Geology - Eva Varga

The volcanic activity of the Cascade Range has created unique geological formations that can only be seen in this part of the country. From gigantic obsidian glass flows (at Newberry Crater near Bend, Oregon), steaming mud pots at Lassen National Volcanic Park, and lava tube caves surrounded by a wide diversity of scenery make this journey an unforgettable experience.

The 500 mile Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway winds its way from Lake Almanor in Northern California through dramatic volcanic landscapes to Southern Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park.

volcanic-legacy-logo Living in this region, we have had the opportunity to explore many of the volcanic sites over the years. This past weekend, we enjoyed unplugging and reconnecting with one another while camping at Manzanita Lake. It was the perfect field trip to augment our current geology cycle in STEM Club.

I am delighted to share some of the highlights from our experiences over the years along the volcanic scenic byway with you today.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We will begin our tour with the remarkable hydrothermal features in Lassen Volcanic National Park which include roaring fumaroles (steam and volcanic-gas vents), thumping mudpots, boiling pools, and steaming ground. These features are related to active volcanism and are indications of the ongoing potential for further eruptions from the Lassen “volcanic center.”

Manzanita Lake at Lassen Volcanic National Park

At the nearby Loomis Museum, we learned how B.F. Loomis documented Lassen Peak’s most recent eruptions (1914-15) and reviewed the geologic, historic, and cultural past at the Lassen Crossroads Information Center.

Subway Cave

Heading Northwest towards Burney, we come to the Subway Caves where you can hike 1/3 mile through the largest accessible tube in the Hat Creek Flow. The lava was discharged in large volumes from a series of north-south fissures (cracks in the earth). This river of lava crawled northward 16 miles, covering the floor of Hat Creek Valley. While the top crust cooled and hardened, rivers of red-hot lava insulated by newly formed rock above, continued to flow. Eventually, the lava drained away, leaving tube-like caves. The entrance to the cave was formed by a partial collapse of the cave’s roof many years ago.

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park

Not far from the caves, McArthur-Burney Falls features a 129-foot waterfall, cascading at a rate of 100 million gallons of water daily. While it is not the highest or largest waterfall in the state, many claim it to be the most beautiful. Additional water comes from springs, joining to create a mist-filled basin. Burney Creek originates from the park’s underground springs and flows to Lake Britton, getting larger along the way to the majestic falls. Teddy Roosevelt once described Burney Falls as the “eighth wonder of the world”.

Castle Crags State Park

Heading north now along the I5 corridor, we come to Castle Crags State Park which features 28 miles of hiking trails, including a 2.7 mile access trail to Castle Crags Wilderness, part of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The Pacific Crest Trail also passes through the park. The park is named for the 6,000-feet tall glacier-polished crags. The solitude you experience as you explore the forest or traverse part of the Pacific Crest Trail cannot be matched.

Klamath Wildlife

Continuing north, we exit I5 near Weed towards Klamath Falls. Along the border between California and Oregon are numerous wildlife viewing areas including Grass Lake Rest Area near Macdoel. North of Klamath Falls, you can’t miss the nearly 30 miles long and eight miles wide Upper Klamath Lake, the largest body of freshwater west of the Rockies. Because the lake is so shallow, a highly nutritious blue green algae flourishes, sustaining a food web that lures fly fisherman, bird watchers, and nature enthusiasts from across the globe.

Collier State Park & Logging Museum

Back on the road, we come to Collier State Park is located just north of Chiloquin, Oregon near the confluence of Spring Creek and the Williamson River. Beneath towering Ponderosa pine trees, this park features an outdoor museum of historic logging equipment dating to the 1880s. You can imagine the rugged woodsmen and the immense task of moving raw timber with innovation and brute force. There is also a relocated pioneer village, giving you an idea of how these families once lived. Railroad buffs can learn about the role the railroad played in logging.

Crater Lake National Park

Lastly, we come to one of the gems of the National Park system, Crater Lake. The collapse of Mt. Mazama created a caldera that filled with clear blue waters to form the deepest lake in America and the 7th deepest lake in the world. There is so much to explore at the 183,225 acre park, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface.

One of our most memorable activities in the past was creating a 3D topographic map of the park, Build Geoography Skills with Topographic Maps, for a geography co-op.

