Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: The Hydrosphere

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
ENVI1008	City Campus	Undergraduate	135H Applied Sciences	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 1 2007, Sem 1 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 1 2014, Sem 1 2015, Sem 1 2016
ENVI1008	City Campus	Undergraduate	171H School of Science	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2017, Sem 1 2018, Sem 1 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 1 2021, Sem 1 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 1 2024, Sem 1 2025

Course Coordinator: Dr Kathryn Hassell

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925

Course Coordinator Email: kathryn.hassell@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Availability: Email to check availability

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Required Prior Study

You should have satisfactorily completed following course/s before you commence this course.

• ENVI1146 The Changing Environment (Course ID 003484)

Alternatively, you may be able to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge before you start this course.

Contact your course coordinator if you think you may be eligible for recognition of prior learning.

Course Description

This course covers the principles and mechanisms whereby water cycles through and interacts with the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Field work provides skills in in-situ measurement of water quality parameters and sampling in rivers, estuaries, wetlands and groundwaters; and first-hand knowledge of our local water supply systems.

Topics covered typically include:

Universal Water – formation of water, isotopic fractionation, distribution in the universe, our solar system and on Earth. Global water cycle compartments and the concept of residence time. Common water quality parameters.

Rivers – Catchments, river structure, channels, riparian zones. Sources of water, discharge, ratings curves and hydrographs. Flow profiles and principle of continuity. Pool and riffle zones, mass transport, global averages and periodic trends.

Groundwater – surface infiltration, percolation, unsaturated and saturated zones, porosity and permeability, water table. Groundwater flow, Darcy’s Law, potentiometric surface. Aquifer types, recharge, discharge, depletion, saline intrusion.

Estuaries & Wetlands – Estuarine types, stratification and mixing, indexes of mixing, conservative and non-conservative solutes. Wetlands – types: natural and constructed, physical, chemical and biological processes.

Lakes & Reservoirs – lake basins, nutrient status and life cycle.

Water sources and water composition; residence time calculations for lake waters; thermal stratification, turnover and inverse stratification, thermal classifications; chemical stratification; water circulation; difficulties in obtaining representative lake water samples.

Water Supply – protected and unprotected catchments, collection and distribution system, surface water potabilisation; desalination.

The Ocean – Seawater composition and uniformity; salinity, surface variability; temperature, thermocline, halocline and pycnocline; properties of water bodies (masses). Surface currents, gyres, convergence and divergence, upwelling and downwelling; thermohaline circulation. Arctic Ocean circulation and vertical stratification; Southern Ocean and Antarctica; equatorial and Australian currents.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the development of the following Program Learning Outcomes at AQF level 7:

• PLO-1   Understanding science. Demonstrate a coherent understanding of environmental science.
• PLO-2   Scientific knowledge. Exhibit depth and breadth of environmental science knowledge.
• PLO-3   Inquiry and problem solving. Critically analyse and solve problems in environmental science.
• PLO-4   Communication. Be an effective communicator of environmental sciences.
• PLO-5   Personal and professional responsibility. Be accountable for individual learning and scientific work in environmental science

On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate a broad and coherent knowledge and understanding of the hydrosphere;
2. Gather, synthesize and critically evaluate information from a range of sources;
3. Collect, record, interpret and draw conclusions from scientific data;
4. Communicate effectively results, information or arguments on the hydrosphere, in writing;
5. Work effectively, responsibly, ethically and safely in an individual or team context.

Overview of Learning Activities

This course offers you the following learning opportunities:

• lectorials where syllabus material will be presented, explained and illustrated with examples;
• participation in field work;
• briefing and debriefing sessions for fieldwork which develop an integrated understanding of the subject matter;
• completion of on-line tests and written structured field reports
• private study, working through the coursework and other learning materials and gaining practice at solving conceptual and numerical problems.

These activities will help enhance your employability by further developing your knowledge and skill sets, teamwork, oral and written communication and independent learning skills.

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through myRMIT Studies Course. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal.

Overview of Assessment

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task 1: Field Work 
Weighting 48%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2, 3, 4, 5 

Assessment Task 2: Online Quizzes 
Weighting 16%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2 & 5

Assessment Task 3:  Written Authentic Assessment Assignment 
Weighting 36%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1, 2, 4 & 5

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.