In this unit, students will design a survey (TLS and/or SfM) of a fault scarp. After conducting the survey in the field, students will analyze the data to identify the number and magnitude of possible fault displacement(s) by measuring offsets in the point cloud as well as calculate the recurrence interval of the fault based on either a known age or scarp morphometric age (or both). The goal is to create a brief report summarizing the methods used and Quaternary history of displacements on the fault. An optional extension exercise (Unit 3.5) has the students conduct a hillslope diffusion analysis is using MATLAB. Fault scarps are the topographic evidence of earthquakes large and shallow enough to break the ground surface, and are evidence of Quaternary fault activity. A primary goal of studying exposed scarps is to gain insight into the magnitude and frequency of fault slip. Scarps typically begin as step-shaped landforms and deteriorate with age through erosion. In some cases, the form of the scarp may record evidence of more than one earthquake, distinguished by a change in scarp slope. Assuming the same surface processes, the relative age of fault scarps can be determined by their morphology (shape).

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This unit provides essential background information on GPS (global positioning system) and reference frames. Students learn how to access GPS location and velocity data from the Network of the Americas (NOTA). They calculate total horizontal motion graphically and mathematically and tie the observed motions to local strain.

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Note: Although the term GPS (Global Positioning System) is more commonly used in everyday language, it officially refers only to the USA's constellation of satellites. GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is a universal term that refers to all satellite navigation systems including those from the USA (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), European Union (Galileo), China (BeiDou), and others. In this module, we use the term GPS even though, technically, some of the data may be coming from satellites in other systems.

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Online-ready: The exercise is electronic (including accessing an online data portal) and could be done individually or in small online groups. Lecture can be done in synchronous or asynchronous online format.

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Students work in small groups to examine data and videos of earthquakes, submarine volcanic eruptions, and black smokers at submarine divergent plate boundaries, and then predict similar processes at subaerial divergent plate boundaries. The culminating activity has students use Google Earth to examine data for each plate boundary, connect seismic data with volcanic events to make connections between the style and scale of volcanic eruptions and seismic activity, and the resulting morphology of divergent plate boundaries. Data sets will include Google Earth, Smithsonian GVN, NOAA, USGS, and written accounts.

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How can we tell what style of faulting was responsible for a particular earthquake? Especially in cases where there is limited instrumentation in a region, or where geologists have difficulty accessing the affected areas? What if the fault responsible does not break the surface? In this unit, we will show how modern space geodesy allows us to measure movements of Earth's surface over wide areas without the need to visit the region in question, and we will demonstrate the various Earth processes that we are able to measure and monitor in this way. Specifically, we will show how a technique known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has revolutionized our ability to study earthquakes on the continents, by allowing us to measure where, over what spatial extent, how far, and in what direction, earthquakes have caused the ground to move.

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Students work with GPS velocity data from three stations in the same region that form an acute triangle. By investigating how the ellipse inscribed within this triangle deforms, students learn about strain, strain ellipses, GPS, and how to tie these to regional geology and ongoing hazards. This unit contains the primary infinitesimal strain analysis for the module. After the instructor demonstrates the method using data from Japan, students investigate three different GPS station triangles in three difference tectonic regimes: convergent (U.S. Pacific Northwest), extensional (Wasatch fault, Utah), and strike-slip (San Andreas Fault, California).

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Note: Although the term GPS (Global Positioning System) is more commonly used in everyday language, it officially refers only to the USA's constellation of satellites. GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is a universal term that refers to all satellite navigation systems including those from the USA (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), European Union (Galileo), China (BeiDou), and others. In this module, we use the term GPS even though, technically, some of the data may be coming from satellites in other systems.

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Online-ready: The exercise is electronic (including accessing an online data portal) and could be done individually or in small online groups. Lecture can be done in synchronous or asynchronous online format.

