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Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology, 12th edition

Published by Pearson (March 17, 2020) © 2021

  • Vincent Cronin
  • Dennis G. Tasa Tasa Graphic Arts, Inc.

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For introductory geology courses.

Build 21st century skills

Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology is a user-friendly lab manual that examines the basic processes of geology and their applications to everyday life using an inquiry and activities-based approach. The manual features an exceptional illustration program by Dennis Tasa and contributions from over 200 highly regarded geologists and geoscience educators.

With the 12th Edition, lead author Vince Cronin and the newly formed NAGT editorial panel deliver the latest data and science plus new climate/environmental change and hazards/disasters lab activities.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Activity-based exercises correlate to learning objectives and build skills that students apply when analyzing and evaluating samples, data, maps, models and images.
  • The inquiry-based pedagogical approach starts each lab with a Big Idea followed by Focus Your Inquiry wtih activities to be completed. The Think About It question is the Big Idea the activity will answer. And each activity asks students to Reflect and Discuss their findings.
  • Outstanding visual clarity engages students with high-quality photographs, images, stereograms, maps and charts by illustrator Dennis Tasa.
  • Teaching videos give teaching assistants successful teaching tips for each lab activity and provide help for lab set-up.

New and updated features of this title

  • Climate Change Lab incorporates the latest climate change data and science with input from key expert contributors in the geoscience community. This lab helps students analyze and evaluate climate change issues to understand potential causes and its effect on their lives, the economy and other life on the planet.
  • Cardboard Models and Geo Tools tie into key course content and are located in the middle of the lab manual.
  • Pre-Lab videos introduce the content, lab materials and techniques students will be using to complete each lab.

Features of Mastering Geology for the 12th Edition

  • NEW: 3D models give students virtual hands-on experience with rocks, minerals, and outcrops. They manipulate the models on x,y,z axes and click hot spots for guided exploration.
  • Brief animations created by text illustrator Dennis Tasa animate a process or concept depicted in the manual and provide a view of moving figures to depict how geologic processes move over time.
  • MapMaster 2.0, inspired by GIS, enables students to layer and explore thematic map data at global and regional scales. Students enhance spatial reasoning skills and geographic literacy with hundreds of map layers and a multitude of data points and current data.
  • GeoTutor Activities help students master the toughest physical geoscience concepts with highly visual, kinesthetic activities focused on critical thinking and how to apply core geoscience concepts.
  • GigaPan Activities take advantage of a virtual field experience with high-resolution picture technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with NASA.
  • SmartFigure Project Condor Videos feature 3 geologists in the field using a quadcopter-mounted GoPro camera to film key geologic locations and processes.

Laboratory 1

Filling Your Geoscience Toolbox

  • ACTIVITY 1.1 A View of Earth from Above
  • ACTIVITY 1.2 Finding Latitude and Longitude or UTM Coordinates of a Point
  • ACTIVITY 1.3 Plotting a Point on a Map Using UTM Coordinates
  • ACTIVITY 1.4 Scaling, Density, and Earth’s Deep Interior
  • ACTIVITY 1.5 Investigating Earth’s Highs and Lows
  • ACTIVITY 1.6 Unit Conversions, Scientific Notation, and Rates
  • ACTIVITY 1.7 Graphing and Interpreting Data

Laboratory 2

Plate Tectonics

  • ACTIVITY 2.1 Plate Motion from Different Frames of Reference
  • ACTIVITY 2.2 Plate Motion and the San Andreas Fault
  • ACTIVITY 2.3 Measuring Plate Motion Using GPS
  • ACTIVITY 2.4 Hotspots and Plate Motions
  • ACTIVITY 2.5 How Earth’s Materials Deform
  • ACTIVITY 2.6 Paleomagnetic Stripes and Seafloor Spreading
  • ACTIVITY 2.7 Atlantic Seafloor Spreading
  • ACTIVITY 2.8 Using Earthquakes to Identify Plate Boundaries

