Students watch a video of the instructor sketching two geologic block diagrams (of flat stratigraphy and of an upright anticline), then practice sketching additional geologic block diagrams.

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Students are given cubic cell edge dimensions and asked to calculate mineral densities and vice versa. The final question of this homework assignment provides students with a mineral density and unit cell edge length in order to determine the number of formula units per cell.

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In this problem set, students must determine the mineral formulas based on weight percent of constituents. They must provide the correct stoichiometry and molar ratios to three decimal places.

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This course discusses phase transitions in Earth’s interior. Phase transitions in Earth materials at high pressures and temperatures cause the seismic discontinuities and affect the convections in the Earth’s interior. On the other hand, they enable us to constrain temperature and chemical compositions in the Earth’s interior. However, among many known phase transitions in mineral physics, only a few have been investigated in seismology and geodynamics. This course reviews important papers about phase transitions in mantle and core materials.

Many terrestrial sedimentary processes are not difficult to observe, describe, and interpret. Yet many of these dynamic processes are not limited to the Earth. One example is the formation of mudcracks that provide critical evidence of the presence of liquid water saturating a fine-grained sediment and then evaporating. The documentation and analysis of this process can provide insight into geologic and environmental conditions on other planets (Mars?). Images and video snips are used to engage students who must attend to careful observation, description, and interpretation (qualitative and quantitative) from laboratory and field examples.

This lab exercise provides a hypothetical, regional stratigraphic section for students to interpret with regards to depositional environment and tectonic change through time. The assignment is designed to develop and evaluate student scientific writing skills by having students submit a 2-4 page (double-spaced) report detailing the stratigraphic history represented by the section. A primary focus is placed on identifying how and why sedimentary environments change through time and how this change integrates into a broader story of the geologic history for the region in which the section is preserved.

To prepare to these labs, students will attend discussions on describing the geometry of geological structures, strain analysis and geological cross-sections.

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Students construct a geologic map of a region of Venus' surface using NASA Magellan synthetic aperture radar(SAR) data (provided) and/or synthetic stereo data (provided, and constructed using Magellan SAR and altimetry data)- 3D anaglyph viewed through red-blue glasses. Mapping can be done digitally using Adobe Illustrator (or a similar graphic program) or using hard copy images and overhead transparencies for mapping. Students construct a complete geologic map, determine a geologic history for the area, and propose hypotheses for the evolution of a large quasi-circular geomorphic/geologic feature that occurs within the map area. Students also propose tests of their hypotheses (whether such tests can be accomplished through further mapping, future missions, experiments, theoretical arguments, calculations, etc.). Students must clearly identify assumptions they make in their hypotheses/models. Individual, or small group, write-ups and completed geologic maps summarize student analysis. This activity connects structural geology to other fields, and provides the students with an opportunity to experience geologic investigation in which there is no single right answer, but there are "wrong" or unlikely hypotheses. This exercise helps students think outside the box with little fear given that they are dealing with - literally - an extraterrestrial world in which very little is known - and yet, we assume that chemistry and physics, as we know them, likely operated on Earth's sister planet. Students are given a short introductory presentation about the environmental conditions of Venus (which could have been different in the past), and an introduction to radar data before they begin.

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This exercise set explores marine sediments using core photos and authentic datasets in an inquiry-based approach. Students' prior knowledge of sea floor sediments is explored in Part 1. In Parts 2-3 students observe and describe the physical characteristics of sediment cores and determine the composition using smear slide data and a decision tree. In Part 4 students develop a map showing the distribution of the primary marine sediment types of the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans and develop hypotheses to explain the distribution of the sediment types shown on their map.

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Click to watch Alain Plattner discuss his activity or watch the full webinar.We use MATLAB functions available from https://github.com/NSGeophysics/Seism-O to simulate the superimposition of different seismic waves recorded in a simple near-surface geophysics setting. The choice of the geophone layout influences how easy it is to discern the different wave types, which is crucial for the success of a near-surface seismics survey. Students learn which parameters they should try to estimate before the survey, why these parameters are crucial, and how they influence the setup of the survey.

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Even though students will read about sedimentary processes and the mineral resources thus formed, they will need some practice in order to truly grasp the concepts.

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In this lab, students investigate a hotly debated topic relevant in the political, economic, and scientific arenas. They will examine the processes involved in unconventional oil and gas resource production, including hydraulic fracturing. In particular, they will examine nearby seismic activity and will be asked to determine if correlations can be established between fluid injection, related to hydrofracking or wastewater disposal, and earthquake activity. As an option, students can also investigate geothermal activity at the Geysers in California, to illustrate the difficulty in assessing natural versus induced seismicity in such a geologically complex region.

