GEOB 103: Laboratory Assignments

This page is dedicated to providing general information about the laboratory assignments for this class. These are primarily pedagogic assignments that are designed to help you learn the material and to provide you feedback on our expectations for your work.

General Information about the labs

Do I have to attend the lab for which I am registered?

No. The scheduled labs have effectively been cancelled. Instead, we will use some of those lab periods to offer help on the laboratory assignments and on the lecture material on a weekly basis. The TAs will be available in room 229 of the Geography building at the beginning of each scheduled Lab Assistance Centre time slot (see the course website for the LAC schedule). Attendance at one of the LAC time slots is strongly recommended during the weeks that students are working on their labs, and the TAs will present a brief introduction to the lab assignment at the beginning of each session. NOTE: come to the beginning of the LAC session, since the TAs will leave once there are no more students with questions.

Can I attend any of the LAC sessions?

Yes. While some LAC sessions will be in higher demand than others, you are permitted to attend whichever and as many of the LAC sessions as you wish. Students will be admitted on a first-come-first-served basis.

My TA will not give me a direct answer to my question...how come?

While the TAs are there to help you learn the material, they are not there to interpret it for you, and they are instructed not to give too much help on the labs, particularly with respect to the interpretation questions. So they will be able to tell you what a cross section is, for example, but not what your particular cross section should look like not what it all means.

Laboratory Assignment #1

Topic

Plate Tectonics and Rock Types

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/geob103/Private101/Labs/Section_101_lab_1.html

Dates

Available through the course website as of Thursday 16 Sep 2010 (21:15)

Due at 11 am at the beginning of lecture on Friday 24 Sep 2010

Questions

Why does my version of Part 3 look different?

Because the instructor and TA's changed the wording on Friday afternoon to remove any possible ambiguity in the questions.

Why can't I find the link to the Google Earth Layer in part 4

This was added to the web based version on Friday afternoon, then to the downloadable version early this week. If you can't see the link in the version of the assignment that you have downloaded, go back to the web based version (it is worth it because this Google Earth Layer can be very helpful for doing parts 2,3,4)

What's the relationship between continental plates on the one hand and oceanic and continental crust on the other hand?

“We now know that the Earth is covered in a number of rigid 'plates' that move across its surface, over and on a partially-molten internal layer. Using geological terms, the plates form the lithosphere, which is the Earth's solid rock. The lithosphere comprises all of the crust, and the brittle part of the uppermost mantle. The rigid lithospheric plates can be considered to 'float' on the underlying, ductile asthenosphere, which 'flows'. There are 9 major such plates, and many smaller ones. These are known as "continental plates", with the smaller ones being termed "micro continents". “These plates may consist of continental crust, of oceanic crust, or a combination of the two. Most are a combination, with the exception of the three 3 major oceanic plates, which are the Pacific, the Nazca and the Cocos. The remaining major plates are all combinations of oceanic and continental crust, and are named after the land embedded in them - Eurasia, Africa, India-Australia, Antarctica, South America and North America..."

source: ”The Theory of Plate Tectonics” http://www.bbm.me.uk/portsdown/PH_063_PlateTec.htm

Geological Terms

The following terms are reasonably well described in the textbook as well as on Wikipedia, but will not be explicitly discussed in class (you SHOULD know them for class, though)

Plate Tectonics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics
Orogeny:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orogeny
Continental Shield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Shield
Wilson Cycle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_cycle
Active Margin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_margin
Passive Margin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_margin

Laboratory Assignment #2

Topic

TBA

Dates

To be made available (digitally through the course website) on Friday 1 Oct 2010

Due at 11 am at the beginning of lecture on Friday 8 Oct 2010

Questions

Laboratory Assignment #3

Topic

Fieldtrip to the Point Grey Cliffs

Dates

To be made available (digitally through the course website) on Friday 22 Oct 2010, prior to the field trips that will be run the week of Oct 25 to 29

Due at 11 am at the beginning of lecture on Friday 5 Nov 2010

Questions

Laboratory Assignment #4

Topic

TBA

Dates

To be made available (digitally through the course website) on Friday 12 Nov 2010

Due at 11 am at the beginning of lecture on Friday 19 Nov 2010