| Department of Natural Sciences
85 % Department of Agricultural Sciences 15 % | |||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||
| Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination Written Exam in Lecturehall All aids allowed Description of Examination: 4 hours written exam. The examen comprise one problem which is based on one of the case studies taught during the course Weight: Written exam: 100% 7-point scale, internal examiner Dates of Exam: 01 November 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
| Requirement For Attending Exam | Participation in and submission of presentations/reports from at least two out of three case studies | ||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | The course comprise lectures, theoretical exercises, computer modelling exercises, case studies and one excursion | ||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | 250021 Soil, Water, and Plants 230009 Environmental Chemistry of Biological Systems "Jord, vand og planter" or equivalent "Miljøkemi i Biologiske Systemer" or equivalent.Arealanvendelse, stofbalancer og miljøpåvirkning, Miljømikrobiologi.General knowledge on basic chemistry, physics, mathematics and microbiology. | ||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||||||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||||||
| Basic Science Comprehend and predict critical properties of soil and environmental pollutants Comprehend pollutant effects from microscopic to macroscopic scales Understand and comprehend molecular mechanisms controlling pollutant fate in soils and water Transfer general principles from chemistry, physics and microbiology Applied Science Comprehend, apply and evaluate processes and models for quantification of pollutant fate Comprehend the relationships between land use and soil/water quality Apply, evaluate and develop procedures for soil and water cleaning (remediation) from understanding of soil processes and using modern biotechnology. Knowledge on instrumental methods used to analyse and monitor pollutants in geoenvironments Ethics & Values Ability to discuss the criteria underlying key terms such as "toxic", "pollution", "threshold concentrations" and "quality of soil and groundwater". Reflects on the precautionary principle and other principles | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||||||
| The objectives of the course are to comprehend and to study i) how soils respond to man-made disturbances, ii) the effiency of soils as "filters", i.e. the efficiency of soils to degrade and retain environmental pollutants, iii) the effects of pollutants in a global geochemical context, iv) quantification of soil processes for assessment, modelling and forecasting the fate of pollutans in soil and groundwater, and v) biotechnological methods for cleaning soils and groundwater. | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||||||
| Brief review of soils, including chemical composition and properties of soil minerals and humic matter. Interactions between abiotic and soil biochemical processes. Natural soil forming processes affecting soil pollutants such as acidification, clay migration, redox processes and leaching. Characterization of microbial degrader populations in soil and groundwater. Sampling, fractionation and analysis of soil solutes. Spatial variation of pollutant degradation and sorption in soils. Review of pollutants in soil environments with emphasis on biogeochemical properties, monitoring data and mass balances for pollutants including heavy metals, radionuclides, acids, pesticides, endocrine disruptors, detergents, PAH's, halogenated compounds, veterinary drugs/biomedicine, natural toxins, anthropogenic nanoparticles and microbial contaminants from manure and other organic waste products. Activity and mode of action of soil enzymes and soil microorganisms. Gas-water exhange. Complexation and speciation, solubility, and hydrolysis in soil solution. Sorption (pollutant binding) processes including ageing and bioavailability. Reactions at particle surfaces including engineered nanoparticles. Redox processes, zonations and sequences. Equilibrium computation software. Degradation pathways, formation of metabolites, and models to quantify degradation and mineralization kinetics. Software for computing speciation and for QSAR estimation of pollutant properties. Modelling of water and solute transport. Macropores and colloidal transport. Integration of soil chemical, physical and microbiological properties into soil quality estimates with focus of soils as filters. Cleaning and remediation of polluted soils with emphasis on bioremediation technologies such as enhanced microbial degradation of organic pollutants, bioaugmentation (use of introduced microorganisms for degradation), phytoremediation (use of plants to degrade or absorb pollutants) and use of biodetergents and bioligands for pollutant leaching. | |||||||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||
| Lectures, theoretical exercises and three case studies. One 1-day excursion comprising examples of soil pollution, soil remediation, land use and groundwater quality. Lectures are based on the textbook used. The topics of the theoretical exercises run in parallel with the topics treated in the lectures and aims at training typical computation methods used in environmental geochemistry. Groups of students work together to discuss and solve the selected problems. The case studies, which occupies the three last weeks of the course, focus on soil and groundwater remediation technologies and draws on the general insight in chemical, biological and physical processes presented in the first part of the course. Each case is solved by groups of students and it is presented as a short report or an oral presentation. | |||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||
| Stipulated in "Areas of Competence the Course Will Address" | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||||||
| Hansen, H.C.B. (ed)(2007) Environmental Soil Chemistry and Biotechnology including exercises. Handout notes. Software for speciation analysis. Supplementary reading | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||
| Hans Christian Bruun Hansen, haha@life.ku.dk, /VIVA - Knowledge about Water, Phone: 3528 Søren Hansen, sha@life.ku.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment/Agrohydrology, Phone: 3528 Peter Engelund Holm, peho@life.ku.dk, Department of Natural Sciences/Soil and Environmental Chemistry, Phone: 35332414 Carsten Suhr Jacobsen, csj@geus.dk, Department of Basic Sciences and Environment/Soil and Environmental Chemistry, Phone: 38142313 | |||||||||||||||||
| Attendance Fee | |||||||||||||||||
| A small fee for participation in the excursion may have to be payed. | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||