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Volcanoes typically give warning that they are coming out of dormancy and entering an eruptive phase. Being able to recognize those warning signs and take appropriate actions (e.g. evacuations) are important strategies for mitigating risk due to volcanic eruptions. In this activity, students document and interpret ground deformation and seismic activity associated with the 2010 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, from its pre-eruption dormancy, through precursor activity, through the eruption and back into dormancy. Students learn how to recognize data characteristic of an imminent eruption and discover the time frame of precursor activity.

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How are different types of earthquakes represented in InSAR data? How can we obtain detailed information on the earthquake source from InSAR data? How well can we resolve those details? In this unit, students investigate how simple elastic dislocation models can be matched to interferograms of earthquakes, and the various geometrical and surficial factors that can affect that process.

Notice Oct 5, 2020: the Visible Earthquakes tool was unavailable for the last couple weeks but is now online again at https://visible-earthquakes.appspot.com. Thank you for your patience.

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The 2014 South Napa earthquake was the first large earthquake (Mag 6) to occur within the Plate Boundary Observatory GPS network since installation. It provides an excellent example for studying crustal strain associated with the earthquake cycle of a strike-slip fault with clear societal relevance. The largest earthquake in the California Bay Area in twenty-five years, the South Napa earthquake caused hundreds of injuries and more than $400 million in damages. This activity uses a single triangle of GPS stations (P198, P200, SVIN), located to the west of the earthquake epicenter, to estimate both the interseismic strain rate and coseismic strain. By the end of the exercise, the students also have direct evidence that considering the recurrence interval on a single fault, which is part of a larger system, is not reasonable. An extension option gives the opportunity to discuss earthquake early warning systems.

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Note: Although the term GPS (Global Positioning System) is more commonly used in everyday language, it officially refers only to the USA's constellation of satellites. GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is a universal term that refers to all satellite navigation systems including those from the USA (GPS), Russia (GLONASS), European Union (Galileo), China (BeiDou), and others. In this module, we use the term GPS even though, technically, some of the data may be coming from satellites in other systems.

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Online-ready: The exercise is electronic (including accessing an online data portal) and could be done individually or in small online groups. Lecture can be done in synchronous or asynchronous online format.

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In this two-day activity, students monitor an evolving volcanic crisis at a convergent plate boundary (Cascadia). Using monitoring data and geologic hazard maps, students make a series of forecasts for the impending eruption and associated risks. By the end of the activity, students will have learned the outcome of the eruption and assess the impacts of the eruption of Mount Rainier on specific locations around the volcano.
This unit begins by having students examine past volcanic eruptions at Mount St. Helens, associated with the Cascadia convergent plate boundary, through firsthand accounts by United States Geological Survey (USGS) personnel who describe their work monitoring the geologic activity and some associated impacts. During class on the first day (Unit 5), students will begin working in small groups to interpret one of three data sets used to monitor volcanic activity (seismic, gas and ash emissions, and tilt). During prework and in-class activities for day 2 (Unit 6), students will update their predictions by combining information from all three data sets in mixed groups in which students act as "experts" for a particular data set. The exercise culminates with students assessing the impacts of a simulated volcanic eruption at their assigned locations.

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Unit 5 is a final exercise that can start during a lab period and carry over into work outside of the lab time. The project report will test students' abilities to synthesize and apply knowledge related to LiDAR, InSAR, and infrastructure analysis learned in earlier units of the module. Data are provided for two potential case study sites for the final report -- El Major Cucapah Earthquake (Mexico 2010) and South Napa Earthquake (California 2014). Alternatively, the instructor or students can choose other sites to analyze. Unit 5, along with an exam question, is the summative assessment for the module. Students will be able to use the experience as a means of preparing for a final exam question on a related topic.

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Unit 5 is the summative assessment for the module. This final exercise takes eight to ten hours. The exercise evaluates students' developed skills in survey design, execution of a geodetic survey, and simple data exploration and analysis. This summative assessment is written flexibly so that it can be applied to a variety of potential field sites and associated geoscience research questions. The unit has two parts, like most of the units in the module: Part 1, Geodetic Survey; and Part 2, Data Exploration. In addition, there is an optional Part 3, Data Processing, for students who have done Unit 4. This unit also has a number of prepared data sets for courses not able to collect field data.

