Initial Publication Date: December 14, 2015

Dr. Bruce Douglas: Using Imaging Active Tectonics in Structural Geology at Indiana University

About this course

Structural Geology includes selected aspects of structural, descriptive, kinematic, and dynamic analyses.

students

Three 50-minute lectures

weekly

One 120-minute lab

weekly

Large public research university

Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 113kB Sep17 15)

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Show Course goals and content

Course goals and content: G323 - Structural Geology is intended to provide students with a broadly balanced treatment of structural geology, as well as practical training working with analytical techniques using both traditional methods as well as through the use of digital technologies. The course includes a full set of laboratory exercises and a field trip to the Appalachian region in Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The course also serves as preparation for a required capstone seven-week field course taught in Montana. G323 is required of all BS majors.

Introductory Statements

I used the Imaging Active Tectonics module in my junior-level structural geology course. The course is required for all majors and serves to provide students with a wide range of topics that fall under the umbrella of structural geology. With one recent exception, much of what is available in textbooks for this subject area is traditional in approach and content. The one exception is the inclusion of a chapter on active tectonics in Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions by Davis, Reynolds, and Kluth 2012. The chapter includes extensive GPS data, combined with seismic data, to illustrate the deformation taking place in western North America. Through the integration of the Imaging Active Tectonics module, the use of geodetic data in a traditional undergraduate course was expanded to include LiDAR and InSAR, two relatively new geodetic data types that are being extensively used for graduate level research and which provide undergraduate students with an alternative means of understanding fault mechanics and how faults work to create geomorphic expressions that can be interpreted using these two new data sets.

The five units within the module were intended to be used in a series of laboratory exercises that followed the traditional sequencing of material; the introduction and details of various fault types, the mechanics of faulting, and the calculation of deformation and strain. The original intent was to use Units 1 and 2 as additions to the traditional geologic map and block model exercises on fault definitions, geometries, and displacement recognition. Units 3 and 4 were to be coupled with a lab on strain measurement techniques involving deformed fossils, pebbles, and ooids, and Unit 5 as part of an end-of-the-semester project with a formal report. Use of these new geodetic data sets opened the students up to new state-of-the-art research techniques that helped to clarify and provide alternative teaching opportunities for subject matter that is often difficult to convey given its inherent 4-D nature.

My Experience Teaching with GETSI Materials

The Imaging Active Tectonics module's individual units were intended to be used as additional material to be added to scheduled lab exercises. Due to timing constraints the actual implementation did not take place as planned; the module was used to fill the last two weeks of the semester, which had been scheduled to focus on regional and active tectonics. The individual units were not modified, but some review of course material and the introduction of new background material was required. This included overviews of the LiDAR and InSAR data collection processes, data display and interpretation/modeling, and the introduction of earthquake beach ball focal mechanism diagrams.

Relationship of GETSI materials to my course

The Imaging Active Tectonics module's individual units were intended to be used as additional material to be added to scheduled lab exercises. The units fell into alignment with labs that occurred during the beginning third of the course (Units 1 and 2), the middle third of the course (Units 3 and 4), and the final third of the course, where it served to provide a multi-week final project that incorporated subject matter and techniques that spanned the entire course while also adding new research skills. The work in Units 1–4 worked to provide a formative assessment and Unit 5 provided a summative assessment.

Unit-by-Unit Breakdown of How I Taught this Module

All of the units were introduced with a short lecture that also included the use of a PowerPoint presentation. This was required since some review was necessary for topics covered earlier in the course. It also introduced new material associated with the LiDAR and InSAR as well as the use of Google Earth and the InSAR modeling program Visible Earthquakes.

Unit 1

No change. Modest small-group instruction required to provide help with the mechanics of the various computer/digital images and programs being used.

Unit 2

No change. Modest small-group instruction required to provide help with the mechanics of the various computer/digital images and programs being used.
A series of diagrams was created to provide visual 3/4-D models of the topographic features associated with normal, thrust, and strike slip faults. These provided a reference base for the students who may have limited knowledge of tectonic geomorphology.
Note: LiDAR KMZ overlays do not always register as data that can be measured using Google Earth tools such as those used to construct a topographic profile. Students may only be able to make qualitative use of this data for measurements in the Z (vertical elevation) direction.

Unit 3

No change. Modest small-group instruction required to provide help with the mechanics of the various computer/digital images and programs being used.
Use of PowerPoint presentation important for getting students started.

Unit 4

No change. Modest small-group instruction required to provide help with the mechanics of the various computer/digital images and programs being used.
Use of PowerPoint presentation important for getting students started.
InSAR images are easiest to fit model when viewed in the unwrapped (interferogram configured such that the displacement associated with each fringe had been added together to give the total displacement). Once a good fit has been achieved that model solution can be checked against the wrapped interferogram to fine-tune the model.
Having example model solutions for all of the events available on Visible Earthquakes along with earthquake beach ball focal mechanism diagrams provides the students with additional information if they have not already been exposed to thinking about earthquake focal mechanisms and specific fault parameters.

Unit 5

No change. Modest small-group instruction required to provide help with the mechanics of the various computer/digital images and programs being used.
Note: LiDAR KMZ overlays do not always register as data that can be measured using Google Earth tools such as those used to construct a topographic profile. Students may only be able to make qualitative use of this data for measurements in the Z (vertical elevation) direction.
InSAR images are easiest to fit model when viewed in the unwrapped (interferogram configured such that the displacement associated with each fringe has been added together to give the total displacement). Once a good fit has been achieved that model solution can be checked against the wrapped interferogram to fine-tune the model.

Assessments

Assessments description:

Unit 1

Students produced a short report describing a scenario that tracks the impact of an earthquake on societal support infrastructure.
Grading rubric served to alert students to salient components for report, which serves as a formative assessment for this unit.
Student handout modified to include a series of tasks that provided detailed activities and products, giving students a framework to approach the exercise.

Unit 2

Students provided answers to questions, and the responses were evaluated using the rubric provided to the students.
Evaluation of student responses serves as formative assessment for this unit.

Unit 3

Students provided solutions/answers to tasks, and questions in the handout and the responses were evaluated.
Evaluation of student responses serves as a formative assessment for this unit.

Unit 4

Students provided solutions/answers to tasks and questions in the handout, and the responses were evaluated using the rubric provided to the students.
Evaluation of student responses serves as a formative assessment for this unit.

Unit 5

Students produced a comprehensive report describing a scenario that tracks the impact of an earthquake on societal support infrastructure.
Grading rubric served to alert students to salient components for report which serves as the summative assessment for the module.
Student handout modified to include a series of tasks that provided detailed activities and products, giving students a framework to approach the exercise.

Outcomes

The goal of this module was to introduce the students to a number of new techniques for investigating the details of different kinds of faults and the impact of earthquakes on societal support infrastructure. Use of geodetic data sets and the information provided by analysis of this data created a much more dynamic and richer environment for the students to work in, which led to a enhanced and nuanced understanding of faults, faulting, and changes to the near-surface environment that impact humans. The students responded enthusiastically to the new data and the integration of digital technology and realized that they were being given access to materials and approaches that were at the leading edge of research rather than the typical undergraduate textbook and 20-year-old materials.

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