Average inquiry level: Structured
This lab activity provides an introduction to rock classification. Classification is useful because it allows scientists to identify patterns and organize information. In this lab, students investigate rocks by developing their own classification schemes. They then learn how scientists classify rocks, and make connections to rock formation processes. This lab is designed for face-to-face instruction.
Learning objectives for this lab activity:

Identifying types of observations that are useful in identifying rocks
Categorize rocks based on observable physical characteristics, and explain why classification is an important aspect of science
Classify rocks as sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic, and justify why each rock is included in its classification group
Reflect on how their classification schemes compared to the one used by geologists

Key words:rock classification, observation, identification, inquiry, igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, metamorphic rocks, jig-saw activity

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In this Physical Geology lab activity, students investigate the relationship between stream energy and gradient by changing the gradient of a small stream table and observing changes in stream erosion.

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This assignment is designed as a final project for students in my undergraduate 3 credit non lab elective geohydrology course. Students work in pairs to analyze an actual, local contaminated site (Delphi) and use raw data from consulting reports (boring logs, water levels, chemical water analyses) to prepare a geologic cross-section, water table map and contaminant plume map. Students are assigned different lines of cross section, water level dates and contaminant types. Students examine the variety of different figures and maps to better characterize hydrogeologic and water quality conditions over the entire site and answer some assigned questions. This project is an opportunity for students to apply skills they learned in the course (contouring, groundwater flow) to investigate an existing groundwater contamination event. It also provides the kind of "practical" experience the students can highlight in a job interview.

Key words: Groundwater contamination, case study, TCE

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The Sierra Club has defined an issue that the Environmental Hydrogeology class will help address in this project: most of the surface waters in Memphis are under fish advisories and yet a portion of the population still subsistence fishes from these waters. Our main product we will produce for Sierra Club is a map of fishing sightings based on survey data we collect during the semester and a proposed sampling strategy to assess potential pollutants based on the knowledge the students gain in field and lab activities. We will also provide information on the percentage of survey participants that are aware of pollution issues in the local waterways and percentage that would be detered from fishing if they saw a sign. At the end of the semester, the students will hold an art contest to design better fish advisory signs, and designs will be made available to Sierra Club and the TN Dept. of Environment and Conservation.

Prior to beginning these activities, the students will have created a base map of Memphis in GIS during a previous lab and used it to consider questions of pollutant runoff from various urban spaces such as golf courses, roads, shopping centers, and City parks. (The instructions for this activity are included in the other materials section below under Creating a Base Map in GIS (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 30kB Feb7 10).) The base map will be used throughout the activities as field data and information from interviews/surveys are collected and added to the map for subsequent consideration of possible environmental justice issues.

The lab activities outlined require the students to conduct grain size analyses using samples that community members provide to them, calculate hydraulic conductivity, measure infiltration rates in the community, estimate impervious surfaces within the community, and subsequently model the transport of water within that community. Results of their work will be conveyed back to the community both through personal contact and via the Wiki page the students produce. Students will base their sampling recommendations by generalizing the concepts learned from these activities (and others during the semester) to apply the course material to the service project. The final map of sighting and recommendations for Sierra Club requires the students to apply concepts from previous activities and will be completed during the lab activity: Mapping survey results.

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Planetary data are used to investigate and evaluate the Nebular Hypothesis.

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Students and faculty participate in an integrated effort to characterize hydrologic relationships using hydrologic, geologic & geophysical data

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This lab or in-class exercise is based on an actual experiment that appeared in the journal "Science" (Densmore et al., 1997) that used an analog model to simulate the role of bedrock landslides in long-term landscape evolution. Students essentially replicate this experiment by using an acrylic-walled slope failure box filled with either red beans or rice to simulate the landscape. A sliding door on one long side of the box simulates downcutting of the landscape by a river. Lowering the door leads to 'rock' avalanches; students weigh the material that fails and trace slope profiles on the sidewall of the box. As a result of this data collection process, they create a time series of slope failures and slope profiles that shows (a) that large landslides are interspersed with smaller landslides; (b) that oversteepened toes of slope may be an equilibrium landform; and (c) that the type of material that fails will in part govern the nature of the failures, slope profiles, and time series that they detect. Their task is to hypothesize about the behavior of the experiment before running it, then replicate the Densmore et al. (1997) experiment. They then analyze their data and submit a lab report that examines their results in light of the 'Science' article. The activity allows students to read the scientific literature, to collect and analyze real data, to investigate the nature of equilibrium, and to gain a gut feeling for the controls on slope failure.

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Show caption
HideA screen-shot from Google Earth showing chlorophyll concentrations in the equatorial Pacific. This is the data that students use in the exercise. Details In this activity, students are split into groups and assigned different ocean regions. These include the Arabian Sea, Equatorial Pacific, North Atantic, and Southern Ocean. Each group uses Google Earth to view NASA satellite chlorophyll imagery and the cruise track of data collected as part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. At three locations along each cruise track, chlorophyll-temperature-depth (CTD) and bottle data collected as part of the study can be downloaded. Students work with the data to identify oceanographic features as a function of depth and then make simple calculations.

