Advisors: See Faculty of Science, academic advisors.
This program provides a basic quantitative background in science and mathematics, while offering students greater opportunity to select courses in a wide range of environment-related subject areas, such as chemistry, ecology, microbiology, geography, and hydrogeology. Students will acquire the knowledge base required to assess the environmental impact of surface and subsurface contamination from industry, urbanization, agriculture, and mining. Graduates will be prepared for employment in any area dealing with environmental issues and legislation, particularly in government and the environmental consulting industry.
Continuing in Honours Environmental Sciences, Geoscience Specialization requires a cumulative overall average of 60% and a cumulative average of 60% in all EARTH courses.
Successful completion of this program requires:
21.25 units that include:
- 8.0 EARTH units: EARTH 121, EARTH 121L, EARTH 122, EARTH 122L, EARTH 123, EARTH 221, EARTH 223, EARTH 231, EARTH 232, EARTH 235, EARTH 238, EARTH 333, EARTH 342, EARTH 358, EARTH 390, EARTH 440, and EARTH 444
- 1.0 EARTH unit: EARTH 436A and EARTH 436B; or EARTH 499 and one EARTH elective at 300-level or higher
- 2.0 EARTH elective units with the following conditions:
- 0.5 unit must be 200-level or higher
- 1.5 units must be 300-level or higher
- 1.75 BIOL units: BIOL 150, BIOL 165, BIOL 240, and BIOL 240L
- 1.5 CHEM units: CHEM 120, CHEM 120L, CHEM 123, and CHEM 123L
- 0.5 PHYS unit: PHYS 111
- 0.5 MATH unit: MATH 127
- 0.5 STAT unit: STAT 202
- 0.5 ERS unit: ERS 215
- 2.5 program elective units chosen from any 200-level or higher BIOL, CHEM, PHYS, MATH, AMATH course or chosen from BIOL 130, CS 115, or CS 116
- 0.5 ENGL unit: ENGL 193/SPCOM 193
- 2.0 elective units; must be 0.5 unit lecture courses
Notes
- SCI and EARTH courses may not be counted as program electives.
- A maximum of 1.5 SCI units may be counted as electives.
Recommended Course Sequence
Year One
Fall
BIOL 150 Organismal and Evolutionary Ecology
CHEM 120/CHEM 120L Physical and Chemical Properties of Matter/Chemical Reaction Laboratory 1
EARTH 121/EARTH 121L Introductory Earth Sciences/Introductory Earth Sciences Laboratory
PHYS 111 Physics 1
One elective (0.5 unit)
Winter
BIOL 165 Diversity of Life
CHEM 123/CHEM 123L Chemical Reactions, Equilibria and Kinetics/Chemical Reaction Laboratory 2
EARTH 122/EARTH 122L Introductory Environmental Sciences/Introductory Environmental Sciences Laboratory
MATH 127 Calculus 1 for the Sciences
One of ENGL 193/SPCOM 193 Communication in the Sciences
Year Two
Fall
BIOL 240/BIOL 240L Fundamentals of Microbiology/Microbiology Laboratory
EARTH 123 Introductory Hydrology
EARTH 223 Field Methods in Hydrology
EARTH 231 Mineralogy
EARTH 235 Stratigraphic Approaches to Understanding Earth's History
Winter
EARTH 221 Geochemistry 1
EARTH 232 Petrography
EARTH 238 Introductory Structural Geology
ERS 215 Environmental and Sustainability Assessment I
One EARTH elective 200-level or higher (0.5 unit)
Year Three
Fall
EARTH 342 Geomorphology and GIS Applications
STAT 202 Introductory Statistics for Scientists
One EARTH elective 300-level or higher (0.5 unit)
One program elective (0.5 unit)
One elective (0.5 unit)
Winter
EARTH 333 Introductory Sedimentology
EARTH 358 Earth System Science
EARTH 390 Methods in Geological Mapping
One EARTH elective 300-level or higher (0.5 unit)
Two program electives (1.0 unit)
Year Four
Fall
EARTH 436A Honours Thesis
or EARTH 499 Research Project
EARTH 440 Quaternary Geology
EARTH 444 Applied Wetland Science
One program elective (0.5 unit)
One elective (0.5 unit)
Winter
EARTH 436B Honours Thesis
or one EARTH elective 300-level or higher
One EARTH elective 300-level or higher (0.5 unit)
One program elective (0.5 unit)
One elective (0.5 unit)