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Rocks and Topography

Advanced Mountain Environments On-line Activity

Outline

Students select and download corresponding geologic and topographical map images, convert images to an image processing format useable in NIH image. Students will calibrate NIH image and generate accurate profiles of topography and geology of the same location to look for potential relationships between geology and topography. (background)

Learner Outcomes

By completing this lesson, students will:

Download and convert images from the Internet using Netscape and GIFConverter (Mac) or Paint Shop Pro (PC)
Locate and use "How Far Is It?" site on WWW to accurately determine distances on images they have saved.
Calibrate and use NIH image (Mac or PC) to produce accurate Geologic Plot Profiles and Elevation Plot Profiles.
Print and use the Plot Profiles to search for a relationship between topography and geology.
Make prediction of rock types when given an elevation profile.

Activity
(You should print out the student's pages and hand out to students before the activity begins. These pages contains all necessary instructions to complete the activity.)

1. Go to the NOAA topography site, and download topographic image for the state of California. (save images by holding mouse button down, then choosing: "Save this image". It will save them as GIF or JPEG then you convert the images to TIFF format so they can be used in NIH Image for the activity) (Alternate topography site #1 and site #2)

2. Go to the California Department of Mines site, and download the image of California.

3. Convert each of the images to TIFF format by opening them with GIFConverter (or Paint Shop Pro) and then saving them as TIFF files. (Be sure to label them so you remember what the image is!!)

4. Choose two "easy to identify" points on the topographic image, such as state borders (this is for accurate distance determination to use with NIH image).

5. Go to "How Far Is It" site on the WWW and determine distance in kilometers. (Note: This is a useful site to bookmark.)

Here's how to Determine the Distance:

6. Start NIH image and Open your TIFF topographic image and your TIFF geologic image. Use distance from "How Far Is It" site to calibrate NIH image.

Here's how to Calibrate NIH Image:

7. Using the topo map image, use NIH Image to generate a Plot Profile of the elevation.

Here's how to generate a Plot Profile of the Elevation:

8. Use distance from "How Far Is It" to calibrate the geologic image in NIH so the two Plot Profiles have the same linear scale (be sure the geologic image is open in NIH Image)

Here's how to set the Plot Profiles to the Same Linear Scale:

9. Use the geologic map image in NIH to generate a Plot Profile of the geology (rock type).

Here's how to Plot the Geology Profile:

10. Carefully observe the elevation and geologic profiles. Are there any relationships between elevation and geology? If so what are they? Write these at the bottom of the profile plots.

Assessment and Extension Ideas

1. Students are given maps with two locations indicated. They use internet ("How Far Is It" site) to determine distance in units desired by instructor.

2. Students convert images from original format to TIFF format and open them in NIH image. (3-5 images)

3. Students are given Plot Profile of geology (rock type) and asked to generate hypothesized elevation profile.

4. Students are given Plot Profiles of elevation and asked to generate hypothesized geologic profile.

5. Students use outcomes from 1 & 2 above to generate accurate elevation and geologic plot profiles of instuctor defined image region.

6. Students should be able to determine which types of rocks are ridge forming.

7. Students should be able to determine which types of rocks are valley forming units.

8. Students should be able to determine which type of rock units should fit into a profile generated by the instructor.