Rocks, like mountains, do not last forever. The weather, running water, and ice wear them down. All kinds of rocks become sediment. Sediment is sand, silt, or clay. As the sediment is buried it is compressed and material dissolved in water cements it together to make it into sedimentary rock. If a great amount of pressure is exerted on the sedimentary rock, or it is heated, it may turn into a metamorphic rock. If rocks are buried deep enough, they melt. When the rock material is molten, it is called a magma. If the magma moves upward toward the surface it cools and crystallizes to form igneous rocks. This whole process is called the Rock Cycle.

In STEM Club this week, I shared a game with the students with which we simulated cycling through the rock cycle. I began the lesson with a visual diagram of the rock cycle laid upon the tables and requested the students copy it into their journals. The three major rock types (igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary) were illustrated, as well as the processes that act upon the rock material.

rockcycle

Magma is molten rock. Igneous rocks form when magma solidifies. If the magma is brought to the surface by a volcanic eruption, it may solidify into an extrusive igneous rock. Magma may also solidify very slowly beneath the surface. The resulting intrusive igneous rock may be exposed later after uplift and erosion remove the overlying rock. The igneous rock, may then undergo weathering and erosion and the debris produced is transported and ultimately deposited (usually on a sea floor) as sediment.

If the unconsolidated sediment becomes lithified (cemented or consolidated into rock), it becomes a sedimentary rock. As the rock is buried the additional layers of sediment and sedimentary rock build and thereby heat and pressure increase. Tectonic forces may also increase the temperature and pressure. If the temperature and pressure become high enough, usually at depths greater than several kilometers below the surface, the original sedimentary rock is no longer in equilibrium and recrystallizes.

The new rock that forms is called a metamorphic rock. If the temperature gets very high the rock melts and becomes magma again, completing the cycle. The cycle can be repeated, as implied by the arrows. However, there is no reason to expect all rocks to go through each step in the cycle. For instance, sedimentary rocks might be uplifted and exposed to weathering, creating new sediment.

Rock Cycle Game

Set up eight stations at which a change in the rock cycle occurs:

Earth’s Interior
Soil
River
Ocean
Clouds
Mountains
Volcano

Each student starts at one area. At each area is a die that the student should role to determine what path they should take. It is possible for the student to remain at the same station for a long time. To alleviate frustration, I thereby stated that after 3 turns the student could go to another station.

While at each station and while moving to the different stations, students must record what is happening. For example,

“I began my adventure at ________ . The first thing that happened was _________, then I went to ___________.”

Students continued to work through the rock cycle for several minutes (until the majority had cycled through 12 steps).

Cartoons

After their journey through the rock cycle is complete, students are encouraged to create a cartoon describing their adventures in the rock cycle. Each cartoon page should be divided so there are 12 boxes (one for each ‘step’ in the rock cycle).

Try it yourself! Download the student handouts and station cards .. Rock Cycle Journey.

modeling plate tectonics The theory of plate tectonics provides geology with a comprehensive theory that explains how the Earth works. Though Alfred Wegener was the first to suggest the theory of continental drift and plate tectonics in 1915, it wasn’t widely accepted until the 1960s and 1970s as new information was obtained about the nature of the ocean floor, Earth’s magnetism, the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes, the flow of heat from Earth’s interior, and the worldwide distribution of plant and animal fossils.

The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth’s lithosphere is broken into 15 major plates. Seven large plates include: the African, North American, South American, Eurasian, Australian, Antarctic, and Pacific plates. Several minor plates also exist, including the Arabian, Nazca, and Philippines plates.

These plates are all moving in different directions and at different speeds (from 2 cm to 10 cm per year–about the speed at which your fingernails grow) in relationship to each other atop the hot plastic upper mantle, known as the asthenosphere. These plates are in motion as a result of convection in the asthenosphere, creating a variety of interactions at the plate boundaries. At the plate boundaries, plates may converge (collide), diverge (separate), or slide past each other (transform boundary). In addition, some plates may appear to be inactive.