A Google Earth animation files was developed to show the Pangaea breakup. The animation is utilized to illustrate the evidence for plate tectonics and plate motion. Three student exercises are build around this resource: the first exercise allows students to explore the evidence for plate tectonics within Google Earth. The same file is then used in a Hot Spot and Plate Movement exercise that was developed as two versions, one for introductory students and a second for upper level geology majors.

This lab is designed to familiarize students with the geologic history of an ore-deposit, deciphered in the palm of your hand. By determining cross cutting relations of veins and mineralogy, students decipher the evolution of mineralizing fluids that formed the minerals of a copper ore deposit.

This lab accompanies lectures/classes in economic geology and ore mineralogy, either in a mineralogy or petrology course. It can also accompany studies of fluid rock interactions, fracture flow, fluid evolution, or geochemistry; or these topics be woven together using this lab as a base. This lab exercise also integrates previously learned material: cross-cutting relationships (Introductory Geology),with determination of mineralogy (Mineralogy), review of idochromatic elements producing color and their use in mineral identification (Mineralogy),chemistry of the fluids (Geochemistry), and changes in fluids with time during hydrothermal alteration events (Economic Geology). It also demonstrates the linkage between fluid composition, igneous petrology, ore geology and mineralogy.

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This activity is a lab investigation in which students make mass/volume measurements of several samples of the same mineral to determine the mineral's density. Students graph their data and make the connection between their qualitative understanding of what density is and the mathematical/graphical representation of density.

The classic physical optics textbook approach to double-refraction starts from Huyghens constructions of wave fronts and from the optical indicatrix. Optical indicatrices are useful for a systematic description of optical properties in crystals, but students do not usually consider them an easy subject, and, therefore, shy away from optical crystallography. This is unfortunate since a basic understanding of optical crystallography is prerequisite to a correct interpretation of phenomena observed with the polarizing microscope, the most commonly used tool for the detailed study of rocks.
Generally, students are comfortable with simple optical terms like reflection and refraction, while it is uncommon that they actually have seen double-refraction and noticed that crystals polarize light. Many have an unnecessarily complicated idea about vibration directions, interference colors, and interference figures; they assume such phenomena always require a microscope to observe. This is not so. Students well trained in thin section microscopy are often surprised that interference figures can be made visible macroscopically.
The purpose of the experiments below is to impart an intuitive understanding of the interaction between light and crystals and, thus, of optical crystallography. This will help to demystify what is seen in the polarizing microscope, and will better prepare the student for the introduction of optical indicatrices as 3-D models to describe the directional dependence of light velocities, and thus refractive indices in anisotropic crystals.

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This course introduces the parallel evolution of life and the environment. Life processes are influenced by chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and the solid earth. In turn, life can influence chemical and physical processes on our planet. This course explores the concept of life as a geological agent and examines the interaction between biology and the earth system during the roughly 4 billion years since life first appeared.

For this homework assignment, students have to draw two scaled timelines. The first is a personal timeline. They need to come up with the events themselves, an easy task that will build confidence for student who are intimidated by science and math. Following guidelines, they decide on a scale, and draw a linear timeline on which they plot their chosen events. Most students will primarily include recent events. They are asked to identify and explain any patterns in their timeline. Students should note the clustering at the present, and describe the emphasis on the present as resulting from memory, relevance to future hopes and worries, etc.

The second timeline is more traditional. The students are given 16 Earth history events with dates and asked to draw another timeline, using the procedure from the personal timeline, but the line is already drawn for them. They will probably recognize most of the events on the list, and will be keeping them in order and spacing them out on the timeline. They are once again asked to identify and explain patterns and should recognize the emphasis on the present. This time, availability of fossils/rocks and relevance to current conditions and problems are good answers.

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The goal of this lab session is to introduce you to the spindle stage and its possible uses in an undergraduate mineralogy lab. A spindle stage is a one-axis rotation device that mounts on a polarizing microscope and is used to aid in the measurement of optical properties of single crystals. At the undergraduate level, it can be used to identify minerals and to demonstrate the relationships among grain shape, retardation, and interference figures. A natural extension of these uses is undergraduate research on the optical properties of minerals.

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This problem set is used as a homework assignment to assess students' understanding of the properties of light. Students are asked to calculate velocity through media with different index of refractions, wavelengths, frequencies, and reflection/refraction behaviors.

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