UWA Handbook 2025

Minor Overview

About this minor

Natural hazards pose a distinct threat to society. Understanding the reasons why these hazards exist and the potential for impacts and disasters that often result is key to limiting damage and disruption. Many natural hazards are increasingly impactful due in part to climatic and other environmental changes, but also resulting from changing population, energy requirements and land-use pressures. In particular, Western Australia is vulnerable to a number of coastal and nearshore hazards, increasingly related to climate changes, that can directly impact population sites, tourism, and economic activities and infrastructure. This minor explores the scientific basis of hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, sea-level rise, flooding and storms, why they happen, their causes and their potential for societal and economic impact. Knowledge-led solutions are critical for hazard mitigation and understanding the role of the energy transition in a changing world.

Outcomes

Students are able to (1) demonstrate knowledge of the Earth System, its global scale processes and climate system, in the past, present and the future, as the context for natural hazards; (2) demonstrate knowledge of the factors that drive changes in the Earth system, feedbacks and human impacts; (3) identify the primary processes that drive changes in coastal zones and their impacts on coasts; and (4) analyse scientific datasets to investigate societal and environmental impacts of natural hazards and evaluate mitigation strategies.

Incompatibility

MJD-IEMDM Integrated Earth and Marine Sciences;

MJD-MARDM Marine Science;

MJD-MARCP Marine and Coastal Processes;

MJD-GGRPY Geographical Sciences;

MJD-GSSCI Geographical and Spatial Science

Units