In this simple activity, students will model each of the different types of interactions at plate boundaries. Each pair of students will need the following materials:

4 squares of graham crackers
1/2 rice cake
4 dollops of frosting
a small dish of water
spoon
paper plate

Part 1: Divergent Plate Boundaries

Procedure
1. Divide your plate into four sections with a marker
2. Place a dollop of frosting in each quadrant
3. Lay the two pieces of graham cracker side by side on top of the frosting so they are touching.
4. To imitate the result of diverging oceanic plates, press down on the crackers as you slowly pull apart in opposite directions.

Think About It
1. What do the graham crackers represent?
2. What does the frosting represent?
3. What happened to the frosting between the crackers?
4. Name a specific location on the Earth where this kind of boundary activity takes place.
5. What type of feature is produced by this movement?
6. What is the process called that creates new ocean floor from diverging plates?

Part 2: Convergent Plate Boundaries (Oceanic & Continental –> Subduction)

Procedure
1. Take another graham cracker (to represent the thin but dense oceanic plate) and lay it next to a rice cake (to represent the thicker but less dense continental plate) so they are almost touching, end to end.
2. Push the two “plates” slowly toward each other and observe which plate rides up over the other. On the actual surface of the Earth, the oceanic plate is subducted.

Think About It
1. Why does the oceanic plate sink beneath the continental plate?
2. Name a specific location on the Earth where this kind of boundary activity takes place. Look at the attached plate tectonics diagram for help.
3. What features are formed on the continent along this boundary?
4. What feature is formed in the ocean along the subduction zone?

Part 3: Convergent Plate Boundaries (Continental –> Mountains)

Procedure
1. Take two new graham crackers. Each piece of graham cracker represents a continental plate.
2. Dip one end of each of the two graham crackers into a cup of water. Don’t wait too long or they will fall apart.
3. Immediately remove the crackers and lay them end to end on the frosting with the wet edges nearly touching.
4. Slowly push the two crackers together.

Think About It
1. What happens to the wet ends of the graham crackers?
2. What feature do the resulting ends of the wet crackers represent?
3. Name a specific location on the Earth where this type of boundary activity takes place. Look at the plate tectonics diagram for help.

Part 4: Transform Plate Boundaries (Sliding)

Procedure
1. Take two graham cracker pieces and lay the two pieces side by side on top of the frosting so they are touching.
2. Place one hand on each of the graham cracker pieces and push them together by applying steady, moderate pressure. At the same time, also push one of the pieces away from you while pulling the other toward you.

* If you do this correctly, the cracker should hold while you increase the push-pull pressure, but will finally break from the opposite forces. We found this one the most difficult to model accurately.

Think About It
1. Name a specific location on the Earth where this type of boundary activity takes place. Look at the attached plate tectonics diagram for help.
2. Nothing happens at the beginning, but as the pressure is increased, the crackers finally break. What do we call the breaking and vibrating of the Earth’s crust?
3. Why do you think Earthquakes typically occur in California and not in the midwest?

In addition to the lessons I presented on Earth’s interior and surface topography described last week, I also taught a short lesson on Geospheres and our Earth System. To those who had explored ecology with us in the spring, this was a bit of review though the material was presented in a different manner.

What is a System?

A system is generally described as a set of components that interact within a boundary. A clock is a good example of a system. Mechanical and often electrical components work together to display the time. In recent years, scientists have started to consider Earth, from the very top of the atmosphere to the core at its center, as a system with four major components or spheres that interact in very complex ways.

geospheres

Geospheres

The area near the surface of the earth can be divided up into four inter-connected “geo-spheres:” the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. Scientists can classify life and material on or near the surface of the earth to be in any of these four spheres. The names of the four spheres are derived from the Greek words for stone (litho), air (atmo), water (hydro), and life (bio).

The geosphere (sometimes called the lithosphere) includes the solid part of Earth, the interior, and the pedosphere, which is the thin, outermost soil layer.
The hydrosphere is all of Earth’s bodies of water, including groundwater and Earth’s frozen water (the cryosphere).
The biosphere is all living things, plants and animals, from microbes to humans.
The atmosphere is the blanket of gas that surrounds Earth, and includes the precipitation, clouds, and aerosols (tiny suspended particles) that are found in air.

In STEM Club, we focused on spheres that are most accessible to students: the portion of the geosphere called the pedosphere; the hydrosphere; the biosphere; and the atmosphere.