In the second component of the exercise, monthly mean chlorophyll a satellite imagery is also included and students speculate about the annual cycle of physical and biological processes based on that time series. Students compile the results into a presentation for the class. Each group should have different responses to the questions asked and different results for the calculations because each ocean region is very different. This easily leads into a discussion about the major ecological provinces of the ocean and what factors cause variability.

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Investigation Extinction is an educational game about paleontology. The game introduces students to the basics of paleo-science by having them explore a series of dig sites with a team of virtual collaborators. To play the game, students choose to embody a specialist in one of several disciplines of paleontology or geology, and will work with a team of other scientists to excavate fossils and rock samples from various sites in Tanzania. As the fossils and rocks are collected and categorized, the game will lead students through the process of using their observations to make inferences about the paleoenvironment and to determine whether there is evidence for a mass extinction. Through this game students will gain:
1. Knowledge of different scientific professions
2. Knowledge of what constitutes a mass extinction
3. Knowledge of how scientists
a. study the distribution of fossils in the geological record to determine how faunas and floras change over time
b. How the distribution of fossils can be used to identify extinction events
c. study the geological record to understand how environments change over time
d. use paleontological and geological data to hypothesize why some animals and plants survive extinction events while others do not
There are Mac and PC versions of the game provided (the latter in the form of an installer). The PC version will also run on linux systems with Wine (https://www.winehq.org/).

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After exposure to the basic concepts of biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy, participants apply these concepts to produce a biomagnetostratigraphic age model using microfossil and paleomagnetic data from a Paleogene core recovered from Walvis Ridge in the South Atlantic (Ocean Drilling Program Site 1262). The investigation has three parts: First, observed first and last occurrences of various planktonic foraminifera species at different core depths are given absolute ages through reference to the Berggren et al. (1985) time-scale. Second, these planktonic foraminiferal data are used to identify magnetic reversals within the same core and thereby assign absolute ages to these events. Third, the resulting biomagnetostratigraphic age model is used to estimate the time between two well-documented "hyperthermals" within the core, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) and the Eocene Layer of Mysterious Origin (ELMO). The investigation illustrates how biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy complement one another and together provide an operational time-domain for all subsequent studies, be they paleoceanographic, evolutionary, etc. Note that this investigation operates on an established timescale (i.e., Berggren et al, 1985) and does not explictly demonstrate how such timescales are developed. Thus, instructors are encouraged to have students construct a simple composite relative time scale from basic outcrop data prior to this investigation.

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This activity is used in my groundwater flow modeling class (GEOS-724), a class for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students. In advance, the students receive an introduction to MATLAB and basic programming constructs, and background on the use of finite difference discretizations for solving partial differential equations.

The problem being solved here is a (relatively) simple steady-state, linear groundwater flow problem. The code presents different numerical methods for solving a seminal groundwater flow problem - the Toth problem (as solved by J. Toth http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JZ068i016p04795/abstract). The solution to the Toth problem shows that if the water table is a muted expression of surficial topography, then groundwater organizes itself into groundwater flow "cells" of varying expanse.

This problem - which is familiar to most groundwater modelers - provides a baseline for discussing differences in solution methods for numerical models. In this script, different solution styles tested include: 1) A "direct" matrix inversion method which is exact but somewhat memory intensive; 2) An iterative but relatively inefficient "point Jacobi" method; and 3) A more efficient Gauss-Seidel iterative method.

After running this script, students are asked to explore aspects of the solutions and comment on their benefits and drawbacks. For example:
-Which solution method appears to be the most accurate, based on the problem statement (for instance the students should check that streamlines do not intersect no-flow boundaries)
-Which solution requires the least / most memory to compute?
-Which solution is the fastest to compute?
-Which solution obtains the most reasonable mass balance?
-How do the solutions perform if the discretization is increased or other parameters are varied (such as iteration "convergence" parameters)?

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Students will investigate arctic geology and hydrology as well as tundra ecology as they consider options for sewage treatment. Public safety, environmental impact, and issues of construction and engineering will be explored.

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Students will investigate caffeine as a potential new pollutant in a northwest river system. Effects of caffeine on invertebrates and salmon fry will be explored through field work and lab work.

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Students will examine the complex issues that result from human use of ecologically sensitive areas. The students will investigate these issues from the point of view of their major/career path.

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The Los Angeles and the Future of Mono Lake WebQuest leads students in a guided exploration of Mono Lake's extreme environment and asks them to consider the preservation of this environment in relation to the needs of humans.

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Students will explore wetland hydrology and biology and decide whether or not to restore a wetland or retain dams and drainage systems.

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Students will generate maps of ozone concentrations, graph air quality indices, and propose solutions to problems with the ozone and air quality, specifically smog.

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Students author a presentation to the Grounds Management Committee of their school giving their recommendation for the control of the invasive species purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) on campus.

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In this field activity students ponder sustainability issues such as point and non-point sources of pollution (including personal contributions), impacts of pollution, and potential mitigations.

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In essence, this is an opportunity for students to practice calculating trends with uncertainties to draw conclusions about whether or not there is a trend in hurricane intensity. It follows closely with the IPCC AR4 findings, and is guided so that students will know exactly what they have to do - step by step. Please see the attached document for the bulk of the activity. There are some additional instructor's notes that give a little more background on the concepts involved with confidence intervals and trends. There is also an excel file with all of the necessary data already tabulated for the exercise - so you don't need to go find it yourself unless you want to.

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