In this lab students use LiDAR and GPS data to investigate the …
In this lab students use LiDAR and GPS data to investigate the the amount of woody debris available for habitat in a local river. Students collect GPS data, explorer local LiDAR data and write a Python script to conduct the analysis of the LiDAR data.
In this lab, modified from Barbara and David Tewksbury's sea level rise …
In this lab, modified from Barbara and David Tewksbury's sea level rise lab, students use bathy/topo DEMs from NOAA to predict the location of shorelines after certain amounts of sea level rise and tsunami inundation. This is then combined with TIGER census data to get estimates of the number of people affected by the change in shoreline. Students then display their results with data driven map pages.
In this physical geography lab, students examine the relationship between solar altitude, …
In this physical geography lab, students examine the relationship between solar altitude, solar declination, and temperature regimes. Using data collected in the field, mathematical relationships, and temperature records available on the Internet, students compare the insolation and climate in their location to that of other locations.
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This activity utilizes a sandbox analog model which is used to create …
This activity utilizes a sandbox analog model which is used to create normal faults and a foreland propagating fold and thrust belt. For the normal fault portion of the activity, students investigate the progression of normal fault generation and accumulation of offset. During the thrust fault portion of the activity, students evaluate (1) the initiation angles of thrust faults, (2) compare that to the final angles to understand how fault angles rotate with progressive thrust propagation, and (3) they visualize how the critical slope angle is involved in the initiation of younger thrust faults. In addition, they conceptualize methods utilized to evaluate the magnitude of fault offset, and vertical and horizontal shortening. This activity is motivated by and utilizes a sandbox model from: Dell Castello, M., and Cooke, M., 2008, Watch faults grow before your very eyes in a deformational sandbox: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 56, p. 324-333. Tips for the activity: I place a sheet of sandpaper under the sand on one side of the compression experiment to test the outcomes with varying basal friction. For the extension portion, I attach separate metal sheets to the stationary wall and the moving wall, under the sand. These sheets are joined by elastic fabric. To save money, mix non-toxic paint powder into basic sand to get colored sand.
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A short laboratory exercise, conducted by students, is used to illustrate the …
A short laboratory exercise, conducted by students, is used to illustrate the multiple factors that contribute to rocks' varied responses to deformation. Analogue materials (play-doh, notebook springs, butter, silly putty, plastic bags, etc.) are used to illustrate many of the controlling factors such as lithology, stress, temperature, confining pressure, strain rate, preexisting weaknesses, and accumulated strain. The analogue experiments are presented in conjunction with parallel data from deformation experiments and field studies. The tandem presentation of analogue experiment and real data requires the students to obtain a natural "feel" for rheologic parameters and more exhaustively analyze the important conclusions obtained from field and deformation experiment data.
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Students are confronted with a variety of bivalves and questions about the …
Students are confronted with a variety of bivalves and questions about the meaning of shell form for each. Some specimens will be accompanied by pictures providing background material. This is an interactive exercise, with the instructor providing assistance with hints and helpful questions. Answers are provided on the powerpoint slides. Instructors will have somewhat different specimens than are employed here and may not be able to duplicate all parts of the exercise.
At the start of the activity, the instructor will explain that studies of functional morphology, leading to reconstruction of life habits, is essential to paleoecological research and to interpretation of the biological significance of evolutionary trends. An example of each is to be provided.
Students will explain the logic by which, with or without the aid of the instructor, they have arrived at their conclusions, .
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The goal of this lab session is to introduce you to the …
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 is a lab activity in which small groups of students work …
This is a lab activity in which small groups of students work with maps, rocks, photographs of volcanic deposits, and textual data to construct a hazard map and a risk communication plan for a specific volcano. Each group is assigned a "volcano scenario," which is based on real volcanoes.
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Using the Laetoli Footprints, students will explore how scientists use current patterns …
Using the Laetoli Footprints, students will explore how scientists use current patterns to understand the past. Students will answer the questions: What do the footprints tell us? How do scientists find that out? Students will measure and correlate their foot lengths and body heights and use that data to estimate the height of the Laetoli hominid.
Students use a small stream table in groups to investigate how channel …
Students use a small stream table in groups to investigate how channel form determines the shape of the hydrograph (including lag to peak). They use three channels: no channel (just sediment filling the table), a "concrete" channel (straight, no sediment on bottom), and a meandering channel. All channels get the same water input and students measure the amount of water that comes out to make a hydrograph. This gives students a chance to model a flood pulse moving through different channels to see how anthropogenic changes to rivers, such as channelizing them, alters flood hydrology. It specifically models an outburst flood from a dam release or burst, but is basically modeling any pulse of water moving through a system.
