This project or multi-lab activity is designed to teach students about modeling …
This project or multi-lab activity is designed to teach students about modeling landscape change caused by rivers over large time and spatial scales (e.g., the incision of Grand Canyon). Basic working knowledge of geomorphology of rivers is assumed but Matlab experience is not, so students will both build on Matlab ability and on how rivers can change as controlling variables are changed like uplift rate and the ability of rock to resist erosion. This is built on a 1-D stream power model-derived numerical code, where several variations in activities are available for exploration where structure and scaffolding decreases with increasing difficulty through the series. The detailed instructional write-up and all matlab scripts needed are here: Files for River profile modeling (Zip Archive 40kB Oct17 16)
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This activity is designed as a laboratory exercise and to take ~1-1.5 …
This activity is designed as a laboratory exercise and to take ~1-1.5 hours to finish.
On May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens in the state of Washington exploded in a cloud of ash, plus lava and mud flows. What had been a beautiful symmetrical snow-covered mountain with heavily forested slopes became a startling landscape of ash, mud, and downed trees surrounding a broken, irregular peak. The power of the initial blast was directed upward and laterally, snapping off trees for miles in the blast zone. In the years since 1980, many people â geologists, biologists, environmentalists â have been observing and studying how the landscape recovers after a major volcanic eruption.
In this exercise, students study simplified topographic maps of Mt. St. Helens to interpret the shape of the mountain before and after the 1980 eruption. An option is to have them look at the volcano on Google Earth at this point. Student materials include a graph on which to plot two topographic profiles across Mt. St. Helens to illustrate the change in its shape. The accompanying Instruction file includes calculation of the vertical exaggeration of the profiles, but this section of the exercise may be omitted. Assuming that the material removed by the eruption was in the form of a perfect cone, students use their profiles to measure the height and diameter of the cone to calculate the volume of material removed. Students then compare the result of their calculation with published values for the eruptive material removed from the mountain and identify possible sources of error in their work.
Students pick a place of significance to them (their Special Place) for …
Students pick a place of significance to them (their Special Place) for analysis in this semester-long project. (A model is provided by the instructor using a place the students are not likely to have visited.)
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This jigsaw exercise has students study national parks from different perspectives. Groups …
This jigsaw exercise has students study national parks from different perspectives. Groups can be divided up depending on the nature of the class: historian, meteorologist, geologist, and biologist.
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Using a digital elevation model, prehistoric drainage and modern drainage in google …
Using a digital elevation model, prehistoric drainage and modern drainage in google earth, students will locate abandoned valleys, interpret prehistoric drainage orientations, measure and compare valley and channel widths of "new" sections of the Ohio River with tributary valleys which have been used by both prehistoric and modern rivers.
Updated Fall 2023 This textbook was designed especially for Community College students, …
Updated Fall 2023
This textbook was designed especially for Community College students, as a resource to instill the knowledge and adventure that the discipline of geography holds for so many of us. The following units will cover a wide array of topics such as: Earth’s grid system, weather, climate, rivers, oceans, deserts, basic geology, and cartography. This book also integrates virtual field trips and interactive multimedia.
The Text Has 19 units; Unit 1: Introduction to Geography as a Discipline Unit 2: Earth’s Place within the Cosmos Unit 3: Introduction to Geology & Geologic Time Unit 4: Mapping Earth’s Surface Unit 5: Earth-Sun Relationships: Reasons for the Seasons Unit 6: Earth’s Atmosphere Unit 7: Elements of Weather & Climate Unit 8: Basic Mineral Development Unit 9: Igneous Rocks Unit 10: Sedimentary Rocks Unit 11: Metamorphism & Metamorphic Rocks Unit 12: Weathering & Soils Unit 13: Earths Dynamic Surface: Plate Tectonics Unit 14: Earths Dynamic Surface: Tectonics Force Unit 15: Earths Dynamic Surface: Volcanoes Unit 16: Shaped by Coastal Processes Unit 17: Shaped by Rivers & Running Water Unit 18: Shaped by Wind as a Geomorphic Agent Unit 19: Shaped by Glaciers
Twenty lab exercises for undergraduate-level physical geography laboratory courses. Lab manual highlights include: Customizable components to suit your needs for synchronous, asynchronous, or face-to-face instruction; Meets the C-ID descriptor requirements for content, lab activities, and objectives while including geotechnology applications and environmental justice topics where appropriate; Each lab exercise underwent peer review to ensure clarity, currency, and utility.