Laboratory 3

Mineral Properties, Identification, and Uses

  • ACTIVITY 3.1 Mineral Luster, Diaphaneity, Streak, and Color
  • ACTIVITY 3.2 Mineral Shape
  • ACTIVITY 3.3 Determining the Relative Hardness of a Mineral
  • ACTIVITY 3.4 Determining Specific Gravity
  • ACTIVITY 3.5 Mineral Analysis, Identification, and Uses
  • ACTIVITY 3.6 The Mineral Dependency Crisis
  • ACTIVITY 3.7 Urban Ore

Laboratory 4

Rock-Forming Processes and the Rock Cycle

  • ACTIVITY 4.1 Rock and the Rock Cycle
  • ACTIVITY 4.2 Rock Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 4.3 What Are Rocks Made Of?
  • ACTIVITY 4.4 Rock-Forming Minerals
  • ACTIVITY 4.5 What Are Rock Texture and Fabric?

Laboratory 5

Igneous Rocks and Processes

  • ACTIVITY 5.1 Igneous Textures
  • ACTIVITY 5.2 Investigating Mineral Grain Size in Igneous Rock
  • ACTIVITY 5.3 Glassy and Vesicular Textures of Igneous Rock
  • ACTIVITY 5.4 Minerals That Form Igneous Rocks
  • ACTIVITY 5.5 Estimate the Percentage of Mafic Minerals
  • ACTIVITY 5.6 Estimate Mineral Composition of a Phaneritic Rock by Point Counting
  • ACTIVITY 5.7 Analysis and Interpretation of Igneous Rock
  • ACTIVITY 5.8 Tectonic Setting of Some Major Volcanic Rock Types
  • ACTIVITY 5.9 Geologic History of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Laboratory 6

Sedimentary Processes, Rocks, and Environments

  • ACTIVITY 6.1 Clastic Sediment
  • ACTIVITY 6.2 Bioclastic Sediment and Coal
  • ACTIVITY 6.3 Sedimentary Rock Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 6.4 Sediment from Source to Sink
  • ACTIVITY 6.5 Sediment Analysis, Classification, and Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 6.6 Hand Sample Analysis and Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 6.7 Grand Canyon Outcrop Analysis and Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 6.8 Using the Present to Imagine the Past—Dogs to Dinosaurs
  • ACTIVITY 6.9 Using the Present to Imagine the Past—Cape Cod to Kansas

Laboratory 7

Metamorphic Rocks, Processes, and Resources

  • ACTIVITY 7.1 Metamorphic Rock Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 7.2 Minerals in Metamorphic Rock
  • ACTIVITY 7.3 Metamorphic Rock Analysis and Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 7.4 Hand Sample Analysis, Classification, and Origin
  • ACTIVITY 7.5 Metamorphic Grades and Facies

Laboratory 8

Dating of Rocks, Fossils, and Geologic Events

  • ACTIVITY 8.1 Geologic Inquiry for Relative Dating
  • ACTIVITY 8.2 Determining Sequence of Events in Geologic Cross-Sections
  • ACTIVITY 8.3 Using Fossils to Date Rocks and Events
  • ACTIVITY 8.4 Numerical Dating of Rocks and Fossils
  • ACTIVITY 8.5 Infer Geologic History from a New Mexico Outcrop
  • ACTIVITY 8.6 Investigating a Natural Cross-Section in the Grand Canyon

Laboratory 9

Topographic Maps

  • ACTIVITY 9.1 Map and Google Earth Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 9.2 Map Locations, Distances, Directions, and Symbols
  • ACTIVITY 9.3 Topographic Map Construction
  • ACTIVITY 9.4 Topographic Map and Orthoimage Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 9.5 Relief and Gradient (Slope) Analysis
  • ACTIVITY 9.6 Topographic Profile Construction

