SEAWATER CHEMISTRY

This course presents the chemical approach to the study, projecting and management of the marine and coastal environments. These are significant features of the education provided by the Master course LM-75. The role of chemical substances and processes is studied in determining the development of populations of living organisms, plants and animals, both when these are important resources for human subsistence, and when they are to be considered essential elements for the conservation of our planet biodiversity.

Knowledge and understanding: The student will acquire the knowledge of the most important environmental chemistry approaches to understand the processes that occur in seawater and sediments,
Applying knowledge and understanding: The student will master the importance of chemical substances and processes in determining the growth of living organisms, the exchanges between the sea, the continents and the atmosphere and the climate of the planet.
Making judgement: the student will possess chemical knowledge enabling him to suggest correct solutions for the control, management, restoration of environmental conditions.
Communication: The student will be able to express his viewpoint with a correct scientific terminology, by using also multimedia tools.
Lifelong learning skills:
The student will be provided with some fundamental professional skills, which are typical of a master degree.

The student must be familiar with the basic concempts of general, inorganic, organic, physical, analytical and environmental chemistry

The seawater composition, chemical-physical approaches for its determination,
Chemical equilibria in seawater and sediments (acid-base, complexation, solubility, oxydation-reduction),
biogeochemical cycling of limiting elements (C, N, Si, P, S) in the marine environment;
ocean pollution;
role of the ocean in the climate change of the planet.

Handouts and publications provided by the professor, that include the topics discussed during the lessons. These are uploaded into the Moodle platform.

Textbooks
F. Millero. "Chemical Oceanography". CRC Press.
S. Libes."An Introduction to Marine Biogeochemistry". J. Wiley

The preparation of the student is evaluated in two steps: During a workshop which takes place at the end of the course students make a presentation on an in depth study of their choice with respect to a topic of the course. The approval of this presentation made by the professor is necessary for the student to be admitted to a written test on the platform Moodle: 20 questions, three answers each, that the student has to judge true or false. The final evaluation is based of the result of this test.The student can ask for oral supplementation.

Conventional.
The course includes: Classroom lectures, Seminars with scientist expert of oceanographic science, Presentations made by the students on specific topics.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development