This optional field trip is designed to augment the in-class learning experience …
This optional field trip is designed to augment the in-class learning experience in introductory physical geology by providing students the opportunity to see firsthand local geological features and understand their context in the long-term tectonic evolution of the western United States. The university is conveniently located in a portion of the American west where a plethora of geological features are readily accessible over a total field trip duration of 6 hours. Over a total of 6 field stops, students are presented with an opportunity to observe features relevant to topics learned in class involving rock types, volcanic features (lava flows and ash fall deposits), faults and folds, mass wasting features, catastrophic flood deposits (Bonneville and Missoula floods), and loess deposits.
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The purpose of this lesson is to create an engaging and low-cost …
The purpose of this lesson is to create an engaging and low-cost science field trip/activity. An important aspect of this camp is to make the activities low cost to no cost so that rural schools that do not always have a lot of funding will still be able to invoke creativity through an engaging hands-on planetary/geological science project that takes them outside of the classroom. The students will be using google earth to create a hypothesis using geomorphological questions relating to planetary science and then testing their hypothesis outside local to the school. The activities will be able to be catered to any region and can also be built on based on available resources. The activities will encompass planetary science and geomorphological concepts with optional art additions. The activities will be geared towards grades 6th-8th but could easily be tailored to any grade level. Students will learn about planetary science and geomorphological key concepts and then apply them to their own region.
The four exercises give students an opportunity to use their knowledge of …
The four exercises give students an opportunity to use their knowledge of graphs, algebra, and maps to solve simple geological problems.
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This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by …
This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:
"Peat is a soil-like material made up of decomposed plant matter found in water-saturated environments around the world. From the arctic to the tropics, these peatlands act as giant carbon sinks, storing enormous amounts of organic matter. In the tropics, peat accumulates in dome-shaped mounds that can reach kilometers across and ten or more meters high. Removed from the atmosphere via photosynthesis in trees, this carbon can be preserved for thousands of years. But human disturbance by fire and drainage for agriculture is now causing re-emission at an unprecedented rate. This is especially true in tropical Asia. Because peat accumulation occurs via waterlogging of plant remains, which quickly degrade in the presence of oxygen, its deposition is determined, in part, by the proportion of time exposed to air. And this, in turn, is driven by the depth of the water table which rises and falls with rainfall and discharge from the peatland into rivers..."
The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.
We know that glacial cycles produce changes in stream regimens downstream from …
We know that glacial cycles produce changes in stream regimens downstream from the active ice margin, and that successive glacial cycles often result in separate (and usually lower) floodplains that become terraces following each cycle of stream incision. Using a suite of 4-5 glacio-fluvial terraces outside the mouth of Little PopoAgie Canyon on the east flank of Wyoming's Wind River Range, students do the following: (1) produce a map of the major terrace landforms, (2) observe the geomorphic characteristics of each map unit (this includes height above present stream, depth of fine overbank material above coarse bedload, and general weathering characteristics of the units, and whether the unit is a cut or fill terrace), and (3) measure the characteristics of soil profiles dug into each unit (including horizons Id's, depth and thickness of horizons, and carbonate morphology). Students use all this information to place the terrace units into the regional glacio-fluvial chronology by matching the relative age-data with the Pinedale/Bull Lake/Pre-Bull Lake regional sequence. Final project must include a graphic representation of stream heights that fit their interpretations of the regional glacio-fluvial stratigraphy.
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A module in which students use field and geophysical measurements and observations …
A module in which students use field and geophysical measurements and observations of Gulf of California basins to calculate isostasy and its controls.
The transformation of massive rock to sediment (i.e., gravel) is a process …
The transformation of massive rock to sediment (i.e., gravel) is a process of nature not confined to Earth. A qualitative introduction to the forces of weathering and erosion that control the development of fragment shape in gravel provides insight into fundamental processes spanning planetary bodies in our solar system. A few images and video snips provide visual evidence that students observe to learn about these sedimentary processes. In a short exercise that may be used in lecture or a laboratory session, students make observations, write descriptions, discuss issues with peers, and use hypotheses to extrapolate terrestrial sedimentary science to another planetary body. Questions are arranged in order of, and span, the hierarchy of cognitive skills. This design should make this exercise accessible to students across a variety of levels, from non-science to geoscience majors.
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students work with …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students work with salmon-trace streambed data to study whether removal of a spawning run barrier was effective
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students work with …
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum module/Geology of National Parks course. Students work with salmon-trace streambed data to study whether removal of a spawning run barrier was effective
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An in-class introductory level activity for science and non-science majors that explores …
An in-class introductory level activity for science and non-science majors that explores the properties of sand in order to identify depositional environments.
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