GEO4161 ¨C Contaminants in the Geoenvironment

Course content

Contaminants in soils and groundwater pose a threat to our society and the limited land and water resources. The course will give an introduction to the various types of contaminants, both organic and inorganic. The properties of these compounds that determine their distribution among the soil phases (soil-water-air) will be presented. An overview of the biogeochemical processes in soil and groundwater will form the basis for developing your own simplified model tool that can be used to predict contaminant transport and natural attenuation processes.

Learning outcome

After completing the course, you will be able to

• explain the differences in the behaviour of various environmental contaminants
• discuss the potential threat of contaminants to soil and groundwater
• apply the theories presented in the course to predict contaminant transport and risk
• analyse a real contamination case and evaluate potential solutions
• present your findings in the form of a short paper

Admission to the course

Students admitted at UiO must?apply for courses?in Studentweb. Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.

Nordic citizens and applicants residing in the Nordic countries may?apply to take this course as a single course student.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

You must hold a bachelor's degree in geoscience, chemistry, physics?or biology.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with GEO4160 ¨C Fate and transport of organic contaminants in the environment (continued).
• 5 credits overlap with GEO4350 ¨C Environmental Hazards and Risk Analysis (discontinued).

Teaching

The course will have lectures once a week (2 hours) and a weekly seminar/exercises (2 hours). Exercises will be assigned as homework. Presentations and discussions on scientific papers will be part of the course.?There is a mandatory project report (approx. 10 pages) that must be submitted and approved before the final exam.

Mandatory exercises?will be given and must be approved before the final examination.?

Attendance at the first lecture is compulsory. Students who fail to meet are considered to have withdrawn from the course unless they have previously given notice to the course responsible.

We reserve the right to change the teaching?form and examination of the course in semesters where 5 or fewer students have been admitted.

Examination

• Mandatory exercises?and the final report must be approved before you can sit the final exam.
• A final oral exam counts 100% towards the final grade.?

Mandatory assignments are valid for 5 semesters starting from the semester they were approved the first time.

It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you?withdraw from the exam?after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.

It will also be counted as 1 of the 3 attempts to sit the exam for this course if you sit the exam for the following course:

• GEO4160 ¨C Fate and transport of organic contaminants in the environment (continued)

Examination support material

Approved calculator

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English. You may submit your response in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

Students who can document a valid reason for absence from the regular examination are offered a postponed examination at the beginning of the next semester.

Re-scheduled examinations are not offered to students who withdraw during, or did not pass, the original examination.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• How to use AI as a student
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.