Students use the modeling program STELLA to see what combinations of runoff …
Students use the modeling program STELLA to see what combinations of runoff and evaporation might have lead to Pleistocene lake level oscillations in California's Owens River system.
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Stratified lakes exhibit vertical gradients in organisms, nutrients, and oxygen, which have …
Stratified lakes exhibit vertical gradients in organisms, nutrients, and oxygen, which have important implications for ecosystem structure and functioning. Mixing disrupts these gradients by redistributing these materials throughout the water column. Consequently, it is critical to understand the drivers of lake mixing and thermal stratification, especially because of the sensitivity of lake thermal conditions to altered climate. In this module, students will explore spatial and temporal patterns of lake mixing using high-frequency temperature data from lakes around the world. They will also explore how increases in air temperature affect thermal stratification by interpreting output from a lake model. Project EDDIE modules are designed with an A-B-C structure to make them flexible and adaptable to a range of student levels and course structures.
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This lab exercise is intended to introduce students to the fundamentals of …
This lab exercise is intended to introduce students to the fundamentals of GIS as part of two - three hour lab periods. The exercise provides experience with GIS software as part of a spatial analysis exercise. Students map water quality data and compare these results with land use within the Androscoggin River Watershed.
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Working collaboratively, groups of students [3-4]develop hypotheses addressing the paleotopography of a …
Working collaboratively, groups of students [3-4]develop hypotheses addressing the paleotopography of a Miocene river channel [Table Mountain Latite] and processes that have resulted in its current topographic expression. Students use observations/data gained from topographic maps [Sonora, Keystone, Melones Dam and Knight's Ferry 7.5 minute quadrangles], San Francisco-San Jose Regional Geological Map, aerial photos, and Google Earth [120 39 01W; 37 48 15N to 120 26 17W; 37 57 36N]. Using PowerPoint, students present and defend their hypotheses and plans for further research during the final week of the semester. Designed for a geomorphology course
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Students create a STELLA model of two marine terrace platforms separated in …
Students create a STELLA model of two marine terrace platforms separated in elevation by a cliff, using the hillslope flux equation to simulate the change in the cliff face over time as diffusive processes tear it down.
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Students are assigned to read one of the three papers on tectonic …
Students are assigned to read one of the three papers on tectonic geomorphology (landscape evolution) published by Nature in 2003 (Burbank et al., Dadson et al., and Reiners et al.). All also read the editorial by Molnar from the same issue. They work with others who read the same paper to understand the paper and then jigsaw into new groups to discuss the similarities and differences between the papers and to see if they can come to any conclusions about major drivers on landscape evolution. This activity has them work on multiple levels of Blooms Taxonomy - they read and understand a paper, analyze the results of the paper, and then evaluate the paper in the context of two other papers presented by peers.
Students utilize digital data of areas they previously explored using traditional topographic …
Students utilize digital data of areas they previously explored using traditional topographic map techniques. This assignment allows students to evaluate prior assumptions about spatial relationships while learning basic GIS tools.
In this assignment students model different scenarios of landscape evolution using an …
In this assignment students model different scenarios of landscape evolution using an on-line landscape evolution model. The assignment takes them through several situations involving changes in commonly modeled landscape variables like overland flow, faulting and uplift, erosivity, and drainage incision. At the end I have students devise a situation (of variables) that tests a hypothesis or the sensitivity of the model to changes in a variable. Designed for a geomorphology course Uses online and/or real-time data
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The first lab for an online introductory soils course for non-majors, this …
The first lab for an online introductory soils course for non-majors, this lab introduces students to landscapes and spatial patterns using Google Earth. In addition to learning to navigate in the imagery software, students re-learn or learn simple landscape parameter calculations like slope and area.
soils, landscape, aerial imagery, online
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In this project students will first research the landslide-prone Seattle area using …
In this project students will first research the landslide-prone Seattle area using provided websites to gather background and perspective for the second part of the assignment. In the second part of the assignment students evaluate several actual properties in the Seattle area using a city government website that utilizes the GIS mapping system. Following their use of the online map and other suggested resources they will rank the properties in order of relative landslide hazard and provide a written evaluation of their rankings.
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