This short interactive activity has learners to manipulate fault blocks to better understand different types of earthquake-generating faults in different tectonic settings--extensional, convergent, and strike-slip. Fault models aid in visualizing and understanding faulting and plate motions because the instructor and their students can manipulate a three-dimensional model for a true hands-on experience.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This exercise is based on the information presented in following article:

Bull, W.B., 1984, Tectonic Geomorphology: Journal of Geological Education 32, pp.310-324.

To prepare for the classroom exercise, the instructor briefly presents the concept that measurable landform properties can reflect the intensity of tectonic activity. We discuss that certain landforms and settings are particularly useful in these types of analyses, for example, fault-bounded mountains and piedmonts. The class goes through a quick review of dip-slip faults, fault scarps, and triangular facets, and the Tobin Range is introduced as a typical example of a fault-bounded mountain range. We then ask the question, what are the useful characteristics of these settings in terms of inferring tectonic activity?

To address the question, students work in groups of 2 or 3. Each group is given a set of topographic maps chosen from the following (the region can also be printed from CDs of digital, seamless topo.s, but the quad. names are provided for reference):

7.5 minute quad.s: Home Station Ranch , Jersey Summit , Kennedy Canyon, Mount Tobin , Needle Peak

15-minute quad.s: Mt. Tobin, Buffalo Springs, Cain Mountain

On each map set, two lengths along the fault scarps are marked. One is marked in red and one in purple. Each student group has a map set of a slightly different region, but all map sets have a red fault scarp and a purple fault scarp marked. The red fault scarps in all of the sets are those that have experienced more recent displacement.

Each group is asked to do the following:

1. List physical characteristics of each of the two fault-bounded mountains/piedmonts that are marked on your quad.s with different colors.

2. Decide among yourselves which fault-bounded mountains/piedmont has experienced more recent displacement.

3. Suggest morphometric properties that could be used to differentiate between the more recent and less recent displacement, and explain why each of your properties makes sense. Morphometric properties must be measurable from the topographic maps.

After about 10 minutes, the class reconvenes and we go through the first two questions as a class. Then, each group presents at least one morphometric property and explains their reasoning.

Once we have a list of properties that the class agrees on, the instructor presents and the class discusses the properties that Bull (1984) used in his research of the Tobin Range region, such as sinuosity, the ratio between the valley floor width and the total valley height, the development of triangular facets.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students interpret data on the faults at Delphi, evaluate the tectonic context of the faults, and explore the proposed connection between faults and the Delphic Oracle of Ancient Greece.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This activity utilized Visible Geology and Google Earth to help students understand the limitations of using map-view observations of layer offset to interpret types of faulting. Students create and evaluate three fault models in Visible Geology, and compare their results to actual fault offset patterns seen near Las Vegas Bay, NV.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

There are many localities throughout the world where waulsortian mounds have been identified. These mounds are believed to build up through faunal and carbonate mud deposition in areas outside the temperature/latitudinal/salinity realm of coral formation. Students will analyze the mounds to determine whether or not they believe the mounds are waulsortian and discuss possible depositional environments for the mounds in either case. After samples have been collected and described lithologically and faunally, the students will write a report on their findings and conclude with an answer to the question, "Are these waulsortian mounds?"

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This assignment requires students to use analogical reasoning to identify the key attributes, the causal structure, that make a feedback loop positive (by amplifying/accelerating the effect) or negative (by moderating/dampening the effect).

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students apply the vocabulary and concepts from the Activity 9: Feedback Loop Introduction to assess and create earth science feedback loops with the LOOPY online modeling program. (Optional) The students then engage in a discussion of the limitations of the LOOPY program to create feedback loop diagrams.

Students are introduced to feedback loop vocabulary and experiment with different relationships between reservoirs in simple feedback loops using LOOPY, a free, online modeling program.

