Department of Oceanography

University of Dhaka

Curriculum of Courses
for
M.Phil/Ph.D in Oceanography

Session: 2019-2020 to 2022-2023

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
 Curriculum of Courses
for
M.Phil/Ph.D in Oceanography

The Department of Oceanography at the University of Dhaka, up until now, the only
one of its kind in Bangladesh, aims to advance our knowledge of all facets of the
ocean environment around Bangladesh. Emphasis will be given to the physical,
chemical, biological, geological and atmospheric aspects of the oceans around
Bangladesh, but the intention is to use this new knowledge to draw conclusions which
are globally relevant. Future research is expected to pave the way to the science
underpinning operational oceanography.

Department of Oceanography’s goal is to advance marine sciences through

observation, experimentation and modeling, and to provide excellent educational and
research opportunities for graduate students (M.Phil./Ph.D.) in Bangladesh with
degrees in Oceanography. Through discovery and active learning we prepare students
for careers across the public and private sector.

Graduate studies (i.e., M.Phil./Ph.D.) in Oceanography will be offered. Students have

to take the following courses:

Course No. Course Title Credit Hours

OCN 601 Fundamentals of Oceanography 3

OCN 602 Advanced Oceanography 3
OCN 603 Viva-voce 3
OCN 604 Thesis 6
_____________________________________________________
Total 15*

For a 4 credit course there shall be three lecture classes per week i.e., a total of 45
lecture classes of 1 hour duration and for 2 or 3 credit course there shall be a two
lecture classes per week i.e., a total of 30 lecture classes of 1 hour duration.

* However, common rules, regulations and practices for the M.Phil/Ph.D. degree of
the University of Dhaka would be applicable.

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
OCN-601 Fundamentals of Oceanography Credit: 3

Introduction to Geological oceanography: development in the recent past.

Origin of the Earth and Ocean: The age of the Earth and the geological time, scale;
structure of the Earth’s interior and its composition; features of the Ocean;
Continental drift and sea floor spreading; Plate tectonics-the types of plate
boundaries-rifting and subduction zones; the trenches.

The sea floor and continental margins: the ocean basins- origin and morphology;
identification of components of the ocean margin; ridges and rises; processes
responsible for creating the ocean margin features; the shelf, slope and abyssal plain.
Active and passive continental margin.

Introduction to marine sediments: sediment sources and pattern of sediment

deposition from the self to the deep ocean; sediment size and accumulation; sampling
of sediments; dominant transportation processes; sea bed resources.

The marine environments: general conditions, distribution of life form in the oceans;
divisions of the marine environment- pelagic and benthic environments, Basic marine
life styles.

Seal level changes: Geological evidence and consequences: Eustatic vs. relative sea
level changes: effects of sea level change on marginal marine environments.

Physical Oceanography: Introduction. Definition, Scope, Multidisciplinary

investigation application for Bangladesh.

Relief of the Ocean: Physical feature of the ocean floor, ocean floor topography,
trenches, oceanic ridges, submarine canyon, passive and active continental margin,
continental shelves & slope, ocean floor of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Ocean Sediments: Source of sediments, types, characteristics, depositional

environments.

Ocean temperature: Temperature change, causes, vertical and horizontal distribution

and Implication.

Ocean Salinity: Salinity change, causes, distribution and implication.

Ocean Currents: Causes, types, mean current in Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Ocean Tide: Causes and effects. Global distribution, Implication.

Waves: causes, characteristics of wave actions, wave energy.

Storm surges and cyclones, characteristics, environmental consequences and

management.

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
Sea-level change: Definition, causes, past, present and future trends of S. L. changes.
Consequences of S. L. changes.

Marine Environment: Marine climatic Zone, EL-Nino. La-Nina, Man-Ocean relation.

Books Recommended:

Duxury, A.B. R Duxubury A.C (1999): Fundamentals of Oceanography (3rd Ed.),

WCB/MC Graw-Hill.

Thurman, H.V. (1994): Introductory Oceanography (7th Ed.), Macmillan Pube.

Comp.

Seibold, E. & Berger, W. H: The sea Floor- An Introduction to Marine Geology (3rd
Ed.).

Erickson & Timothy (2002): Marine Geology.

The Ocean Basins: Their Structure and Evolution (second edition). Open University.
ISBN 0750639830

The Sea Floor ---An Introduction to Marine Geology (third edition). E. Seibold and
W.H. Berger. ISBN 3540601910

Rhatt, J.J., Oceanography, 13. Van Nostrand Company, New York.

King, C.A.M., Oceanography for Geographers, Edwin Arnold Publishers Ltd.
London
Sharma, R-C. and Vatal, M. Oceanography for Geographers, Chaitanya Publishing
House, Allahabad, India.
Carson, R.J., The Sea Around, Staples Press Ltd. London.
Engel, L., The Sea, Time Incorporated, London.
Islam. M.S. Sea-Level Changes in Bangladesh 2001

OCN- 602 Advanced Oceanography Credit: 3

Introduction, Background:
Introduction, the composition of seawater, what is salinity? The properties of water
and seawater, the global hydrologic cycle, general oceanic circulation, rneridional
overturning circulation', global salinity distribution, density and vertical density
profiles.

Intro to Earth Processes; Seawater and Salt, Salinity and Chemical Transformations.
Gas Solubility and Air-Sea exchange. Elemental composition of' seawater.
Conservative and non-conservative behaviour. Salinity, its measurement and
applications.

