Concept Caching: Hydrothermal features in Iceland

From our Concept Caching image cache that hopes to promote student spatial awareness by relating specific features on the Earth’s surface with their visual character and GPS coordinates. Through the site photographs and GPS coordinates demonstrate core concepts in geography.  Images are “cached” for viewing by core concept and by region.  Images are certainly useful for introducing visual content to students in all Geography classes.

The Icelandic landscape is one of the most unique and interesting on Earth.  One of the few land-based rift zones, it is a standard discussion in any Physical Geography or Geology course.  Geothermal features are not only observed and studied, but they are harnessed for energy.  These geothermal features have also proved a “harsh reminder” for the power of the Earth, as discussed in the post, Geography Directions: Eyjafjallajökull: Geography’s Harsh Reminder. The March 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano had upset the operation of transportation and economic networks that bridged the Atlantic.  The costs, in time and money, were staggering.  Even more unnerving is the nature of such a geologic event, as it was virtually impossible to predict and to mitigate.

Geography Directions: Eyjafjallajökull: Geography’s Harsh Reminder

From our Geography Directions site reviewing Wiley-Blackwell’s Geography Compass review journal covering the entire discipline.  Keep up with cutting edge academic geography.  These articles may be useful for introducing students to the discipline or may be appropriate for upper division Geography classes.

The eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull on 20 March 2010 caught Europe dangerously off-guard. For two months, waves of ash closed some of the world’s busiest airspace. An estimated ten million passengers were left stranded, international train services collapsed under the heightened strain of people seeking alternate transportation, and governments were left to deal with angered airlines seeking to regain some portion of lost revenue. In total, over one hundred thousand flights were cancelled. The legal and political fallout of Eyjafjallajökull’s eruption continues today. A fundamental questions lies at the heart of this debate: why wasn’t Europe better warned or prepared? Amy R Donovan and Clive Oppenheimer (University of Cambridge) highlighted this problem in their March 2011 Geographical Journal commentary. The danger such natural events as Eyjafjallajökull pose, as Donovan and Oppenheimer argue, is that they lie outside the traditional realm of managerial governance.

Many natural events, however dangerous, lend governments two favours: first, relatively ample warning; second, comparatively localised impact. Hurricanes are an excellent case-in-point. Every summer NOAA, the United States’s oceanographic and atmospheric monitoring agency, continuously tracks existing storms and recalculates their future projectories. Excepting such hurricanes as Andrew and Katrina–most hurricanes cause damage across a limited geographic expanse before weakening significantly in strength. The snowstorms that rack the American northeast are similarly tracked in advance so that appropriate precautions can be taken (even if, in the event, those precautions prove inadequate).

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption, much like the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, presents a very different scenario. Such events are difficult to forecast, even more difficult to contain, and–like other natural events–impossible to prevent. But, as The Geographical Journal commentary noted, preventative steps could have been taken. Although the Met Office’sVolcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), clearly noted the airspace risks posed by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull volcanoes, this information was not included in the annual National Risk Register, nor did it predicate the implementation of ‘sophisticated, integrated UK or EU policy in advance of the recent volcanic activity’ (p. 2). One hopes that the Eyjafjallajökull airspace fiasco will serve as a reminder of our inability to tame the extremes of physical geography.

By Benjamin Sacks

To view the original article please visit the Geography Directions Blog.

Erosion, Mass Wasting, and Geologic Forms

Description: A collection of interactive images and panoramics that highlight geologic forms by photographer Martin van Hemert.  Click on the image to rotate the view, zoom in/out, and get a 360-degree look at erosion, mass wasting, and other concepts in Geology.

Source: http://www.utah3d.net/

Date last accessed: 29 April 2010

Links:
http://www.utah3d.net/SulpherCreek_swf.html
http://www.utah3d.net/DoubleArch1_swf.html

Discussion questions:
What kinds of mass-wasting processes occur where you live?  Can you identify any evidence that would suggest how rapidly or how slowly mass wasting is moving regolith downslope?  Look especially for signs of creep, which occurs almost everywhere.  Some clues are bent tree trunks, curved fences, lobes of soil on grassy slopes, and tilted gravestones.

Sedimentary Virtual Tour using Google Earth(tm)

Sedimentary Tour
Tour created by Professor Randy Rutberg, CUNY Hunter.

This virtual field trip is designed to show students examples of sedimentary rocks. The tour is designed so that students see each location from above. This helps them orient themselves geographically. I’ve created a number of locations (pushpins) and have labeled them with key words to help orient myself as I go through the tour. In some cases I have made the “pushpins” invisible so that they would not obscure the view.  These labels could easily be changed. I have included Mesa Verde, CO as I think this demonstrates the link between geology and anthropology. In this case, and in some others, the resolution is not sufficient to see the rock formations. However, the tour can be paused and then the blue squares can be “clicked.” This will bring up photographs of the rock formation.

