Rocks, Weathering, and Erosional Landscapes

Dr. Lindley Hanson

Salem State College

This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection and has been reviewed by 1 other review process

This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection

Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as "Exemplary" in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
This activity has benefited from input from faculty educators beyond the author through a review and suggestion process. This review took place as a part of a faculty professional development workshop where groups of faculty reviewed each others' activities and offered feedback and ideas for improvements. To learn more about the process On the Cutting Edge uses for activity review, see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.

This page first made public: Apr 30, 2008

Summary

Students will identify a variety of silicate minerals and rocks and relate them to their topographic expression according to relative resistance.

Landscape Evolution | College Lower (13-14)

Expand for more detail and links to related resources

Used this activity? Share your experiences and modifications

Context

Audience

Introductory geomorphology course for second year students. The only prerequisite is physical geology.

Skills and concepts that students must have mastered

They should have retained from their introductory geology course a basic knowledge of how to classify rocks and minerals and read topographic maps. This lab assumes that students remember how to determine the properties of minerals and identify the textures of rocks.

How the activity is situated in the course

This is the first lab of the course. It's is designed to help students transport basic skills acquired in the introductory physically geology course and apply them to geomorphology.

Goals

Content/concepts goals for this activity

Students will identify principal rock forming silicate minerals and distinguish their relative stability when exposed to weathering; identify sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks and deduce the relative resistance based on mineral composition and texture;and finally relate erosional landscapes to the differential weathering and erosion of rocks of varying strengths.