• Review of chemical principles
• Environmental Soil Chemistry
  • Weathering and Soil Formation, Chemical and physical weathering, Classification of soils, Chemical evolution of soils
  • Contaminants in soils and sediments, Mater variables controlling contaminant chemistry, Inorganic contaminants, Organic contaminants
  • Reactions at the solid-water interface, What is adsorption, What causes adsorption and what properties of solids affect adsorption, Various models to describe adsorption – fundamental assumptions in the model, How to calculate adsorption coefficient and what does it tell us
• Aqueous Environmental Geochemistry
  • Introduction to hydrogeochemistry and hydrologic cycle
  • Evolution of water chemistry: Groundwater/surface water/rain water
  • Contamination of groundwater
  • Sampling and monitoring
  • Modeling Contaminant transport processes in aquifers
  • The groundwater geochemistry of waste disposal facilities
  • Acid mine drainage
  • Eutrophication of water bodies
  • Environmental management of wetlands
  • Salinization and saline environments
  • The medical geochemistry of Earth materials
• Atmospheric Chemistry
  • Evolution and physics of the Atmosphere
  • Atmospheric pollution, air quality and health
  • Sources, transformation and sinks of pollutants in the atmosphere

• You will learn when and how to apply the geochemical principles learnt in OGC214 to decipher natural and anthropogenic processes that shape up our modern and ancient environments.
• You will learn sampling and monitoring techniques that are used to assess environmental processes in geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.
• You will learn about chemical speciation and how various species are transported or transformed in different reservoirs
• You will learn in detail about specific environmental problems that one encounters in modern world

Reference Books:

• W Stumm and J J Morgan, 1996. Aquatic Chemistry: Chemical Equilibria and Rates in Natural Waters, John Wiley & Sons, New York
• J I Drever, 1997. The Geochemistry of Natural Waters: Surface and Groundwater Environments, Prentice Hall, New Jersey
• C A J Appelo and D. Postma, 2005. Geochemistry, Groundwater and Pollution, Balkema Publishers, London
• D Langmuir, 1997. Aqueous Environmental Geochemistry, Prentice Hall, New Jersey
• E K Berner and R A Berner, 1996. Global Environment: Water Air, and Geochemical Cycles, Prentice Hall, New Jersey
• McBride, M.B. 1994. Environmental Chemistry of Soils. Oxford University Press, New York.
• Sposito, G. 1989. The Chemistry of Soils. Oxford University Press, New York.
• Soil Classification Working Group, 1991. Soil Classification: A Taxonomic System for South Africa, Department of Agricultural Development, Pretoria.
• Tan, K.H. 1994. Environmental Soil Science, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York.
• Turner, D.P. (ed). 1990. A Procedure for Describing Soil Profiles. Soil and Irrigation Research Institute, Pretoria.
• Wild, A. 1993. Soils and the Environment: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Hobbs, P. V. 2000. Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Graedel, T. E. and Crutzen, P. J. 1993. Atmospheric Change: An Earth System Perspective, W. H. Freeman and Company, New York

Your class marks will be based on your performance in class tests, a ten page long scientific paper based on your practical work and tutorial exercises.

• Class Marks = 50% Class test + 50% Practical assignment and tutorials
• Final Marks = Final Exam 60% + Class Marks 40%

Note that weight carried for each assessment may change.