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Students select their own set of three stations in an area of interest to them, conduct a strain analysis of the area between the stations, and tie the findings to regional tectonics and societal impacts in a 5 -- 7 minute class presentation. For many students this is their first foray into "research" and can be a powerfully eye-opening and exciting (if intimidating) experience. In larger classes, students can work in pairs to shorten total time needed for presentations. Unit 6, along with exam question/s, is the Summative Assessment for the module.

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In this two-day activity, students monitor a simulated evolving volcanic crisis at a convergent plate boundary (Cascadia). Using monitoring data and geologic hazard maps, students make a series of forecasts for the impending eruption and associated risks. By the end of the activity, students will have learned the outcome of the eruption and assess the impacts of the eruption of Mount Rainier on specific locations around the volcano.
This unit is a continuation of Unit 5, in which students analyzed simulated pre-eruption seismic, tilt, and gas emission data. In this, the second day of the simulation, students update their eruption forecasts based on new data (in the prework) and then (in groups in class) by combining information from multiple data sets. In class, each group assesses the vulnerability of one or more assigned locations near Mount Rainier. The exercise culminates with students assessing the impacts of the simulated eruption at their assigned locations.

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In this session we will examine how to utilize Dynamic Digital Maps (DDMs) in undergraduate petrology courses to bring inaccessible and exciting volcanic field areas to the students in the classroom and to engage the students in authentic research experiences. A DDM is a stand-alone "presentation manager" computer program that contains interactive maps, analytical data, digital images and movies. They are essentially complete geologic maps in digital format, available on CD-ROM and on line. We have developed two different kinds of exercises that use DDMs to provide field-based context for undergraduate research projects in petrology. In one, the students use the DDM of the Tatara-San Pedro volcanic complex of the Andes Mountains of central Chile to develop a group research poster on part of the volcano's evolution, to present to the class, modeled after what would be presented at a national meeting. The second exercise focuses on the Springville Volcanic field, where the students try to understand the magma evolution using both field relations and quantitative modeling skills.
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Read a complete description of how dynamic digital maps work, with more ideas for the classroom. (from Teaching with Data, Simulations and Models)

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Before class, students complete a homework assignment that familiarizes them with accessing and downloading Mars THEMIS images and in which they download images of normal faults in the Ceraunius Fossae of northern Tharsis. In class, I start with a short discussion about how THEMIS images are obtained, why the images are in strips, what resolution means, and so on. Students then examine their Mars images and identify normal fault features. Students determine the range of graben widths and then calculate throw for one fault using shadow width to calculate graben depth. Students then calculate heave for the same fault, assuming a fault dip of 60Â. Students then do a back-of-the-envelope calculate to estimate crustal extension along a line across several graben. Students finish the activity by considering the impact of their assumptions on their results and evaluate the validity of their back-of-the-envelope calculation of extension. At the very end, we look at research results from several studies that have carefully calculated extension in Ceraunius Fossae.

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Prior to tackling this assignment, students have been out in the field at a series of outcrops in eastern New York and western Vermont, where they have made observations, collected data, and taken notes as concept sketches. A concept sketch has a central graphic (in this case, a field sketch done by the students) surrounded by concept captions that convey the observations made, plus data collected, and the interpretations of those observations. Because many of my students still struggle to separate observations and interpretations, I commonly have them underline their observations in one color and their interpretations in another. Concept sketches are an outstanding way to have students take notes in the field because they have to decide what to illustrate in order to convey the points that they want to make. In the downloads under "Teaching materials and tips" below, you can download more information about concept sketches.

