Iván Hernández Almeida: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2021

Name	Dr. Iván Hernández Almeida
Name variants	Iván Hernández-Almeida Ivan Hernandez Almeida Iván Hernández Almeida Ivan Hernandez-Almeida
E-mail	ivan.hernandez@eaps.ethz.ch
Department	Earth and Planetary Sciences
Relationship	Lecturer

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
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, I. Hernández Almeida, 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, I. Hernández Almeida, H. Zhang
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 natural factors lead to variations in the earth's mean temperature, the growth and retreat of ice sheets, and variations in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns, including feedback processes. 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?