Unit 1: Introducing Shallow Seismology to Explore Our Subsurface Environment part of Measuring Depth to Bedrock Using Seismic Refraction
This introductory unit is designed to provide a standalone introduction to geophysical imaging of the shallow subsurface, motivate students to become invested in the topic, provide career context for these ...

Unit 4: Using SoilWebTMto Investigate the Soil Beneath You part of A Growing Concern
Students will use SoilWeb™, a smartphone and web application that pulls detailed soil survey data from both the 1:24,0000 Soil Survey Geographic database (SSURGO) and the 1:250,000 scale State Soil Geographic ...

Volume of oceans, and sea-level variations part of Teaching Computation with MATLAB:Teaching with MATLAB 2015:Teaching Activities
The activity combines aspects of Earth science (volume of oceans and ice sheets) with calculus (area of a 1x1 degree tile) and Matlab programming. Students calculate the volume of oceans and of ice sheets given the ...

Using Autocorrelation and Cross-correlation to Explore Links Between River Discharge and Regional Climate part of Teaching Computation with MATLAB:Teaching with MATLAB 2015:Teaching Activities
Students conduct autocorrelation and cross-correlation analyses on river discharge and climate indices to test the hypothesis that coastal streams draining mountainous terrain are strong indicators of climatic ...

Using Univariate Statistics to Understand Regional Drainage Patterns part of Teaching Computation with MATLAB:Teaching with MATLAB 2015:Teaching Activities
In this activity, students use MATLAB to compare two data sets of organic matter content in order to provide quantitative evidence that tests the null hypothesis that sediment samples have the same fluvial source. ...

Watershed area and discharge relationships part of Hydrogeology:Hydrogeology, Soils, Geochemistry 2013:Activities
Students use USGS WaterData website to find data on area, average annual discharge and response to high-precip events in small watersheds in southern New England. Data for the class are compiled to generate graphs ...

Using Excel to plot numerical and analytical forms of the diffusion equation part of Early Career:Previous Workshops:Workshop 2010:Teaching Activities
This computer-based assignment forces students to compare and contrast integral and differential forms of the conservation of mass equation, as well as analytical and numerical approaches to solution. Students are ...

Determining Mantle Temperature and Composition from Discontinuities part of Deep Earth:Activities
This pair of activities uses observations of mantle discontinuity structure to examine mantle heterogeneity and differences in the depth extent of melt sources for ridges and "hotspots." The first ...

Transform Boundary Investigation part of Teach the Earth:Teaching Activities
Students will conduct experiments (or watch videos of the experiment in the online version) to measure interseismic intervals and offset during slip on simple block models. They will compare their findings with ...

Unit 2: How Seismic Waves Travel Through the Ground part of Measuring Depth to Bedrock Using Seismic Refraction
This unit presents core underlying principles needed to understand refraction seismology concepts including refraction of rays, types of seismic waves, interpreting information about subsurface materials from ...

Working with Electron Microprobe Data from a High Pressure Experiment - Calculating Mineral Formulas, Unit Cell Content, and Geothermometry part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
In this problem set students use electron microprobe analyses of a peridotite partial melting experiment to determine mineral formulas, calculate unit cell content, plot results on a classification diagram, and use ...

Using GIS to estimate the volume of snow and water in a drainage basin part of GIS and Remote Sensing:Activities2
Todd Rayne, Hamilton College Summary This activity uses field measurements and GIS to estimate the volume of water in the form of snow in a field site. Context Type and level of course I use this in a ...

Using a Mass Balance Model to Understand Carbon Dioxide and its Connection to Global Warming part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Students explore the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 40 years with an interactive on-line model.

Compositional Diversity in Volcanic Suites part of Integrating Research and Education:EarthChem:Compositional Diversity in Volcanic Suites
Kent Ratajeski Published Oct. 26, 2004. Description In this exercise, students use whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions of volcanic rocks to explore the origins of compositional variation in igneous ...

Igneous Rock Compositions and Plate Tectonics part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
In this exercise, students use whole-rock major- and trace-element compositions of igneous rocks from a variety of tectonic settings and locations to explore the importance of plate setting in determining magma ...

Investigation of micropaleontological and paleomagnetic data part of Paleontology:Activities
Micropaleontological and paleomagnetic data are investigated to construct an integrated biomagnetostratigrahic age model for an Ocean Drilling Program site. Investigation emphasizes the complementary nature of ...

Wooster Case Study - Capture Curve Analysis part of Hydrogeology:Activities
This Excel based exercise has students calculate the shape of the capture zone of a contaminant recovery well. Students perform a sensitivity analysis by varying aquifer and pumping parameters to observe the impact ...

Quantifying Groundwater Baseflow and Improving Math Skills through a Stream-Discharge Exercise part of Hydrogeology:Activities
A two-part exercise is presented where students quantify stream discharge and use the data to determine groundwater baseflow. They first use tedious hand calculations to compute discharge; then develop their own ...

Flood Frequency Analysis part of Environmental Geology:Activities
This assignment asks students to do a flood frequency analysis to determine the size and stage of various floods and determine if the town of Crawford, OH is likely to be flooded or not. Outcomes: learn to work ...

An Isograd and Mixed-Volatile Exercise Using Data from the Ubehebe Peak Contact Aureole part of Petrology:Teaching Examples
This is a problem set for an introductory or advanced petrology course. It uses field data to help teach the determination and balancing of mixed-volatile reactions and locating isograds in siliceous dolomites in a ...