Fluvial and Alluvial Sedimentology Incorporating Google Earth part of Sedimentary Geology:Activities
Elizabeth Cassel, University of Idaho
A lab activity for an undergraduate sedimentary geology course focused on fluvial and alluvial sedimentology, incorporating Google Earth.

Geomorphology and place part of Sedimentary Geology:Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and Paleontology 2014:Activities
Margaret McMillan, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Students choose a place that is named based on its relationship to geomorphology. They research and describe the geologic template, geologic processes and time involved in the formation of their chosen place and ...

Teaching geologic time and rates of landscape evolution with dice part of Rates and Time:GSA Activity Posters
Kate Ruhl, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Landscape evolution provides a convenient framework for understanding geologic time and rates because students can observe how processes like erosion and deposition shape their surroundings. In this example, students build 3-D sandbox models based on topographic maps and design and stage a "virtual adventure race." Sandbox landscapes are used to illustrate erosional processes,while local examples are used to discuss landscapes as transient or steady over different time- and length scales. Dice experiments illustrate radioactive decay and the shape of the age equation curve, and 14C dating, geochronology and thermochronology are introduced as "stopwatches" that start when a plant dies, a crystal forms, or a rock nears the surface and cools to a certain temperature. The sandbox model and thermochronometer "stopwatches" are combined to measure erosion rates and rates of landscape change. Ultimately, model rates (cm/hour) calculated from stopwatch times on the order of seconds can be related to geologic rates (km/My) calculated from real million-year-old samples.

South Carolina Studies: Bringing the Geologic Time Scale Down to Earth in the Students' Backyard part of Rates and Time:GSA Activity Posters
John Wagner, Clemson University
Students visit Drayton Hall historic plantation near Charleston, South Carolina and are led on a field trip that starts with a discussion of documented historic changes that have affected the mansion and the surrounding property. The field trip continues with a study of Native American artifacts and ends with analysis of coastal plain deposits exposed along the Ashley River. Students use paleogeographic maps to discuss both historic and prehistoric changes to the landscape. Back in the classroom, students gather data to draw paleogeographic maps of their own school site through geologic time.

Red Beans and Rice: Slope failure experimental modeling part of Geomorphology:Activities
Tom Hickson, University of St. Thomas (MN)
Students replicate a slope failure experiment published in Science (Densmore et al., 1997) using a simple, acrylic slope failure box in an effort to forge a link between autocyclic processes, long-term landscape ...

Hometown Geology part of Introductory Courses:Activities
Stacey Cochiara, New Jersey City University
This is an extra credit assignment for students to learn details about the geology of their hometown.

Humans as Geomorphic Agents part of Geomorphology:Activities
Catherine Riihimaki, 2NDNATURE Software
An introduction to order-of-magnitude calculations and reading quantitative journal articles.

Rocks, Weathering, and Erosional Landscapes part of Geomorphology:Activities
Lindley Hanson, Salem State University
Students will identify a variety of silicate minerals and rocks and relate them to their topographic expression according to relative resistance.

Multiple temporal scales of landscapes and landforms part of Rates and Time:Teaching Activities
Phil Stokes, The University of Arizona; Marguerite Forest, Florida Gulf Coast University; Steven Semken, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
This exercise provides students with a timescale and list of geomorphic landforms and processes. The activity requires that students utilize their knowledge of process-driving mechanisms to place landforms and ...

Geomorphology Field Research Project part of Geomorphology:Activities
Jeff Marshall, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
This research project allows students to integrate and apply their geomorphic knowledge in a comprehensive study of a local landscape. Working in teams, they investigate uplifted alluvial deposits along the ...