Sedimentary Rock Descriptions and Scientific Communication
Thomas Evans, Western Washington University
This activity challenges students to write three rock descriptions and edit the work of their peers. The goal is for students to realize the importance of rock descriptions, learn how to write them, and gain ...

An Introduction to Seismic Interpretation Using Open Source Software (OpendTect)
Jeannette Wolak Luna, Tennessee Technological University
This is a series of three lab exercises integrating seismic interpretation and sedimentary geology. Each lab uses freely available software from dGB Earth Sciences, OpendTect. The seismic volume is the F3 Block in ...

Building a Facies Model
William W. Little, Brigham Young University-Idaho
Facies models are often abstract and difficult for undergraduate students to fully understand. As a result, they tend to memorize idealized diagrams from text books that can be reproduced for an exam, then ...

Exploring El Niño
Kevin Theissen, University of St. Thomas (MN)
In this introductory-level lab activity, students first view a 20-minute portion of an informative video to learn about the operation of an array of moored buoys that is used to detect changes in the El Niño ...

An abrupt global climate change event in Earth history- Evidence from the ocean
Kevin Theissen, University of St. Thomas (MN)
Students work in pairs to explore and synthesize key paleoceanographic evidence for the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)as found in marine sediment cores collected and analyzed during Ocean Drilling Program ...

stream hydrology field lab
Anne Carey, Ohio State University-Main Campus
In this lab we take a brief field trip to Adena Brook, a first order tributary of the Olentangy River in central Ohio. We observe the stream, its setting, its bedrock, determine some stream velocity profiles, and ...

Sand Stories
Hilary Christensen, Bates College
The objective of this project is to use a sample of sand from a give are to tell its geologic history. Each student is given a 50 mL tube of sand labeled with the latitude and longitude of where it was found. They ...

Introduction to GIS through river meandering and landslide mapping
Karen Gran, University of Minnesota-Duluth
The primary goal of this lab is to develop basic ArcGIS skills for geomorphology students and give them a taste of what is possible in GIS. The lab is written for the GIS novice, and thus includes detailed ...

Exploring topographic steady-state in Taiwan
Karen Gran, University of Minnesota-Duluth
This activity is designed as both an introduction to GIS and an exploration of topographic steady-state. Students analyze DEMs from Taiwan to extract topographic profiles across the range. They reconstruct a series ...

Building an Idealized Stratigraphic Sequence – Clastic Shoreline Example
William W. Little, Brigham Young University-Idaho
The purpose of this exercise is to guide students through the process of constructing a stratigraphic sequence based on understanding relationships between the production of space and filling that space with ...