students in the critical analysis of data and models in Earth Science. | ||||
Content | Planet Earth has had a complex history since its formation ~4.6 billion years ago. The surface Earth is often thought of as a set of interacting systems, often with positive and negative feedbacks between them. These interacting systems control the tectonics, geomorphology, climate, and biology of the surface Earth. To fully understand the nature of the Earth System, including the controls on its past evolution, its present state, and its future, an integrated perspective is required. This is a subject that pulls in observations and models from many areas of the Earth Sciences, including geochemistry, geophysics, geology and biology. The main goal of the course is to convey this integrated view of the surface of our planet. We will achieve this integrated view through a series of lectures, exercises, and tutorials. We take as our framework some of the key events in Earth history, encouraging understanding of the controlling processes through integrated observations, ideas and models from disciplines across science. | ||||
651-5105-00L | Macroevolution Block course from 28 - 31 January 2019 | 1 credit | 30V | J. Payne, H. Stoll | |
Abstract | The course is about studying evolutionary trends using large databases. Students will receive training through exercises on posing well-formulated questions that can be tested statistically using existing data, downloading and processing data from databases using the statistical programming language R, and coding and interpreting results from a variety of statistical techniques. | ||||
Learning objective | |||||
Content | The course will be set up with a few background lectures on evolutionary trends in the fossil record, covering basic patterns of taxonomic diversity change, extinction selectivity, variations in ecological complexity, and body size evolution. |