Posted: December 14th, 2015

Work on these Google Earth exercises on your own

Directions: Work on these Google Earth exercises on your own. Please complete the first page, and then feel free to bounce around to any question you find interesting. Work on this throughout the class period. Feel free to take two 10-minute breaks. As long as you work on this during the class period, you will get full credit for the lab! If I feel like you are on your phone on doing something else, you will lose the credit. There’s plenty to keep you busy the entire time, so follow what is interesting and enjoy! Turn in hard copy or electronic version on dropbox.

 

1. Work on this problem as you go. Keep your eye out for something interesting. This can be anything you want (not necessarily related to Environmental Geology); however, I want you to share this with me after you find something interesting. What is it? Where is it located? What is interesting about it?

 

 

1. Find campus. How far in miles is it from campus to your house in a straight line?

 

2. How long would it take you to walk from your home to campus? (How far is it to campus? How fast do you walk?) Show your work.

 

 

3. How long is campus? How wide is campus? What is the area (length times width) of the roof of campus?

 

 

4. Head on over to Golden, CO. Welcome to Golden! There’s a G on one of the Table Mountains. Can you find it? There’s an M for Mines west of the town. Can you find that? Give the coordinates.

 

 

5. Find an old river. How do you know the river is old (recall the lab)? Where is it located? Give the latitude and longitude, and state, province, or country.

 

 

6. Using the same old river, what is the gradient of this river? This is the drop in height of the river, divided by the distance between the two heights of the river. You can use the path tool to find the distance along the middle of the river along the meanders and mark the elevation at these two points. What direction is the river flowing?

 

 

 

7. Check out the mountain named K-2. Can you see any glacier activity here?

 

 

8. Find a younger river. What is the gradient of this river? What direction is the river flowing?

 

 

 

9. Head to the Grand Canyon. What is the difference in elevation between the Colorado River and the rim of the Grand Canyon (the plateau) above the river?

 

 

 

 

10. Zoom in and then zoom out around 37.857881, -25.787196. Tilt your perspective. What country are you in? What is this feature? What is causing this feature?

 

 

 

11. Check out Bingham Canyon, Utah. What do you think this area is? Is it natural or man-made?

 

 

 

12. Head over to 32.845037, -106.233098 and investigate. What do you see? Is there any directionality you can detect?

 

 

 

13. What is going on at -13.330153, -72.196067? Nearby at -13.300757, -72.155567 there is some mining, but not quite the mining we are used to here in Colorado. The white substance is a hint. Another hint: There are many shallow pools of water here, that are left to evaporate.

 

 

 

 

14. Find some sand dunes, outside of Colorado and New Mexico. Where are they located?

 

 

 

15. Explore around 70.250598, -148.632664. There is a gray line in the area. What do you think that gray line is?

 

 

 

16. What feature is at 14.355200, 100.552320? What country are you in?

 

 

 

17. There is an ancient marvel at 30.322547, 35.4515529. This wonder is called “The Treasury,” although it was simply a tomb. What country are you in? What type of rock do you think makes up this area?

 

 

 

18. Check out Uluru rock in Australia. What type of rock do you think this is?

 

 

 

19. What do you see at 32 08’59.96″ N, 110 50’09.03″W? Explain

 

 

 

20. Where do you think mountaintop removal mining would be taking place? Fly there and investigate.

 

 

 

21. Check out the beaches near Jumeirah, Dubai. How did these beaches form?

 

 

 

 

22. While near the beach, tilt your perspective and look at the city. There’s a really, really tall building here. How tall is this building? It is the tallest building in the world.

 

 

 

23. Find a barrier island. Where is it located?

 

 

 

24. Check out the area around 926455 -123.983773. Look around for the following coastal features: dunes, breakers, rip currents, sea cliffs, wave refraction, and any others that you can find.

 

 

 

25. Find a beach with jetties or groins. Can you detect the direction of the longshore current?

 

 

 

 

 

 

26. Find some alternative energy sources. Can you find a place where solar energy is being harvested? What about nuclear, wind, geothermal? List the location for each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27. Can you find a cirque and a tarn somewhere in Europe? What are the coordinates?

 

 

 

 

28. What feature is found at 21.82357 N, 89.78346 E ? You will have to zoom out a bit.

 

 

 

 

29. Check out 852344, -121.757877. What do you think caused this circular feature?

 

 

 

 

30. Look for Lake Manacougan, Quebec, Canada. How do you think this lake formed?

 

 

 

 

 

31. Now look for Lake Mistassini. How far is this Lake Manacougan? How did this lake form?

 

 

 

 

32. Check out the feature at 17.92361 S, 25.85546 E. How do you think this formed? What is the diameter of this feature?

 

 

 

 

 

33. Where do you think you can find a fjord? Give the latitude and longitude.

 

 

 

 

34. Head over to 37.2959132521, -110.801469886. What kind of surface process has happened here in regards to the nearby river?

 

 

 

 

 

35. An interesting image is shown at 37° 4’31.73″N 117°39’4.77″W. What do you think happened here?

 

 

 

 

36. Volcanoes are active all around the world. Can you find a hotspot volcano? Can you find a volcano that’s the result of convergence of two plates (oceanic & continental)?

 

 

 

 

37. Move along to 11.570319 165.385154. What geologic feature is this? This was discussed in the plate tectonic lab.

 

 

 

 

38. Fly to 3.237445, 101.683864. There’s a cave system in this mound that has been converted to Hindu shrines and temples. What country are you in? What type of rock do you think this is?

 

 

 

 

39. Head over to 40.768367°, -73.977910°. Tilt the perspective and back out a bit. On this island, there’s some really tall buildings. There are some tall buildings near the big park, and other tall buildings towards the SW. Can you think of a geologic reason why there are no tall buildings between the two areas?

 

 

 

 

 

40. Head over to 26.357896, 127.783809. What is shown here?