Beginning to perceive Earth as a system can begin with something as simple as when we ﬁrst feel warmth from sunshine or get wet standing in the rain. However, truly understanding Earth as a system requires a quantitative exploration of the connections among all parts of the system: air, water, land, and life.

At any moment in time, all matter and energy on Earth is part of one or more of these spheres, and across time, all of Earth’s matter cycles through two or more of these spheres.

Interconnections and Processes

There are many simple examples of the interconnections between components and elements of the Earth system. I’ve listed a few here:

The roots of plants (biosphere) draw water and nutrients from the pedosphere, exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide with the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, and send water into the atmosphere through the process of transpiration.
Plants also die and decompose to become part of the pedosphere.
Water evaporates from rivers (hydrosphere) and the soil (pedosphere) to become part of the atmosphere.
Oxygen in the atmosphere dissolves in a river (hydrosphere).
Fish (biosphere) draw dissolved oxygen into their bodies from the hydrosphere.
The sun warms the pedosphere, which transfers its heat to the atmosphere.
Warmed air transfers heat to cooler land surfaces.
Evaporation from a lake (hydrosphere) transfers heat to the atmosphere.
Rivers and ocean currents redistribute heat energy.
Precipitation can warm or cool the pedosphere on which it falls.

There are also connections between elements within a component of the earth systems. For example:

Birds eat plant seeds.
Flowers attract insects and other pollinators.
Rivers flow into lakes or oceans.

Because of the interconnectedness, changes in one sphere bring about changes in the others. Sometimes these changes are dramatic, but more frequently these changes are more subtle.

Droughts (atmosphere) can cause severe changes in the hydrosphere, the biosphere, and the pedosphere.
Rain changes the soil moisture and the amount of water in lakes and rivers.
Increased water level in a lake has an impact on the plants and animals that inhabit the shoreline.
An increase in air temperature decreases the amount of moisture in the pedosphere by increasing the rate of evaporation and the rate at which vegetation loses water (transpiration) to the atmosphere.

Class Activities

Lesson Objective – By studying the flow of energy and matter locally, students will begin to build an understanding of how the four components of the Earth system work together to create and maintain Earth’s unique climate.

Last week, I shared with the class a powerpoint from Earth Labs and then assigned them the task of taking a photograph for this week’s lesson. The photo could be of their backyard, the lake, the river, or a park – it was entirely up to them.

I opened today’s lesson by sharing with them several infographics that illustrated the cycles of water and nutrients between the spheres: the hydrologic cycle (water cycle), the carbon cycle (photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration), the nitrogen cycle, etc. Most of this was review for the students – but for some it was new material.

I modeled for the class the process of identifying the interconnections and processes evident in the photograph I took (example pictured above). I then asked students to annotate a photograph of their study site.

Lastly, the students created a simplified diagram of their study site to highlight the flow of energy and matter among the four components of the Earth system.

geospheres

If you are interested in doing this lesson with your students, the printables and handouts are available as a FREE download, Geospheres Foldable.

Since she was little, when asked what career she might like to pursue, my daughter has always proclaimed with glee, “I want to be an engineer!” Upon participating in Wow! these past couple of years, she has learned of the variety of engineering fields and her answer evolved, “… an environmental, architectural, electrical engineer.” To be honest, I am not quite sure she knows for certain, but I love that her interest has never swayed.

To help her to understand the diversity of career options, we recently had an opportunity to visit an acquaintance who owns a hydrogeology firm locally. Today, I would like to share with you some of the things we learned during our visit as well as explore the career options in hydrogeology.

hydrogeology careers

Hydrogeology

Hydrogeology is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth’s crust (commonly in aquifers). Hydrogeology is an interdisciplinary subject and as such, it can be difficult to account fully for the chemical, physical, biological and even legal interactions between soil, water, nature and society.

Essentially, hydrogeologists study of the interaction between groundwater movement and geology. Groundwater does not always flow in the subsurface down-hill following the surface topography. Groundwater flows along gradients from high pressure to low pressure and hydrogeologists need to understand several diverse fields at both the experimental and theoretical levels.