Laboratory 10

Geologic Structures, Maps, and Block Diagrams

  • ACTIVITY 10.1 Map Contacts and Formations
  • ACTIVITY 10.2 Geologic Structures Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 10.3 Fault Analysis Using Orthoimages
  • ACTIVITY 10.4 Appalachian Mountains Geologic Map
  • ACTIVITY 10.5 Cardboard Model Analysis and Interpretation
  • ACTIVITY 10.6 Block Diagram Analysis and Interpretation

Laboratory 11

Earthquake Hazards and Human Risks

  • ACTIVITY 11.1 Earthquake Hazards Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 11.2 How Seismic Waves Travel Through Earth
  • ACTIVITY 11.3 Locate the Epicenter of an Earthquake
  • ACTIVITY 11.4 San Andreas Fault Analysis at Wallace Creek
  • ACTIVITY 11.5 New Madrid Seismic Zone

Laboratory 12

Stream Processes, Geomorphology, and Hazards

  • ACTIVITY 12.1 Streamer Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 12.2 Introduction to Stream Processes and Landscapes
  • ACTIVITY 12.3 A Mountain Stream
  • ACTIVITY 12.4 Escarpments and Stream Terraces
  • ACTIVITY 12.5 Meander Evolution on the Rio Grande
  • ACTIVITY 12.6 Retreat of Niagara Falls
  • ACTIVITY 12.7 Flood Hazard Mapping, Assessment, and Risk

Laboratory 13

Groundwater Processes, Resources, and Risks

  • ACTIVITY 13.1 Groundwater Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 13.2 Where Is the Nasty Stuff Going?
  • ACTIVITY 13.3 Using Data to Map the Flow of Groundwater
  • ACTIVITY 13.4 Karst Processes and Topography
  • ACTIVITY 13.5 Floridan Aquifer System
  • ACTIVITY 13.6 Land Subsidence from Groundwater Withdrawal

Laboratory 14

Glaciers and the Dynamic Cryosphere

  • ACTIVITY 14.1 The Cryosphere and Sea Ice
  • ACTIVITY 14.2 Mountain Glaciers and Glacial Landforms
  • ACTIVITY 14.3 Nisqually Glacier Response to Climate Change
  • ACTIVITY 14.4 Glacier National Park Investigation
  • ACTIVITY 14.5 Some Effects of Continental Glaciation

Laboratory 15

Desert Landforms, Hazards, and Risks

  • ACTIVITY 15.1 Dryland Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 15.2 Sand Seas of Nebraska and the Arabian Peninsula
  • ACTIVITY 15.3 Dryland Lakes of Utah
  • ACTIVITY 15.4 Death Valley, California

Laboratory 16

Coastal Processes, Landforms, Hazards, and Risks

  • ACTIVITY 16.1 Coastline Inquiry
  • ACTIVITY 16.2 Introduction to Coastlines
  • ACTIVITY 16.3 Coastline Modification at Ocean City, Maryland
  • ACTIVITY 16.4 The Threat of Rising Seas

Laboratory 17

Earth’s Dynamic Climate

  • ACTIVITY 17.1 How Does Rising Temperature Affect Sea Level?
  • ACTIVITY 17.2 Melting Ice and Rising Sea Level
  • ACTIVITY 17.3 Using Tide Gauge Data to Model Sea-Level Change
  • ACTIVITY 17.4 Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere
  • ACTIVITY 17.5 The Climate Record from Cores
  • ACTIVITY 17.6 Local Effects of Sea-Level Rise

Cardboard Models

GeoTools

About our author

Vince Cronin is an award-winning geoscience educator who has served as a teaching assistant, teacher, or laboratory coordinator for introductory physical geology courses taught at several private and public colleges and universities since 1978. Dr. Cronin is currently Professor of Geosciences at Baylor University and is a licensed and certified professional geologist whose experience in applied and academic geology is quite broad. His research has included plate kinematics, crustal deformation, active faulting, clastic stratigraphy, topics in engineering geoscience, and geoethics.

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