Week 11

 In the lab we investigated three different topics. The first one was about the law of superposition. The law of superposition is when sedimentary rocks form layers that become buried under more layers over time. The layers on the bottom are older and the layers on the top are younger. The law of supervision helps geologists figure out the relative ages of layers of rocks. Next week we talked about the different characteristics of sand. 

  • Sand created through water is polished, smooth, and similar in size 

  • Sand created through glaciers are polished, smooth, and are irregular in size 

  • Sane created through wind is opaque, frosted, pitted, and very fine grained.

We looked at 11 different sand samples during the lab and tried to identify where they were from. My group was able to identify most of them. We also talked a little about the three different types of erosion. 

Wind: 

  • Wind erosion can only move small particles but they can eat away at larger particles 

Principles: 

  • Wind shadows are areas behind an object where wind speed slows down and material is deposited 

  • Carves the earth 

Water: 

  • Water, moving rivers or streams, is a powerful form of erosion.

Principles:

  1. Young rivers carve down, have lots of energy, and tear apart the land, eroding all that it can due to energy for gravity. They can mover materials of any size

    1. Whitewater 

    2. Fast flowing 

  2. Old rivers meander from side to side, have less energy, carry fine sediment 

Glacier:

  • Glacier erosion moves huge particles, an example is the brain rock on campus. 

    • There are two types, mountain and continental 


  1. A description of what you learned in Thursday's lecture. 

To begin the lab we started by looking at different canes of soda to see if they were less dense or more dense than water (did they float or not). We found that the diet sodas were less dense than water because they did not have the same sugar content then the others. Then we started talking about specific gravity and geodes. We found two geodes that we believed were hollow. We then weighted them in water and not in water. Rock A was 143 g in air and 59g in water. Rock B was 132.9g in air and 58.7g in water. So when we did the math we found that they would be hollow because the specific gravity was less than 2.7. When we cut them open they were hollow. 


  1. Answer questions about the weekly textbook reading:

  1. What did you learn?

To begin this week's reading we learned about three different types of rocks. Igneous rocks are formed when magma cools. Sedimentary rocks form when many small particles called sediments are compacted together over time. Metamorphic rocks are formed when existing rocks undergo very high heat and pressure. Rocks continue through a rock cycle through heating and pressure and weathering and erosion. Igneous rocks can turn into metamorphic rocks by heating and pressure but can be also turned into sedimentary rocks through weathering and erosion. Sedimentary rocks can turn into metamorphic rocks when given pressure and heated but can also turn into sediments through weathering and erosion. Metamorphic rocks can turn into another metamorphic rock when given pressure and heated but can also turn into sedimentary rocks through weathering and erosion. 

We also learned about weathering, erosion and deposition. Weathering is the breakdown of rocks on earth’s surface and there are types. 

Mechanical: rocks are broken down into smaller pieces due to water, wind, or other conditions (like temperature or pressure)

Chemical: this is when chemical reactions change the structure of the rock 

Erosion is the process when small pieces of rocks are transported/carried to a new location Deposition is when the particles are added to or deposited at a new location.  

  1. What was most helpful?

This week's textbook was very helpful when it came to understanding rocks and the rock cycle. I felt like the information was broken down into small sections that were essays to understand. I liked the different graphs and pictures. 

  1. What do you need more information on?

I don’t have any other questions 

  1. What questions/concerns/comments do you have?

N/a

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 14

  The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. Our big question this week in the lab was, how do greenhouse gases work? The greenhouse effect is when gases in the Earth’s atmosphere traps heat from the sun and this is what keeps the planet warm. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would be cold. This is the “cycle”: Sunlight comes in and warms the Earth’s surface  The earth gives off some of the heat as infrared radiation  Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) trap some of the heat and stop it from escaping into space  This is what keeps the planet warm.  We looked at lots of graphs that showed us how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. One of the graphs I found very interesting was the one from West Branch, Iowa. The graph shows data points starting around 2008 and going up to 2022. We see in the graph that carbon dioxide levels get higher and higher every year and then they don’t go low. The data points go up and down in a s...
Read more

Week 7

Image
The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. With your group members, physically BUILD, using whatever you have access too, a scale model of the sun and the 4 inner planets. Include the moon (our moon). How big is the solar system? To answer this big question we built a model of the solar system. We included the sun, moon and 4 inner planets. We were told this to scale. So we had to figure out the appropriate size that our planets needed to be to be able to fit within our distance we had. We started out by making the planets pretty big but realized that the scale was to big and we did not have enough room to spread all of the planets out as they should have been. For example the earth was the size of a grape. But after we started over and made our planets a lot smaller we were able to fit everything. These were the size comparisons for the planets: Sun: head of lettuce  Moon: grain of salt  Earth: mustard seed  Venus: a little bit bigger than ...
Read more

Week 13

Image
  The big question addressed in the lab, and a description of what you did. We had big questions to answer for the lab this week. What type of data do we have that supports that climate change is happening, what questions did you derive from the data shared, and what answers did you find? My group started the lab by reading the KCRG article. This article was all about the heat in Iowa and how there was more severe weather coming. The article talks about how climate change is here and we are going to feel the effects. It talked about the health of the people in Iowa needing to prepare for the extreme heat because their health will be at risk. Scientists believe that by 2050 the number of days Iowa experiences 90 degree days will triple. These extreme temperature chances will cause flooding, extreme weather, and health risks. The article suggests we switch to solar energy rather than putting out carbon emissions. We then looked at different graphs and did our own research. My group l...
Read more