Steady vs non-steady state of ocean composition. Mean oceanic residence times, the
thermocline and the 2-box model of ocean chemistry; thermohaline circulation.
Estuaries, Evaporites, Primary productivity and particle fluxes.

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
Geochemical Cycling through the Oceans:
Compositions and Residence Times. Major ions and salinity, box models, mass
balances, river input, weathering, cyclic salts, hydrothermal systems and sediments,
speciation of major ions. Tools for studying geochemistry.

Introduction to stable isotopes. Introduction to radiochermstry, chart of the nuclides,

Applications. eg. Carbon-14 dating, particle scavenging rates, air-sea gas exchange,
quantification. The Global Journey - inputs to and outputs from the ocean. Rivers and
estuaries, weathering, hydrothermal processes, gas exchange across the air-sea
interface, atmospheric deposition, sediments.

Inorganic Carbon Chemistry 1: The oceanic chemistry of dissolved inorganic carbon,

pH, the alkalinity of seawater, ion activity products.

Biogeochemical Cycling within the Water Column:

Life Processes in the Ocean, Redfield ratios, nutrients, nutrient limitation,
photosynthesis, respiration, particles and scavenging in the water column, transport
and removal of particles, 234-Th methods, controls of primary productivity, nutrient
distributions. trace element distributions, trace elements and phytoplankton,
quantifying fluxes and rates.

Biogeochemical Cycling in the Sediments:

Sediment Chemistry, The importance of oxygen, redox geochemistry, early
diagenesis, sequence of terminal electron acceptors, organic matter preservation,
global distribution of sediments.

Inorganic Carbon Chemistry II: Preservation of carbonate sediments, alkalinitv

budgets, paleo-oceanographic implications of ocean carbonate chemistry.

Global Biogeochernical Cycles:

The Carbon Cycle - long term cycles, weathering, preservation in sediments,
anthropogenic impacts. The Nitrogen Cycle - denitrification, nitrogen fixation,
annamox, paleo-oceanographic applications.

The biolimiting elements: P, N and Si. Biological cycling of other elements. CaCO3)
biogeochemistry and changing pH of oceans. Dissolved oxygen and anoxia.
Scavenged elements. Geochemistry of ocean sediments.

Oxygen, Organic Matter, Nutrients and Biolimiting Elements, Trace Metals,

Diagenesis. Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycles, Production of DOM, Silica and
Evaporites, Inorganic Chemistry of Seawater, Marine Carbon Cycle and Global
Climate Change.

Introduction, basic terms, zonation of the oceans, history, physical & chemical
properties of seawater, water masses, density, pressure, salinity.

Light, temperature, ocean heat budget, physics of waves & currents, major current
systems, Upwelling.

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
Nitrogen, phosphorus, silicate, biogeochemical cycles, carbon cycle and the marine
carbonate system.

Photosynthesis, primary production, phytoplankton systematics, zooplankton

systematic, ecology of zooplankton, secondary production and zooplankton activity,
food chains, food webs and the "microbial loop".

Nutrient uptake and competition, zonation of the benthos, seafloor, macroalgae.

seagrass, benthic animals, ecology of benthic communities and mangroves, coral
reef's.

Fisheries oceanography, marine mammal ecology, deep-sea ecology and

hydrothermal vents, alien species and harmful algal blooms, human impacts oil the
oceans.

Books Recommended:

Emerson, S.R and Hedges, J.1. Chemical Oceanography and the Marine Carbon
Cycle. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2008.

Pilson, M.E.Q. An Introduction to the Chemistry of the Sea. Prentice Hall, Ne\N,
Jersey. USA, 1998.

Sarmiento, J. and Gruber, N. Ocean Biogeochemical Dynamics. Princeton University

Press, Princeton, N.J, USA, 2006.

Berner. Elizabeth Kay and Robert A. Berner. Global Environment: Water, Air, and
Geochemical Cycles. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1996.

Broecker, Wallace and Peng, Tsung-hung, Tracers in the Sea, Palisades, N.Y.
LamontDoherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University. 1982.

Burdige David, Geochemistry of Marine Sediments. Princeton University Press, 2006.

Morel, Francois M. M. and Janet G. Hering. Principles and Applications of Aquatic
Chemistry. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1993.

Millero, Frank J. Chemical Oceanography, Third Edition. CRC Press, New York,
2006.

Marine Biogeocheinical Cycles, 2nd Edition by Rachel James. The Open University,
ISBN: 0750667931

Seawater: Its Composition, Properties and Behavior, 2nd Edition by The Open
University, ISBN: 0750637153

Marine Biogeochemical Cycles (second edition). Open University. ISBN07506679l

Marine Geochemistry. H.D. Schulz and M. Zabel (eds.). ISBN 354066453X

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU
Carol M Lalli & Timothy Parsons (1997) Biological Oceanography: An Introduction,
2nd edition. Butterworth-Heinemann Publishers. ISBN 0750633840.

J. Levinton (2009) Marine Biology: Function, Biodiversity, Ecology. (3rd edition,

Oxford University Press).

Sumich, James, L. & Morrissey, John, F. (2008) Introduction to the Biology of

Marine Life, 9th edition. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN: 0-7637-3313-X.

M. Takahashi, B. Hargrave & T. R. Parsons (2005) Biological Oceanographic

Processes, 344 pages, 3rd Edition. Pergamon Press.

Jumars, P. A. (1993) Concepts in Biological Oceanography: An Interdisciplinary

Primer. Oxford University Press, New York. 348 p. ISBN 0- 19-506732-0.

Syllabus.MPhil/Ph.D.Oceanography.DU