Undergraduate | Laboratory of Marine Geology & Physical Oceanography

During the four year course the geology undergraduate students attend the following Marine Science curricula:

Marine Geology (2nd year/2nd semester, 12 lectures of 4 hours each)

• An introduction to the physical and sedimentary geology of the continental margins and ocean basins.
• Shelf, slope and basin sedimentation processes.
• Mass movementprocesses.
• Geotechnical properties of shelf and slope deposits.
• Offshoregeological hazards.
• Essentials of sound physics.
• Description of high resolutionmarine geophysical techniques to investigate modern sediments.
• Interpetation ofhigh resolution continuous reflection data for the purpose of studyingstructural and sedimentological processes.
• Identification of offshoregeological hazards in seismic records. Stratigraphic interpretation (seismic sequences and facies).

Coastal Geomorphology (2nd year/2nd semester, 12 lectures of 4 hours each)

• Waves in deep and shallow waters, wave refraction, wave induced currents.
• Size andphysical properties of coastal sediments, hydraulic behaviour of sediments,sediment transport, coastal budget.
• Beach profiles and wave energy, beachprofiles and sediment transport, beach landforms (cusps, bars, spits,headlands), cliffs.
• Coastal geomorphology and Quaternary sea level changes.

Physical Oceanography (2nd year/2nd semester, 12 lectures of 4 hours each)

DescriptiveOceanography

• Seawater: its composition and properties.
• Temperature,salinity and density distribution.
• Water masses, T-S diagrammes.
• Mixingprocesses.

DynamicOceanography

• The basic principal laws in Oceanography.
• Equation ofmotion in Oceanography.
• Currents without friction (geostrophic flow).
• Currentswith friction (wind driven circulation).
• Large scale wind and thermohalinecirculation.
• Field and laboratory techniques for the aquisition, analysis andinterpretation of oceanographic data (temperature/salinity, currents, waves and tides).

Environmental Oceanography (4th year/1st semester, 12 lectures of 4 hours each)

• Pollution and pollutants.
• Organic wastes
• Oxygen budget
• Enrichment-eutrophication
• Oceanographical factors controlling wastedispersion
• Oceanographic and geological criteria for outfall site selection. Solidwastes
• Oceanographical and geological criteria for site selection for thedumping of solid wastes
• Transfer processes of heavy metals in sediments
• Pollution assessment methods.
• Radioactive wastes, deep sea disposal ofradioactive wastes.
• Oil spills
• Halogenated hydrocarbons.