Cyber Enabled Earth Exploration (CE 3 )

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Cyber Enabled Earth Exploration (CE 3 )"

Betty Dalton
5 years ago
Views:

1 Cyber Enabled Earth Exploration (CE 3 ) Field Notebook Module 3: Introduction to Plate Tectonics

2 Investigation 1: Continental Drift Table of Contents Folder 1: Geographic Evidence... 3 Folder 2: Fossil Evidence... 5 Folder 3: Rock Evidence... 8 Investigation Summary... 9 CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 2

3 Folder 1: Geographic Evidence Instructions Step 1. Click on the radio buttons next to Inv 1: Continental Drift. Open and read the Introduction placemark balloon. Then close the balloon. 2. Expand Folder 1: Geographic Evidence. Open and read the Description placemark balloon. Then close it. 3. Look at the orange line connecting coastlines where South America and Africa seem to fit together. Your next task is to find more geographic evidence to support the ideas of Ortelius. 4. Scan the globe in Google Earth. Do you see any places besides South America and Africa where the continents seem to fit together? Use your path tool to create lines connecting any places on adjacent continents that you think might be a fit. Make each line orange to match the South America-Africa line. Name each line with the names of the continents it connects (e.g., South America - Africa ). Hint: If you are unsure what the names of the continents are, turn on the Continents layer at the bottom of the Inv 1: Continental Drift folder. Click on the continent and its name will appear. 5. Drag and drop each line into the My Data folder toward the bottom of the Inv 1: Continental Drift folder. Then open this folder to see all of your geographic connections. 6. Record your observations in the table below, by placing an F in all of the white boxes that correspond to pairs of continents that you think fit geographically. 7. Use your table to answer the interpretation questions. Complete CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 3

4 Africa South America Madagascar North America Greenland Australia Antarctica Eurasia Observations Africa South America Madagascar North America Greenland Australia Antarctica Eurasia Notes and Questions CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 4

5 Interpretations How many possible connections did you find based on geographic fit? Can you say for sure that the continents were once connected based on this evidence alone? Based on this evidence alone, can you tell when the continents may have been connected? Folder 2: Fossil Evidence Instructions Step 1. Expand Folder 2: Fossil Evidence and open the Description placemark balloon. Read the information and record any observations you can. Then close the balloon. 2. Turn on the Fossil Finds folder and rotate the globe to see where each of the four fossils has been found. Use the legend to see which fossil each color dot represents. 3. Use your path tool to make lines connecting the continents for each type of fossil. You will have at least one line for each fossil. Name each line with the names of the continents it connects (e.g., South America - Africa ). Set the color of the path to match the color of the icon in the legend. Then save your path and move it to your My Data folder. 4. Open your My Data folder and look at all of the connections you have made. Go back to your table of geographic evidence (above) and add the following codes for the fossil connections you have found: M = Mesosaurus, C = Cynognathus, L = Lystrosaurus, G= Glossopteris. 5. Record any additional observations you can in the Observations section. 6. You must next decide whether continents containing the same fossils were Complete CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 5

6 connected when those species were alive, or, if Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, Lystrosaurus, and Glossopteris could have swam or floated across the oceans. To decide this, you will need to do some research on these organisms. 7. Open the Research placemark balloon. Read the information and follow the links listed to learn more about each fossil organism. Take careful notes in the Observations section. Remember, you are looking for information that would tell you whether these organisms could have crossed the oceans. 8. Use your observations to answer the Interpretation question. Be sure to use complete sentences. Observations Age of Triassic geologic time period: Age of Permian geologic time period: What does Ma mean? How old are fossils of Mesosaurus, Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus? How old are fossils of Glossopteris? How many geographic connections between continents did you make based on fossils? How many fossil connections have corresponding connections based on geographic fit? How many fossils connections did not correspond to obvious geographic connections? Notes on Fossils (Internet Research): Fossil Name Characteristics Source Mesosaurus Lystrosaurus CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 6

7 Cynognathus Glossopteris Notes and Questions Interpretation Based on the fossil evidence presented, when was Africa connected to South America? Claim: Evidence: Reasoning: CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 7

8 Folder 3: Rock Evidence Instructions Step 1. Expand Folder 3: Rock Evidence and click on the radio button. Open the Description placemark balloon and read the information. Record any information you can. Then close the balloon. 2. Open and explore the Mountain Ranges folder. Then create paths that reconnect the two sets of ranges. Name each path according to the continents it connects. Set the color of your paths to match the colors of the ranges. Save each path and move it to the My Data folder. 3. Open your My Data folder and look at all of the connections you have made. Go back to your table of geographic evidence (above) and add the following codes for the geologic connections: A = Andes/Antartandes, K = Kjolen/Appalachian. 4. Use your observations to answer the Investigation question. 5. Finally, use all of your observations to answer the Investigation Summary questions. Be sure to use complete sentences. Complete Observations When did the Andean mountains form? When did the Kjolen and Appalachian mountains form? Which mountain range is older, the Andes or the Appalachians? How many connections did you find based on mountain building events? How many of those connections correspond to other types of connections? How many of the mountain connections do not correspond to other types of connections? Notes and Questions CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 8

9 Interpretation According to all of the evidence presented so far, over what time period have the positions of the continents changed? Claim: Evidence: Reasoning: Investigation Summary What type of evidence is stronger, geographic fit or fossil evidence? For which two continents is there the strongest evidence of a former connection? Could the positions of the continents still be changing today? Have we seen any evidence yet showing what caused the continents to break apart? CE3 F i e l d N o t e b o o k - M o d u l e 3 Page 9

Continental Puzzle: Exploring Pangaea and Continental Drift

Continental Puzzle: Exploring Pangaea and Continental Drift By Alyssa Dehn Grade Level : 6 Benchmarks : NGSS MS.History of Earth MS ESS2 3: Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and