The course aims to give you further understanding of fundamental chemical and physical processes occurring in aquatic and soil environments and of the chemistry underlying anthropogenic impacts on these environments. Topics covered typically include:

Environmental Analytical Chemistry: This component of CHEM1085 will cover the use of sample separation techniques and advanced chemical analytical instrumentation to explore the fate, behaviour and impact of trace organic chemicals (TrOCs) in environmental systems in a way that establishes chemical principles within a contextual framework. This module will use real-world examples to explore how we separate TroCs for environmental matrices, and then to explain how we measure very, very, very low levels of contaminants using advanced chemical instrumentation.

Soil Chemistry: This component of CHEM1085 is drawn from the Soil Chemistry curriculum required for accreditation with Soil Science Australia as a Certified Professional Soil Scientist. Topics include: Basic concepts of soil chemistry; Solid Phase; Mineral Weathering; Solid/Solution Equilibria; Ion Exchange; Sorption and Precipitation Reactions; Acidity; Oxidation-Reduction Reactions; Alkaline and Salt Affected soils.