Dryland Environments: Past , Present and Future

GEOG30532 Dryland Environments: Past , Present and Future 20 Semester 2 Undergraduate Level 3 Geography 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Last part of a Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 “I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain…”Most people, even if they are not familiar with this Dewey Bunnell lyric, have a picture of the desert: hot and dry, a landscape of rolling sand dunes, a herd of camels, or a threatening wave of land degradation that grabbed the imagination of the international community in the 1970s and led to the first effort in 1977 to tackles this through the Plan of Action To Combat Desertification (PACD). The topics you will study through this Optional Course Unit will help you to see beyond these stereotypes and understand the wide variety of conditions that are encapsulated in the dryland environments of the Earth. It may also get you thinking interplanetary and casting your eyes into space towards Mars. You’ll soon add Ralph Alger Bagnold to your list of desert Ralphs (Fiennes, playing a mysterious stranger recovering from a narrow miss with a crashing plane in a desert landscape of north Africa in Minghella’s 1996 dramitisation of The English Patient).If you want to read something  to whet your appetite whilst deciding whether you’d like to choose this option, Nick Middleton (presenter of ‘Going to Extremes’) has written an excellent little book ‘Deserts: A Very Short Introduction’.The key characteristic of dryland environments from a physical geography point of view is aridity, which is not only a function of the amount of rainfall (and other forms of moisture input) but relates to a deficit in the ‘water balance’, where levels of potential evapotranspiration are often extremely high. Dryland environments have distinctive characteristics in their atmospheric, lithospheric, hydrospheric and biospheric components. As a result there are a set of geomorphological processes and landforms that differ to those found in a glacial environment, or the temperate and drizzly environment of Manchester. However, if sand seas only make up around 38% of dryland regions, then what does the majority of most deserts look like? Drylands are far from homogenous, with a great diversity of landscapes making up this 47 % of the earth’s land surface, and providing home to more than 850 million people. In addition, have the dryland regions of the present time always been this way? Numerous sites of prehistoric occupation and rock paintings depict parts of the Saharan region teeming with elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus and fossils of aquatic fauna record dispersals of animals through a series of lined lakes, rivers and inland deltas across this region more than once over the last 125,000 years.  And what of the relationship between people and dryland environments today? The emphasis on desertification as the perhaps the greatest environmental threat to the planet 40 years ago may have been superseded by other harmful aspects of human activity. But what are the major challenges that people face living in drylands in the 21st Century, in terms of geohazards and resources such as groundwater?In the lectures, seminars and practicals of this course, we will explore answers to some of these questions, and consider and generate many other questions. I hope you will discover the diversity of dryland environments beyond an image of a camel against a sand dune backdrop, and like de Saint Exupery’s Little Prince, decide for you ‘what makes the desert beautiful’.   “I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain…”  Most people, even if they are not familiar with this Dewey Bunnell lyric, have a picture of the desert: hot and dry, a landscape of rolling sand dunes, a herd of camels, or a threatening wave of land degradation that grabbed the imagination of the international community in the 1970s and led to the first effort in 1977 to tackles this through the Plan of Action To Combat Desertification (PACD). The topics you will study through this Optional Course Unit will help you to see beyond these stereotypes and understand the wide variety of conditions that are encapsulated in the dryland environments of the Earth. It may also get you thinking interplanetary and casting your eyes into space towards Mars. You’ll soon add Ralph Alger Bagnold to your list of desert Ralphs (Fiennes, playing a mysterious stranger recovering from a narrow miss with a crashing plane in a desert landscape of north Africa in Minghella’s 1996 dramitisation of The English Patient).If you want to read something  to whet your appetite whilst deciding whether you’d like to choose this option, Nick Middleton (presenter of ‘Going to Extremes’) has written an excellent little book ‘Deserts: A Very Short Introduction’.The key characteristic of dryland environments from a physical geography point of view is aridity, which is not only a function of the amount of rainfall (and other forms of moisture input) but relates to a deficit in the ‘water balance’, where levels of potential evapotranspiration are often extremely high. Dryland environments have distinctive characteristics in their atmospheric, lithospheric, hydrospheric and biospheric components. As a result there are a set of geomorphological processes and landforms that differ to those found in a glacial environment, or the temperate and drizzly environment of Manchester. However, if sand seas only make up around 38% of dryland regions, then what does the majority of most deserts look like? Drylands are far from homogenous, with a great diversity of landscapes making up this 47 % of the earth’s land surface, and providing home to more than 850 million people. In addition, have the dryland regions of the present time always been this way? Numerous sites of prehistoric occupation and rock paintings depict parts of the Saharan region teeming with elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus and fossils of aquatic fauna record dispersals of animals through a series of lined lakes, rivers and inland deltas across this region more than once over the last 125,000 years.  