Mr. Wade Jones
Ms. Maggie Simmons

And Again

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Geology Department

Laboratory Manual

GEOLOGY 103 Dynamic Earth

2nd Edition

2007

Introduction

In Dynamic Earth (GEOL 103) you will be asked to submit laboratory reports summarizing the observations you have made and data you have collected on several field trips to local sites. The Geology Department has a standard format we ask you to follow and it is outlined below. The format is conservative of space and follows all of the rules of the written word you are familiar with (i.e. grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure). Typically scientific reports and papers differ from papers in the humanities in their brevity, directness, and organization. Verbose styles or the excessive use of adjectives are unneeded and strongly discouraged.

Basic Format of the Laboratory Report

A laboratory report for Dynamic Earth will have the following format:

Ø Title Page/Section

Ø Introduction

Ø Methods

Ø Data and Observations

Ø Interpretations

Ø Conclusion

Ø References Cited

Ø Map, Figures, Tables, Charts, if any

A Short Description of Each Section of Your Report

Title Page/Section - Your title should concisely convey the subject of the report to the reader. The title must contain enough information to be an effective representation of your work. The title page must also include the author, the names of any lab or field partners, your laboratory instructor’s name, your lab session, and the date of submittal. To conserve paper you may begin the introduction of your report on the title page. An example of a typical title section is shown below:

Laboratory Manual for Dynamic Earth

Jeff Chiarenzelli

Lab Partner - George Stone

Instructor - Dr. Stephen Robinson

Monday Lab Session – GEOL 103A

August 29, 2006

Introduction - Your introduction section will provide the background information needed to orient the reader. It will acquaint the reader with the topic, describe the location and problem, and, in some cases, provide essential information you may have learned in class or from the literature or even from your textbook in preparation for the laboratory. It never contains data that you have collected or conclusions. A location map or figure is often a useful addition.

Methods - The methods section provides a summary of how the information you are about to describe was collected and any equipment or materials (maps, aerial photographs, etc.) you may have used. For most of the Dynamic Earth field labs this section will be brief as it will primarily involve observations of the features pointed out by the instructor or teaching assistants and the use of simply tests (scratching, dilute HCl, observation with a hand-lens).

Data and Observations - This section is the “meat” of your laboratory report. Data includes facts and observations. If data is collected then graphs, tables, and figures are often used to help organize and present it. All figures and tables used have captions and are referred to in this section. Most geology laboratories will require careful observation and description and this will be presented in this section. Save your interpretations for the next section.

Interpretations – You should use this section to discuss what your data and observations indicate in terms of the problem at hand. For instance if the site you are describing contains a layered sequence of sedimentary rocks containing rippled and mud cracked surfaces you might suggest that the area was once covered by shallow water necessary to form the ripples. During periods of drying, the mud cracks formed by desiccation of the exposed surface. This all happened, of course, before the entire rock section was buried and lithified.

Conclusions – The concluding section of your report is reserved for emphasizing the most important conclusions of your report in a clear and concise manner. From the discussion above you might conclude that the locality you visited was once intermittently covered by shallow water.

References Cited – If you use information from another source in your report, perhaps your textbook or a geological map, you must cite it in your references. This may or may not be needed in your reports, although everyone is highly encouraged to do some investigation on their own related to the laboratory assignments. For example, it would be very useful to consult a geological map to determine the name and approximate age of the rocks you visit!

Logistics

When do I hand in my lab? - The Geology Department will not accept late labs. You must turn in the laboratory prior to the start of next week’s laboratory.

Where do I hand in my lab? - Boxes for each laboratory section are located outside of Room 144 in the Geology Department. Please put your lab in the appropriate slot, there is one for each of the lab instructors.

Does everyone have to hand in a lab report? - Even if you work in a group or with a partner you are responsible for turning in your own lab. The lab reports will be similar but each one must be in the author’s own words. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense and the best way to avoid it is to do your own writing and cite any references utilized.

Geez, I need an example and additional information? - The complete laboratory manual for geology courses and sample lab report is available on my “T” Drive and on the ANGEL course site for this class. It has numerous examples, tips, and information related to laboratory reports.

Fischer plots are plots of accommodation (derived by calculating cumulative departure from mean cycle thickness) versus cycle number or stratigraphic distance (proxies for time), for “cyclic” carbonate platforms. The plots can be used to derive periods of increased accommodation, shown on the plots as a rising limb (which commonly matches times of more open marine, subtidal parasequence development). Times of decreased accommodation, shown on the plots as a falling limb, generally are coincident with thin, shallow, peritidal parasequences.
The plots are valuable in that they allow geologists to recognize changes in accommodation space from cyclic carbonate successions, and hence allow them to pick depositional sequences, the fundamental units of modern stratigraphy.

Download the FISCHERPLOTS
for free

Here is a simple method of generating Fischer plots of cumulative departure from mean cycle thickness plotted against either cycle number or stratigraphic distance, using an Excel spreadsheet program developed by Husinec et al. (Computers & Geosciences). The only data that needs to be input is number and thickness of covered intervals (or uncored intervals in core), and cycle thickness data. For further information see:

Husinec, A., Basch, D., Rose, B. & Read, J.F., 2008, FISCHERPLOTS: an Excel spreadsheet for computing Fischer plots of accommodation change in cyclic carbonate successions in both the time and depth domain. Computers & Geosciences, 33, p. 169-177. DOI:10.1016/j.cageo.2007.02.004 (PDF)

If you use this program in any form and material is published/reported from it please acknowledge the use of the program.

Please send mail to ahusinec@stlawu.edu if you encounter any problems or have suggestions.

For more information please click on one of the tabs to the left.

For more information please click on one of hte tabs to the left.

I have also taught Paleontology course for geology majors, and an advanced graduate course in Paleoclimate & Carbonate Platforms.

Academic studies, and field and laboratory research in Europe and Virginia, has formed my approach to research and teaching. I began my research career as a graduate student at Zagreb University, Croatia, studying the evolution, growth and demise of the Tethyan Adriatic platform, a platform as large as the present day Bahama platform. Through this work I have gained extended experience in foraminiferal taxonomy and biostratigraphy, paleoecology, carbonate sedimentology, geological mapping and microscopy. Furthermore, my fieldwork at the Croatian Geological Survey has given me an increased opportunity to hone my sedimentological and stratigraphic skills.

After completing my Ph.D. I went to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia on a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship to work with Professor J. Fred Read. This research was in carbonate sedimentology and paleoclimate utilizing data I collected during several years of research in Croatia. While at Virginia Tech, we documented that the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) was in fact a hot greenhouse time within Frakes et al. (1992) overall “cool” mode of the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. We also showed that the geologic distribution of distinctive radial ooid units in the Late Jurassic of the Adriatic platform, reflects the juxtaposition of calcite seas, high supersaturation states, arid climate, and presence of flat-topped platforms in a greenhouse world.

On-going NSF- and Croatian Ministry of Science-funded research uses data from the Adriatic platform of Croatia, supplemented by published and ongoing studies in the Middle East and elsewhere, to evaluate whether the >50 m.y. long Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous interval, originally considered to be greenhouse, has intervals recording moderate amplitude glacioeustasy implying some high-latitude ice, and climates that are transitional between greenhouse and ice-house. Besides being a window into a generally hot time in the Earth’s history, the interval is also important because it was the time when the supergiant carbonate reservoirs of the Middle East developed.