GV3VOL: Volcanic Hazards and Risk Management

Module code: GV3VOL

Module provider: Geography and Environmental Science; School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science

Credits: 20

Level: 6

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Stuart Black, email: s.black@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 27 March 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to explore volcanic hazards and their impact on societies. The module will explore volcanic hazards and risks imposed on societies and the impact of multi-scale volcanic eruptions. The module will use a wide-range of evidence based approaches including practical-based investigations of volcanic materials/examples to illustrate the approaches.

This module will investigate the threat to societies from volcanic eruptions. The module will explore volcanic risk and hazards on several scales, from large explosive eruptions which have generated significant climate and environmental changes, to small scale volcanic eruptions that occur on a daily basis. The module will use a wide-range of evidence based approaches from archaeological, historical, geological, observational and real-time satellite based approaches to illustrate the nature and impact of volcanic eruptions. Students will be able to explore the latest research in these areas and these will be complimented by detailed case studies.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. understand the basic concepts of volcanic hazard strategy;
2. use and interpret numeric data sets
3. use and interpret volcanic hazard data sets and understand these in a risk context.
4. create hypotheses of volcanically driven environmental change in a global context.
5. assess the impact of volcanic activity upon human cultural development.
6. describe the hazards associated with different forms of volcanic activity and illustrate their mitigation with appropriate case studies.
7. conduct independent research.

Module content

The module will investigate a variety of volcanic hazards including: Volcanic activity and atmospheric impact; Super volcanic eruptions and their impacts on glaciations, genetic bottlenecks, extinctions and extreme climate modification; Fissure eruptions; Explosive eruptions and their impacts on more recent climate change and social response; Health impacts of volcanic activity; Volcanic activity and human cultural responses; Cities and communities at risk; Presentation of volcanic hazard materials to the media; Practical illustrations of volcanic hazards.

This module covers volcanic activity and risk management over a global context, with examples and data used from different volcanic systems across virtually all the continents. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Illustrated lectures, practical sessions, field excavations will be used. There will be a visit to Natural History Museum in London as part of the module and training from a range of internal and external experts.

Study hours

At least 52 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

An outline plan of the review article will be the basis for a formative feedback piece during the semester which will help with the main review article coursework

Reassessment

Additional costs