Abstract
This paper presents two classroom activities which have students analyze, collect, and interpret geologic data. The material is targeted at distance learning, although it can function well in the classroom as pseudo-field trips. The activity is based around Virtual Outcrop Models (VOMs), created using Structure from Motion – Multi-view Stereo photogrammetry, of two outcrops: the first is a folded outcrop in the southern Death Valley region and the second is a fractured granite in the Santa Monica Mountains. In Activity 1 students begin by analyzing the folds using 2D field photographs. They then look at the same folds using the VOM and are provided strike and dip data. Students are prompted to think about and discuss their interpretations of the shortening directions and the deformation events recorded in the outcrop. After interpreting the outcrop, they then correlate their results with regional structures. In Activity 2, students take direct fracture measurements from the VOM and interpret various fracture characteristics. Their measurements are then compared to other fracture characterizations in the literature. Through the activities students are introduced to a number of key concepts in geology, including the importance of “thinking in 3D″, data collection, interpreting stereonets, and placing results in the context of previous work.
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