This lab uses the remote operation of an Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) available through the Florida Center for Analytical Electron Microscopy (FCAEM; https://fcaem.fiu.edu/), at Florida International University, Miami, to explore feldspar mineral chemistry. This lab explores detailed mineral chemistry, data normalization, and plotting compositional ranges on ternary diagrams suitable as an introductory assignment in a Mineralogy, Earth Materials, or Petrology course. This instructor-led interactive demonstration of remote Electron Microprobe use introduces students to microprobe analysis, x-ray analytical techniques, standardization, image analysis, normalization, mineral formulas and composition. The instructor can acquire images (optional) of samples containing feldspar (provided by FCAEM or instructor's samples) then select multiple points for analysis. This activity captivates student's attention and provides a hands-on instrument-led approach to introducing undergraduate students to chemical analysis and vital concepts in mineralogy and petrology.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Geologists use the term "feldspar" to refer either to a specific mineral or to a group of minerals with similar compositions and atomic structures. All of them are silicate minerals, and together they make up more than half of Earth's crust. Yet even within this closely related group, separate minerals may look very different. One way to recognize their similarity is to determine their physical properties and study their chemical formulas. Another way is to plot their compositions using a triangle diagram. Triangle diagrams allow plotting three coordinates on a planar graph if the values add up to 100%. These characteristics make triangle diagrams convenient for visualizing compositional data.
Student materials for this exercise include a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with with data for alkali, plagioclase, and barium-bearing feldspars and an image file illustrating physical properties (PDF), as well as the instruction sheet. The exercise is divided into three parts.
Part I introduces the concept of a triangle or ternary diagram for plotting data described by three coordinates. Students learn how to read coordinates on such a graph and to describe points, lines, and areas.
In Part II, students work with either actual specimens provided by the instructor or images in the PDF to determine certain properties (color, hardness, cleavage, and striations) of three feldspars (orthoclase, albite, and anorthite). They name the samples and then follow an example to deduce the chemical formulas of these minerals. Finally, they apply knowledge from Part I to develop the classic K-Na-Ca feldspar triangle.
Part III involves working with barium-bearing feldspars including albite, orthoclase, hyalophane, and the pure Ba end member celsian. Students first verify the chemical formulas for the two new feldspars using the concept of charge balance. Then, they interpret a K-Na-Ba triangle diagram by relating compositional data to the four feldspars.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This exercise introduces students to the concept of temporal and spatial fidelity, to the different types of fossil assemblages, and how the taphonomic characteristics of an assemblage can be used to assess the relative state of fidelity. The exercise is suitable when introducing the discipline of taphonomy, typically covered near the beginning of a course in paleontology or paleobiology.

Because most universities lack appropriate collections of fossils, particularly collections from assemblages with unusual states of preservation, this exercise provides digital images of fossils from a Middle Devonian obrution deposit (or smothered assemblage) found within thin bedded limestones of the Hamilton Group of western New York State.

Students are asked to make predictions concerning the relative states of preservation likely to be found in life assemblages (biocoenoses) and death assemblages (thanatocoenoses and taphocoenoses). A biocoenosis is an assemblage that contains virtually all of the species that existed when the community was alive. A thanatocoenosis is a death assemblage where all the fossils represented existed within the community, but not all community members are present as fossils (species are missing). Finally, a taphocoenosis is an assemblage where not all species present in the community are represented as fossils, and not all the fossil species within the assemblage lived in the community (i.e., there is temporal or spatial mixing). Students are then presented with a PowerPoint presentation of the Hamilton Group strata, the limestones possessing the unusual fossil assemblage, and finally images of fossils with their preservational characteristics highlighted. The slides are annotated to provide observational descriptions and not interpretations. The exercise works best with students working in small groups with each group supplied with a laptop containing the PowerPoint presentation. Finally, each group is asked to interpret the assemblage type represented (bio-, thanato-, or taphocoenosis) and present a cogent argument citing supportive preservational evidence. (Because the assemblage is created through obrution, the assemblage is correctly interpreted as a thanatocoenosis â the fossils present were found within the community with many individuals preserved in life position and with behaviors represented; not all species in the community, however, are preserved as fossils.)

