Honours 2012

The Department of Earth Sciences offers a Honours Degree Programme in the Faculty of Science. Details of this programmes is given below including admission requirements, curriculum and assessment.

Should you have any queries regarding Honours Programme in the Department of Earth Sciences please contact the coordinator Prof Alakendra Roychoudhury (Roy)

NOTICES

Orientation for honours students will take place on Friday the 27th of January from 9am in the WP de Kock Lecture Room in the Chamber of Mines Building. The 2011 Honours Year will begin on the 30th of January. All accepted honours students must make sure they are ready to attend classes from this date onwards. For any queries please contact the honours coordinator Prof Alakendra Roychoudhury for more information.

PROGRAMMES

The Department of Earth Sciences offer a single Honours Programme with three sub-streams as follows:
Applied Geology Stream Petroleum Geology Stream Environmental Geochemistry Stream
The different streams or focus have the same requirements however the students undertaken slightly different module combinations. Details of these modules and their combinations are described under the section on MODULES

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Geology Programmes
BSc. Degree with Geology as major subject. A final aggregate mark of 60% for all Geology 3 modules is required, but the Department of Geology will evaluate each case individually. Basic computer skills are required. The duration of the programme is one year commencing on the last week in January; exact date and place to be confirmed by the course coordinator. Applications for admission should reach the Chairman of the Geology Department not later than the 31st of October of the preceding year.


APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Application for admission to the honours programmes must be done in writing on the prescribed form before the closing date for applications of the 31st of October. Applications will then be forwarded to the relevant honours coordinators for consideration. Late applications may be considered on request. Further information can be obtained by contacting Prof Alakendra Roychoudhury

Application forms can be obtained from:
By Post: The Registrar, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, MATIELAND 7602
In Person: Enquiries Counter, Administration Building A, Stellenbosch
Electronically: http://sun025.sun.ac.za/portal/page/portal/Maties/English


MODULES

GEOLOGY HONOURS PROGRAMME 2011
The Geology Honours Programme has been updated and organised into a different structure for the 2010 year. More information on these modules will be available shortly.
Module Number	Module Credits	Module Name	Sub-Components	Presenter	Component Credits
771	15	Geology of Southern Africa	Plate Tectonics	Alex Kisters	5
			Startigraphy of Southern Africa	Alex Kisters	5
			Field Tour	Martin Klausen	5
772	15	Research Methods in Earth Sciences	Sample Preparation Techniques and SAF Logistics	Ian Buick +SAF	3
			GIS for Earth Scientists	Adriaan van Niekerk	6
			Statistics for Earth Scientists	Neil le Roux	3
			Writing Skills	Jodie Miller	3
773	15	Special Topics in Earth Sciences	Departmental Seminar Attendance (compulsory)	Rene Boshoff	5
			Gold Mineralisation	Neil Phillips	5
			Any other sub-component from one of the stream modules		5
			Other modules offered on an ad-hoc basis
795	35	Research Project			35
712	20	Concepts in Crustal Evolution	Igneous Petrology	Martin Klausen	5
			Metamorphic Petrology	Ian Buick + Gary Stevens	5
			Structural Geology	Alex Kisters	5
			Geochronology	Jodie Miller	5
742	20	Economic Geology	Mineral Economics and Data Mining	Abraham Rozendaal	10
			Ore Microscopy	Abraham Rozendaal	5
			Geophysics and Earth Scientists	Eric Weder	5
714	20	Hazardous Waste Site Assessment	Hazardous Waste Site Assessment	Alakendra Roychoudhury	10
			Marine Geochemistry	Alakendra Roychoudhury	5
			Analytical Techniques	Alakendra Roychoudhury + SAF	5
744	20	Environmental Systems	Soil Chemistry	Cathy Clarke	10
			Environmental Isotopes	Jodie Miller	5
			Geohydrology	Nick Steven	5
716	20	Geophysics and Basin Analysis	Basin Analysis	Daniel Mikes	10
			Structural Geology	Alex Kisters	5
			Marine Geochemistry	Alakendra Roychoudhury	5
746	20	Reservoir Characterisation and Petroleum Geology	Reservoir Characterisation	Daniel Mikes	10
			Geohydrology	Nick Steven	5
			Geophysics for Earth Scientists	Eric Weder	5



TIMETABLE

These documents are available from the WebCT site for honours 778 for all registered students

ASSESSMENT

Formal module examinations are held toward the end of each semester. The dates for the examinations are indicated on the timetable provided at the beginning of the course. All exams are subject to external moderation for quality and fairness.
At honours level, second opportunity examinations are not an option unless a student fails to write the exam because of a genuine serious medical condition. A formal medical certificate clearly describing the serious medical condition and signed by a qualified doctor (not the one obtained from student health centre) is required for granting of a second examination opportunity. If, after writing the exam, a student fails to qualify in a module, under certain conditions they may be allowed to return next year to complete the module. Failing more than two modules automatically disqualifies a student from pursuing his/her honours degree any further.
When calculating aggregate marks, as per the University norm for a semester-long or shorter modules, class marks and exam marks are weighted as — class 40%; exam 60%. Furthermore, when calculating overall marks for the module, each sub-module is weighted according its duration
For more information on assessment procedures and mechanisms, please consult the honours programme handbook

HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Faculty of Science presents a Health and Safety Workshop each year in the J.S. Gericke Library Auditorium. The first part of the workshop is compulsory for all new Honours and Postgraduate students. Students will be notified of the dates of this workshop in due course.