Changing Earth Lab

The Changing Earth Lab – Pulling together our learning In this laboratory, we will be looking at the link between the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and the geosphere. Then, we will examine the tectonic plates and location of Earthquake and Volcanoes. For this lab, you will need: the magnifying glass, paper cups, soil bag, and the sand bag from your kit. You will also use the container itself. s You will also need a timer (I would use my phone) and access to water. Safety Rules: Wear goggles when using glass such as your thermometer and pouring. Keep electronics away from the water. Clean up your area when finished. Georgia Standards of Excellence: S3E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the physical attributes of rocks and soils. b. Plan and carry out investigations to describe properties (color, texture, capacity to retain water, and ability to support growth of plants) of soils and soil types (sand, clay, loam). S6E5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to show how Earth’s surface is formed. f. Construct an explanation of how the movement of lithospheric plates, called plate tectonics, can cause major geologic events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. (Clarification statement: Include convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries.) Part 1: How do the sand and soil compare? Investigation Question 1: How does my sand and soil compare in terms of texture, color, capacity to retain water, time to infiltration? ●​ Make a prediction for the investigation question. Describe why you think this. I believe the sand will let the water come through faster than soil because the particles in sand are much bigger and have more space in between them. Soil holds water a lot longer because the particles of soil are much smaller and it made of organic matter. ●​ Why is soil important for plant life? How do scientists classify soil? Read Section Integrated Science 25B p. 735-736 in the textbook to answer these questions or look at this Soil website. Soil gives nutrients, water, and a place for roots to anchor themselves as well as air spaces that help oxygen reach the roots. Scientists classify soil based on the texture, color, nutrient content, and its ability to retain water. ●​ Use your magnifying glass to compare the texture and color of bag of sand and the bag of soil. Write your observations here (you can make a chart). Substance Color Texture Water Retention Time to infiltrate Water drained amount Dark Soil Brown Smooth, sticky when its wet High 2 minutes 30 seconds - 3 minutes Less water drained Sand Tan Grainy, rough Low 20-30 sec More water drained Procedure: ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ Poke 5 holes in the bottom of 2 paper cups using a pen. The holes should look something like this: Fill one of the cups with the holes with sand to the half-way point. Fill the other cup with the holes with soil to the half-way point. On another cup, place a mark on the outside at about the half-way point. You will use this to measure the amount of water. Fill up the cup with water to the half-way point you marked. Set up a timer. You will pour the water into the cup with the soil while holding another cup underneath to catch the water that moves through. Measure the amount of time it takes for the water to move into the soil and the amount of time it takes for the water to completely drain out of soil. If draining the water takes longer than 10 minutes, you can stop the investigation at 10 minutes. The set-up will look like this: Save the cup that the water drained into to compare later. Repeat steps C-F for the sand. Observations: Time it took for the water to move all the way into the substance Time it took for the water to drain out of the bottom of the cup Which one have more water drain from it into the collection cup. Dark Soil About 2 and a half minutes About 6 minutes Less water drained Sand About 15 seconds About 45 seconds More water drained ●​ Write a claim, evidence, and reasoning for the investigation question: How does my sand and soil compare in terms of texture, color, capacity to retain water, and time to infiltration? Claim: Sand and soil are different in color, texture, and their abilities to absorb and hold water. Sand drains water much faster than soil while it retains water much longer than sand. Evidence: The sand allowed the water to soak in within about 15-20 seconds and drain in about 45-60 seconds. The soil took about 2 and a half minutes for the water to move in and drain in about 6 minutes. The cup under the sand had more water than the cup under the soil. Reasoning: Sand has much larger and looser packed particles which allow water to pass through it quicker, therefore it doesn’t hold much moisture. Soil is made of smaller particles that is mixed with organic matter, which gives it the ability to retain moisture better as well as nutrients. The dark color of soil is proof that there is more organic matter which helps support plant life, Therefore, soil is better at retaining water and nutrients and sand is better at drainage. Question 2: How do my sand and soil compare in terms of ability to erode? ●​ Make a prediction for the investigation. Explain why you think this. I believe the sand will erode more easily than the dark soil because the particles in the sand are looser and do not stick well together. Soil has organic matter that helps hold it together, including when it’s wet. Procedure: ●​ ●​ Using either wet or dry sand and soil, make a small hill of each type of soil in the inside the plastic container from your kit or another container to catch the water. Make sure both hills are the same size. You can make the hill by putting the sand or soil in the paper cup and turning it over into the contain. The hill will look like this: Using one of your cups with holes, pour the same amount of water over the hills. If you would like you can put your container on a slight slope, you can. Here is an image of pouring the water: ●​ ●​ ●​ Make notes of the changes in your hills in terms of the shape, amount of movement, size, etc. Put your data here. This is can be drawing, picture, words, or measurements. Substance What happened after pouring water Notes on Shape, Movement, and Size Dark Soil For the most part, the hill kept its shape, and only a small amount of soil washed away Soil stayed together and stayed in place Sand The hill flattened out pretty quickly, and most of the sand washed away Sand washed away pretty easily and spread out Write a claim, evidence, and