And what of the relationship between people and dryland environments today? The emphasis on desertification as the perhaps the greatest environmental threat to the planet 40 years ago may have been superseded by other harmful aspects of human activity. But what are the major challenges that people face living in drylands in the 21st Century, in terms of geohazards and resources such as groundwater?In the lectures, seminars and practicals of this course, we will explore answers to some of these questions, and consider and generate many other questions. I hope you will discover the diversity of dryland environments beyond an image of a camel against a sand dune backdrop, and like de Saint Exupery’s Little Prince, decide for you ‘what makes the desert beautiful’.   <ul> <li> to provide a detailed understanding of the physical characteristics of deserts and drylands, in terms of aeolian and fluvial processes, geomorphological features and the interactions between water, sediment and vegetation.</li> <li> to understand the nature of past environmental change in these environments over long (Quaternary) timescales in response to changing climatic conditions, and to have a critical appreciation of the methods used to reconstruct environmental change</li> <li> to provide an overview of the effect of these environments on human populations (in the past and present) and the impact that humans have on dryland environmental processes</li> </ul> On completion of this course students should be able to: <ul> <li> understand the importance of dryland environments as part of the earth system and the processes and landforms that are characteristic of these regions.</li> <li> have a critical appreciation of the importance of studying dryland landscape development over a range of different spatial and temporal scales.</li> <li>  demonstrate a working knowledge of the theoretical basis and practical application of the main techniques used for both the dating of Quaternary materials from drylands, particularly geoproxies.</li> <li> identity the ways in which humans interact with dryland environments, over long timescales and in the present day including the pressure on natural resources and geohazards.</li> </ul>   During this course unit students will be encouraged to develop the following abilities and skills: <ul> <li> information collation, critical reading, evaluation and analysis, including use of internet based resources</li> <li> presentation skills for communicating in front of audiences</li> <li> teamwork skills</li> </ul> Course Outline: (subject to some alterations) <ol> <li> Introduction to drylands and variability. Desert tour (2 hrs)</li> <li> Guest lecture week – probably a journey to, or down, the Nile (JW) </li> <li> Aeolian processes and landforms (2 hrs)                                               + fieldtrip  (1 day)</li> </ol> <ol> <li value="4"> Water in drylands: surface (2 hrs)                                                             + sediments lab (2 hrs)</li> <li value="5"> Water in drylands: subsurface (2 hrs)                                                      + USZ water lab (2 hrs)</li> <li value="6"> STUDY WEEK</li> <li value="7"> Dryland Biogeomorphology (or ecogeomorphology)  (2 hrs)        + seminar (2 hrs)</li> <li value="8"> Quaternary drylands: Proxies and chronologies 1 (2 hrs)                                + portable luminescence reader lab</li> </ol>    (2hrs) <ol> <li value="9"> STUDY WEEK</li> <li value="10"> Quaternary drylands:  Proxies and Chronologies 2 (2 hrs)              + seminar  (1 hr)</li> <li value="11"> People and Deserts:  Early humans lecture                                           + Presentations on Geohazards and</li> </ol> environmental resource challenges <ol> <li value="12"> Revision session (2 hrs)</li> </ol> The course will be delivered via lectures and student seminar presentations. Some of the seminar slots might be used for practical work either in the laboratory with sediments or with Google Earth imagery of desert regions. The style will be interactive with class discussion, consolidation sessions and revision exercises.  0 Other 100% 2 hour examination (67%)2,000 word essay (33%) [Title assigned early in semester. Deadline: second half of semester, feedback before Easter] Feedback will be provided in the following ways during this course unit: <ul> <li align="left"> verbal feedback through discussion during the lecture and at the end of lectures;</li> <li align="left"> extensive verbal feedback on any course unit issue through consultation hours or by appointment;</li> <li align="left"> detailed verbal and written feedback on presentations</li> <li align="left"> detailed written and verbal feedback on the formative exam</li> <li align="left"> extensive written feedback on coursework</li> </ul> Y The two course texts are:Thomas, D. S. G. (ed) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, forma and change in drylands. Third edition. John Wiley and Son Ltd. Chichester.Williams, M. (ed) (2014) Climate Change in Deserts: Past, Present and Future. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. Other general texts include:Abrahams and ParsonsAgnew, C. and Anderson, E. 1992. Water resources in the arid realm, Routledge.Cooke, R., Warren, A. and Goudie, A. (1993) Desert Geomorphology. UCL Press.Goudie, A. S. (2002) Great Warm Deserts of the World: Landscapes and Evolution. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Middleton, N.(2009) Deserts: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford.  <h1> Key Journals</h1> Geology, Science, Nature, Journal of Arid Environments, Journal of Quaternary Science, Quaternary Research, Quaternary Science Reviews, Global and Planetary Change, Geoarchaeology: An International Journal; Geomorphology; Sedimentology;  Journal papers pdfs will be provided in Blackboard.  Assessment written exam 2 Lectures 20 Seminars 10 0 168 The course convenor is Abi Stone TimetableLectures: Monday 4-6pm,  Mansfield Cooper Building, Lecture Theatre G.20Seminars: Thursday either 10-11am or 11-12noon, Arthur Lewis Building G.30/G.31