During our visit, the engineers shared with us the tools of the trade and anecdotes of specific jobs they had had experience with recently. We were surprised to learn that much of their work (at least at this office) was related to landfills.

Hydrogeology Careers

While geologists in the energy and mineral industries face are generally susceptible to rise and fall of the economy, those who study the movement and chemistry of water seeping through rocks and sediment find demand for their expertise steady.

“I can’t think of any unemployed hydrogeologists,” says Roy Haggerty, an associate professor of hydrogeology at Oregon State University, Corvallis. Water is essential, irreplaceable, and, as populations and economies grow, increasingly in demand and endangered.

hydrogeology

The work of a hydrogeologist can vary considerably according to the sector, employer and area of specialism. Hydrogeologists can oversee the cleanup of spills and contamination. They work with experts who specialize in geology, wastewater, water supply, waste management, soils, and organizations that know how to clean up pollution or contamination. They may also help with designs for new facilities to help prevent future contamination.

Environmental consulting companies employ about 80% of hydrogeologists in the United States. New niches open regularly as hydrogeologists collaborate with scientists in other disciplines to tackle huge environmental challenges, such as forecasting how changing climate will affect water resources and aquatic life.

Our visit to the hydrogeology office was memorable. As we drove away, my daughter exclaimed, “That was really interesting. I had no idea that a hydrogeologist’s work was so important.” Our guides encouraged us to continue to explore geologic sciences in school. They also emphasized the importance of good communication skills, particularly writing. Geologists in all fields need to be able to communicate complicated information to others and write a variety of reports and letters.

In addition, “People skills are invaluable, which is why I say that the most important things I did as a graduate student was go to professional society meetings,” stated Leonard Kornikow, a hydrogeologist with the US Geological Survey. At the middle school and high school level, talking in depth with adults in fields of interest is equally important.

Salary

Average salary range: $42,000 to $67,000 per year

If you are interested in further exploring geology with your children, there are many activities and curriculum materials available. I have developed a complete earth science curriculum called Our Dynamic Earth. It is a ten-week curriculum that incorporates more than 20+ activities and the lesson plans are fully outlined for you. Background knowledge, notebooking pages, and suggestions for extension activities are included.

Shore Acres, located on the south coast of Oregon near Coos Bay, contains some of the most dramatic geology on the West Coast. Layers of sediment tilt at steep angles, some are spatter with dark round rock formations like cannon balls, and the surf hitting the rocks shoots spectacular waves 50 feet into the air. Both my husband and I grew up in Coos County and most of our family still resides in this area. We thereby get the opportunity to visit frequently.

Perched on rugged sandstone cliffs high above the ocean, Shore Acres State Park is an exciting and unexpected combination of beautiful natural and constructed features. Once the grand estate of pioneer timber baron Louis Simpson, Shore Acres features lushly planted gardens with plants and flowers from all over the world. Something is in bloom almost every day of the year. We’ve explored these gardens in the past but our focus this time was the geology.

1 Concretions

The rock formations that look like cannon balls are called concretions, compact masses of mineral matter embedded in a host rock. Concretions usually form before the rest of the sediment has hardened into solid rock. This pre-rock cementing material collects around a nucleus of decaying organic material.

2 Salt Weathering

The power of the ocean is wearing away the rock formations day by day, as the waves strike the rocky coastline and explode into the air. But an even more subtle force of geologic change comes from the evaporation of billions of droplets of seawater, deposited on the rocks and causing salt weathering.

3 Colliding Plates

The layers of rock that are part of the Coaledo Formation tilt at a 40-45 degree angle from the Juan de Fuca plate colliding with the North American plate. The flat surface around you is formed by a wave cut pattern called the Whiskey Run Marine Terrace.

As we drove home, I encouraged the kids to give an oral narration of what they understood from the interpretive signs we had read and the observations we had made. I hoped that they would also make a few sketches in their nature journal but a las they did not. Nature journaling is personal. I try to model it as often as I can but I don’t force it.

During our geology walk, we were delighted to also observe a pod of sea lions surfing the waves and racing one another. At first, I thought they were dolphins for I had never seen sea lions leap and dive before this day. We watched them for several minutes as they continued their journey south, presumably to a secluded beach not far from where we were standing.

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