reasoning for the investigation question: How do my sand and soil compare in terms of ability to erode? Claim: Sand washes away more quickly than soil when water flows over top of it. Evidence: When the same amount of water was poured over both of the hills, the sand hill lost a lot more material and was pretty much flattened out, while the soil hill kept its shape for the most part. Reasoning: Sand particles are much bigger and don’t stick well together, so water can easily carry them. Soil particles are much smaller, have organic matter, and retain moisture that keeps them together, giving them the ability to resist erosion. This shows that soil is much better at staying in place. ●​ Based on both investigations: How do you think that the sand and dark soil compare in terms of the potential to support plant life? What evidence do you have to support this claim? Why does your evidence support this claim? Dark soil can support plant life much better than sand. Based on the evidence, soil holds more water and can resist erosion a lot better than sand, as well as contains organic matter. This proves that it has the moisture and nutrients for plants to survive and grow. Sand drains easily and can be washed away very easily as well, so plants would struggle to grow in sand. Part 2: Investigation Question: Where does weathering, erosion, and deposition occur within your area? Take a walk around your area and look for examples of weathering, erosion, and deposition. ●​ Find one example of erosion. Describe what you found and how this shows erosion. I found a ditch forming at the edge of a sidewalk where rainwater runs downhill. The soil had been washed away, exposing the roots and grooves in the ground. This is erosion because water is carrying soil from one location to another. ●​ Find one example of deposition. Describe what you found and how this shows deposition. Towards the bottom of a sloped driveway, I saw a little pile of dirt and sand that had been building up after it rains. This is deposition because the materials carried by water from high ground are dropped and are left behind as the water slows down. ●​ Find one example of weathering. Describe what you found and how this shows weathering. I saw some cracks in the brick wall where plants were growing from the gaps. This shows weathering because the roots of the plant and the water are gradually breaking down the brick material into small pieces over time. ●​ Take a picture of one of your three examples from above and include it with your lab. explain what the picture is. If you use a photograph that is not your own, remember to cite your source and explain why this is an example of either weathering, erosion, or deposition. Image Source: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/soil-erosion-101 This is an example of erosion because you can see where water runoff has removed soil from the area, which has created grooves in the ground. Part 3: Investigation Question: How do land features, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes align with the movement of tectonic plates? Procedure: ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ Go to https://seismic-explorer.concord.org Click on “Data Type” on the bottom and select plate boundaries and volcanoes. Click on the key to see what the different lines mean. What type of plate boundary aligns with most volcanoes that are on the continents (on land)? Why do think this plate boundary causes the volcanoes? Most volcanoes on land align with convergent plate boundaries, and this happens when two plates collide, and one plate is forced underneath the other in a process known as subduction. The plates melt and then magma rises to the surface, which creates volcanoes throughout the boundary. ●​ What type of plate boundary aligns with the most volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean? Why do you think this plate boundary has volcanoes in the ocean? The volcanoes in the Atlantic Ocean are found on divergent plate boundaries, and at these boundaries, two plates move away from each other, and the magma comes up from below the surface of the Earth in order to fill the gap. When the magma starts to cool, a new crust begins to form, as well as underwater volcanoes. ●​ Unselect volcanoes under the “data type” but continue selecting “plate boundaries.” Under Map Type, select Relief. A relief map shows areas of higher elevation by making it look like bumps. Find the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a set of mountains under the Atlantic Ocean (it will look like a bunch of bumps under the water). What type of plate boundary is there at this location? Why do you think there are underwater mountains at this location? The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a divergent boundary because when the plates begin to pull apart, the magma is pushed up and becomes a solid, and through that, creates a long chain of underwater mountains. Over time, constant eruptions and spreading have caused the ridge to grow longer and higher. Procedure: ●​ ●​ ●​ ●​ Click on “Data Type” on the bottom and select plate boundaries and earthquakes. Then, click the play button to see all of the Earthquakes from 1980 to today. Click on the key to see what the different circles mean. Do Earthquakes and plate boundaries align? Why does it make sense that Earthquake occur here? Yes, earthquakes do align with plate boundaries because they are where the Earth’s crust sees the most movement and stress. When the plates begin to collide, grind, or pull apart, the energy builds up, which creates seismic shifts, which then causes as earthquakes. ●​ What type of plate boundary aligns with the largest, deepest Earthquakes in term of magnitude? Why does it make sense that the largest Earthquake occur there? The largest and deepest earthquakes happen at convergent boundaries because one plate is forced deep under another into the mantle. This creates a lot of pressure and friction between the plates, and when that pressure is released, it creates very powerful and deep earthquakes. ●​ Why is it unlikely that we would have a large Earthquake or large Volcano in Georgia? It’s unlikely for Georgia to experience large earthquakes or volcanoes because Georgia is located in the middle of the North American plate, which is further from any plate boundaries that are active. Because there are no zones of collision, separation, or subduction close by, the crust remains stable with little to no tectonic activity, and because of this, Georgia experiences no seismic activity or volcanic activity.