Learning Objectives:

1.  Identify examples of sedimentary rock.

Download File: sedimentary_tour

On the Cutting Edge

Description: A website for Geoscience faculty On the Cutting Edge offers workshops, activities, online assets, and resources that are up-to-date on current research and teaching methods.  The project is supported by the National Science Foundation.

Date last accessed: 2/22/2010

Link: http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/index.html

Earthquakes and Earth’s Interior

The Wiley GeoDiscoveries Media Libary has numerous animations, simulations and interactivities that help to explain the science behind Saturday’s earthquake in Chile.

Here are a sample of some of the media assets available [viewed best using Internet Explorer]:

Asset:  Earthquake Animation
Description: Simple Illustration of an earthquake at a strike-slip fault and the chain of events that may be brought about as a result, including bridge failure and flash floods.
Link:  http://www.edugen.com:30120/geodiscoveries/resources/ch09/print/earthquake_animation/index.htm

Asset: Earthquakes, Plates, and Margins Drag and Drop
Description: A drag and drop exercise in which you must correctly place the names of various plates on a diagram of the globe whose regions are highlighted according to quake depth.
Link:  http://www.edugen.com:30120/geodiscoveries/resources/ch09/print/plates_drag-drop/index.htm

Asset: Tsunami
Description: Simulation of a tsunami along a coastline.
Link:  http://www.edugen.com:30120/geodiscoveries/resources/ch09/print/tsunami/index.htm

Underwater Plate Cuts 400-Mile Gash

Description: Discussion of the plate boundaries related to the recent quake near Chili. 

Source: NYTimes

Date: 2/28/10

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/world/americas/28quake.html

Questions for Discussion:

What are some of the important questions about plate tectonics that remain unanswered today?

Plate Boundaries Virtual Tour using Google Earth(tm)

Plate Boundaries
Tour created by Professor Randy Rutberg, CUNY Hunter.

This field trip is designed to showcase the three major types of tectonic boundaries: divergent, convergent and transform. In all cases I have tried to show the large scale features with a view from above and then smaller scale features using the zoom tool. The tour can be paused and additional photos can be shown if desired. 

I use this field trip during my presentation of chapter 1. I try to “wow” the students with technology and stimulate their interest in the world around them. It usually makes quite an impression.

Again, this tour can be customized by removing or changing icons, changing the start location etc.

Download File: Plate_Boundaries

Igneous Virtual Tour using Google Earth(tm)

Igneous Tour
Tour created by Professor Randy Rutberg, CUNY Hunter.

This virtual field trip is designed to show students spectacular examples of igneous activity. I specifically included places that I thought might be familiar to them. In addition, I tried to include sites that might connect to other disciplines, i.e. Pompeii might have been discussed in an archaeology class and Krakatoa in a Climate Class. 

At each destination, it is possible to pause the tour and click on photographs (blue squares) so that students can see additional views. In addition, tours can be further customized to include or not include icons, i.e. the volcano symbol. I chose to begin each tour at Hunter College, but the start point of a given tour can easily be changed.

During the tour I describe features that we have discussed in class, i.e. the shape of the volcano, cinder cones, lava types, explosiveness etc. I use the “field trip” to reinforce the concepts.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify several different categories of volcanic eruptions.

Download File: Igneous_Tour

Glacier Virtual Tour using Google Earth(tm)

Glaciers 
Tour created by Professor Randy Rutberg, CUNY Hunter.

This virtual field trip is designed to show students examples of glaciers and of glacially shaped landscapes. The tour starts at Hunter College and moves to the Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand. This is a great location because the resolution is high enough to see details in the structure of the ice. In addition there are fabulous photographs of the ice and students can get a sense of the dynamic nature of the glacier. I have included a path on this tour. The tour needs to be paused and the path clicked on. This will take the students on a “virtual hike” up the glacier. The tour then moves to Milford Sound. The resolution here isn’t great, but the photographs (click on the blue squares) are. Students can see the fjords that were carved by glaciers during the Pleistocene ice ages. The tour moves onto Glacier National Park where striking topography can be observed and then to the Malaspina glacier in Alaska. This location gives a real sense of “glacial flow” and the beautiful blue of the melt water lake is quite striking. The tour continues by going to Norway where more fjords are visible and then to Chile where the glacier is quite close to sea level and lovely to look at.

Learning Objectives:
1.  Distinguish between several different kinds of glaciers and ice formations.
2.  Identify several kinds of landforms created by glacial sediments.

Download File: glaciers

Next Page »