"Graveyard Lab"
This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Peer Reviewed Teaching Activities collection.
HideSummary
Because there is not a lot of surface structure to map in glacial terranes of the midwest, especially in big cities, various simulations can help. This is a "big-city" simulation of making a geologic map and interpreting the structure of a small area (a cemetery) by measuring the strike and dip of gravestones. This field activity is followed by lab work, including plotting the attitudes on stereonets and interpreting the patterns.
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Context
Audience
This is an undergraduate required course in structural geology. It is not a typical structural geology course, because Math pre-requisites are remedial only, and Mineralogy is also not a pre-requisite. The title of the course is Geologic Structures and Map Interpretation.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
They must know how to use the Brunton compass to measure strike and dip, and they must know how to plot on the equal-area stereonet.
How the activity is situated in the course
This is an end of a sequence of exercises which include use of the Brunton compass, as well as practice with the stereonet (two stereonet labs).
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
deformation mechanisms
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Analyzing data, formulating hypotheses
Other skills goals for this activity
Working in groups of two in the field and in the lab.
Practicing Brunton and stereonet skills.
Practicing Brunton and stereonet skills.
Description and Teaching Materials
Teaching Notes and Tips
Assessment
Field notebook, geologic map production, and stereonet analysis with written interpretation.