After returning from the field, students put together a set of concept sketches that convey not only their field observations and interpretations but that also integrate thin sections and a regional tectonic model. Students have the option of using field photos in their concept sketches, and I also provide photomicrographs and plate tectonic block models for them to incorporate. Students also make a concept sketch from their cross sections, with concept captions that provide evidence for their subsurface interpretations. Each student also writes a brief introduction providing the context for their set of concept sketches.

In the past, I have had students write illustrated field reports or field guides based on their field work, but I have found that I learn much more about what students have learned and their abilities to explain it by reading through their concept sketches. These concept sketch collections are also MUCH faster to grade than pages of text with the occasional figure!

I have also been struck by the fact that my students' concept sketches convey the sense that they are really anxious to show me what they learned in the field. In the download at the bottom of this web page, I have included scans of some of their concept sketches at the end of the actual assignment. Please note that most of them were originally done on 11x17 size paper.

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For the assignment, the students are given a series of placemarks in Google Earth. Using Google Earth, the students 'fly' to various areas around the world. They examine the landforms at each placemark and answer questions regarding the formation of these features.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Uses online and/or real-time data
Has minimal/no quantitative component

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This screenshot shows the Fiji subduction zone, one of the featured convergent margins in this visualization. The visualization shows how earthquakes at this margin occur at depth, and define the slope of the subducting plate. This visualization also includes other examples of subduction zones and continental convergent margins (Himalayas). Click the image to enlarge or view the MP4 movie (MP4 Video 30.3MB Dec20 11). The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the distribution and characteristics of earthquakes associated with convergent plate boundaries. Students will learn about how the magnitude and distribution of earthquakes at convergent boundaries are related to processes that occur at these boundaries and to the geometry and position of the two converging plates. Because the depth of earthquakes can be difficult for students to visualize in 2D representations, this activity allows students to visualize the 3D distribution of earthquakes within Earth's surface, which is essential for understanding how different types of earthquakes occur in different tectonic settings. Locations featured in the visualization include the Chile-Peru Subduction Zone, the Aleutian Islands, the Fiji Subeuction Zone, and the Himalayas. Talking points and questions are included to use this visualization as part of an interactive lecture. In addition to playing back the visualization, instructors can also download the visualization software and data set and explore it themselves.

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This screenshot from the visualization shows both continental rift zones, and ocean spreading centers, both types of divergent plate boundaries. The visualization shows how earthquakes at all types of divergent margins are shallow and have a low-magnitude. Click the image to enlarge or view the MP4 movie (MP4 Video 79.3MB Aug22 11).The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the distribution and characteristics of earthquakes associated with divergent plate boundaries. Students will learn about how the magnitude and distribution of earthquakes at divergent boundaries are related to processes that occur at these boundaries and to the geometry and position of the two diverging plates. Because the depth of earthquakes can be difficult for students to visualize in 2D representations, this activity allows students to visualize the 3D distribution of earthquakes within Earth's surface, which is essential for understanding how different types of earthquakes occur in different tectonic settings. Locations featured in the visualization include the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the East Pacific Rise, and the East African Rift Zone. Talking points and questions are included to facilitate using this visualization as part of an interactive lecture. In addition to playing back the visualization, instructors can also download the visualization software and data set and explore it themselves.

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This screenshot from this visualization shows a map of tectonic plate boundaries. The visualization transitions between global earthquake distribution to a map of plate boundaries, to clearly illustrate how they are related. This visualization also includes an overview of the distribution and magnitude of earthquakes at different types of plate boundaries. Click the image to enlarge or view the MP4 movie ( PRIVATE FILE 31.1MB Jul27 11). The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the distribution of earthquakes at and below the surface of earth and how their distribution is related to the geometry and type of plate boundaries. Because the depth of earthquakes can be difficult for students to visualize in 2D representations, this activity allows students to visualize the 3D distribution of earthquakes within Earth's surface, which is essential for understanding how different types of earthquakes occur in different tectonic settings. Talking points and questions are included to use this visualization as part of an interactive lecture. In addition to playing back the visualization, instructors can also download the visualization software and data set and explore it themselves.

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