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20260412890The Master’s Program in Marine Chemistry at the Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, was established in 2000 in the boys’ section, initially enrolling one student. In 2014, the program expanded to include female students. Since its inception, a total of 23 students - nine male and 15 female- have successfully graduated from the program. In designing the Master’s Program in Marine Chemistry, the department committee considered the rapid advancements and continuous growth in the field of marine chemical sciences. The program’s vision was expanded to incorporate several modern scientific disciplines, while also recognizing the significant value of marine environments as natural resources. Additionally, the program aligns with the notable scientific and applied progress achieved by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia across various sectors and to be consistence with Saudi 2030 vision.
A distinguished academic and research department with sustainability and community partnership.
The present MSc program aims to prepare highly qualified educational and technical personnel in the field of Marine Chemistry and its contemporary applications, capable of meeting labor market requirements through advanced educational and research activities that serve the community. It is designed to enhance master’s students’ awareness of the role of Marine Chemistry in modern applications, while developing logical thinking skills and intellectual flexibility that support continuous professional development throughout their careers. The program emphasizes strong foundational knowledge of the discipline and offers a wide range of final-year options intended to foster versatility, in-depth knowledge, and practical skills sought by employers in the field of Marine Chemistry at the postgraduate level.
| Course Code | Course | Credits | Prerequisites |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS 600 | Scientific Research Methods | 3 | – |
| Description | The course gives general principles and procedure used in scientific research including defining the problem and how to solve it through the necessary studies. Analysis and interpretation of laboratory tests, report writing. More emphasis will be directed toward how to write a research proposal and a research paper. The course aims to make collection of material and information for the research topics, Writing a research proposal and scientific paper. | ||
| MC 631 | Marine Chemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of the physical and chemical properties of water, hydrogen bonds and adding salts effect, classifications of substances in seawater and measuring salinity with a preceding a discussion of the rule of constant proportions, gas solubility and exchange across the Air-Sea, vertical and horizontal segregation of the biolimiting elements in the ocean, processes that are of primary importance in controlling the distribution, transport and fate of chemicals in the aquatic environment. | ||
| MC 632 | Marine Pollution | 3 | – |
| Description | This course is designed to introduce the basic knowledge of various aspects of marine pollution, its sources, fates and environmental effects on marine organisms, humans and ecosystems, in addition to advanced treatment techniques. | ||
| MC 633 | Marine Organic Chemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | This course aims to provide students with the key concept and principles underling marine chemistry processes with particular emphasis on organic composition. Also, provide them with a background for the sources and the formation of organic molecules in the marine environment. The course also provides students with some skills that are potentially transferable to a range of employment situations. | ||
| MC 634 | Marine Biochemistry Chemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | The course was designed to introduce the principles of marine biochemistry including the photosynthesis in sea, and aerobic metabolism of the biomolecules of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins as well as anaerobic process in anoxic ocean. The study also demonstrates the osmotic pressure in marine animals during diving and migration; adaptation towards estuaries, marine anaerobic metabolism; bio-chemoreception in marine animals, body fluids in marine organisms; and iron and calcium metabolism in marine animals | ||
| MC 635 | Marine Geochemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | This course includes factors controlling chemical composition of seawater and hypothesis and models. River water composition and input of riverine materials to the ocean. Modification of the chemical signal at the land/sea interface, the estuarine system and the estuarine system. It includes also aerosols sources and distribution in the ocean and chemical composition. It addresses the ocean-atmosphere interface including gases in seawater, exchange models and gas transfer. Dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in ocean waters. Ocean circulation and water transport nutrients in seawater. Early digenesis, redox conditions and organic matter preservation in sediments. Geochemistry of dissolved gases and nutrients. | ||
| MC 636 | Marine Analytical Chemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | This course covers three spectroscopic techniques that serve as powerful tools for structure determination in organic chemistry: Infrared (IR) spectroscopy: observes the vibrations of bonds and provides evidence of the functional groups present; Mass spectrometry (MS): covered bombards molecules with electrons and breaks them apart. Analysis of the masses of the fragments gives the molecular weight, possibly the molecular formula, and clues to the structure and functional groups; Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; observes the chemical environments of the hydrogen atoms (or the carbon atoms) and provides evidence for the structure of the alkyl groups and clues to the functional groups. | ||
| MC 637 | Marine Electrochemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | This course explores the various electroanalytical techniques that can be used for analysis in seawater. The participants learn about the use of stripping voltammetry for determination of low concentrations of trace metals in seawater and its importance to study trace metals speciation. | ||
| MC 638 | Special Topics in Marine Chemistry | 3 | – |
| Description | This course covers the new advanced topics in environmental and marine chemistry and could be changed based on the new topics and the current research in the department and could also change according to the staff member appointed to teach this course. The course is an interaction between the student and the appointed staff. One or more topics will be selected and appointed to one student each term to discuss with students throughout the semester ending with a presentation of his seminar and submission of a report. The present situation of the course could cover one or more of the following topics according to the student number register in the course: Persistent organic pollutants in marine environment, Air-seawater interaction, Applications of nano-technology in marine pollution, Sea water as natural product source. | ||
| MC 699 | M.Sc. Thesis | 10 | – |
| Description | This course represents the last stage in the master program. The course defines a topic and formulates a research problem held by students. During the course, students doing relevant literatures belongs to the topic he/she will handle, design a research proposal including a brief introduction on the area of study, the problem that will be solved, the aims and objectives of the work and materials and techniques will be used. In addition, students will describe how he/she will collect and analyze data, discuss the results and summarize the results. The students will finally write a report called a Master Thesis. | ||
Last Modified Date: 11/07/2026 - 2:48 PM Saudi Arabia Time