If time allows, students could be asked to make predictions concerning the preservational characteristics expected for each assemblage type in advance of the exercise. (A table is attached that I use to help frame their predictions.) Their interpretation and evidential argument could be written up as a short essay. I've asked students to do this individually and other times as a collaborative writing assignment for the group.

Once the correct assemblage interpretation is revealed to the students, they could be asked to speculate about the mechanism leading to this style of preservation (i.e., recognizing it as an obrution deposit). A few figures are provided that are helpful in explaining obrution.

The following files are uploaded as supportive teaching materials:
1. Discussion Assemblage Types.doc: Notes to guide a discussion to acquire predictions for taphonomic characteristics for each assemblage type.
2. Fossil Assemblages Exercise.ppt: PowerPoint presentation that describes the unknown fossil assemblage.
3. Exercise Assemblage Fidelity Assignment.doc: The handout provided students describing the exercise.
4. Obrution Deposits.ppt: PowerPoint presentation explaining obrution deposits.

In a field investigation to Interstate State Park, students determine lava flow boundaries and observe an ancient rift valley. They also examine differential erosion rates that create a waterfall, and examine the local basalts for evidence of glaciation, including the world-famous potholes.

This exercise consisted of a five-hour field exercise and subsequent data analysis. In the field, students made individual observation, participated in discussions of evidence, and collected group field data. Data analysis consisted of calculations of sediment yields, channel slopes, and erosive power.
Designed for a geomorphology course
Addresses student fear of quantitative aspect and/or inadequate quantitative skills

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This exercise focuses on field observation and analysis of a debris flow that occurred near our campus in 2002. The strengths of the exercise are its emphasis on field observation, data collection, and synthesis of evidence.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Sed/Paleo field studies seek to understand the evolution of depositional environments and their life/ecology through time. Students develop paleoecological hypotheses of community paleoecology in the Miocene Choptank Formation and test hypotheses through field data gathering and computer-based analysis. By measuring morphological characters, gathering paleo-community assemblage data, and recording predator-prey and colonization occurrences, students gain collaborative research experience toward defined research goals. Computer applications of data analysis techniques and reports of findings complete the project as a full practice of how field-based science may be conducted in the discipline.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This is a field guide with road log to the classic Barrovian sequence in Dutchess County, New York. The field trip starts near Poughkeepsie, NY, and ends near the Connecticut border. The guide will lead you to key outcrops starting at the protolith, with one stop each in the chlorite, biotite, garnet, lower staurolite, upper staurolite, kyanite, sillimanite, and silimanite-kspar zones in the regionally metamorphosed pelitic sequence. Files include the road log with stop locations and descriptions, a regional map, and Google Earth .kmz file.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

Students collect from two Devonian field sites. Each student works on their own collections; each genus is identified (and detailed sketches made), preservation noted, relative abundance reported; together with lithological information students are able to ascertain the mode of life of the fossils, and ascertain the depositional environment and whether these are life or death assemblages. The lab addresses the two 'content goals' of the course: assessing mode of life of an organism and determining the paleoenvironmental context.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

The assignments consists of three essay questions, of which the students were required to complete two of their choice. During a trip to the Field Museum, Chicago, the students were required to use the museum exhibits to explore the questions posed in the assignment. The main goal was to familiarize the students with using museums as a resource, as well as use observation-based techniques of specimens to answer scientific questions.

Field Notes provides instructors with helpful tips for a successful field trip. The tips include a well-developed literature review for designing and assessing field trips.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)

This activity requires students to locate local examples of physical and chemical weathering, as well mass wasting, for which they must identify the type of process involved and describe the resulting effects on landform development. The students must write up their observations in a brief, written report using a technical writing style, which must include labeled photographs and sketches that support their observations and descriptions.

(Note: this resource was added to OER Commons as part of a batch upload of over 2,200 records. If you notice an issue with the quality of the metadata, please let us know by using the 'report' button and we will flag it for consideration.)