DQ 4: Hot Waters 1818 unread replies.2323 replies. ** This is a good point in th

DQ 4: Hot Waters
1818 unread replies.2323 replies.
** This is a good point in the semester to discuss making your responses a reflection of your own understanding. It is very tempting to use the copy and paste functions to glean information from your sources into your responses. Directly copying and pasting information is plagiarism. You must be able to put the information in to your own words, so that it shows that you understand the concepts. Blatant copying and pasting will result in a zero for the assignment. **
Discussion Question 4: Hot springs are one manifestation of the heat inside the earth, and of how water circulates fairly deeply in the earth’s crust. They area also sites where microbial extremophiles live – one-celled organisms that survive harsh conditions. They also can be interesting and pleasant places to visit. Using search engines, or library sources, or your own experience, find and report on the following information on a specific hot or warm spring. Put the name of your hot spring in the title of your post.
1) Name of the Hot Spring.
2) Geographic location.
3) Temperature of springs.
4) Nearby associated geologic feature (e.g. volcano, fault, mountains, etc).
5) Other interesting characteristics such as the amount of flow, or unique life associated with the hot spring.
6) Your sources of information.
7) Why did you choose to report on this particular hot spring or geyser?
Once a specific hot spring has been named and described in the discussion board, it is off limits, and subsequent entries for that hot spring will not receive points. I think as the class accumulates this information you will be surprised at how many hot springs there are. Geologic associations should also become clear.
DQ 5: Earth-Sun Interactions
1515 unread replies.1717 replies.
One can learn a lot from looking at the earth from above. In Lecture 7, we discussed how various materials reflect or absorb solar radiation differently. Now it’s your turn! Find an aerial or satellite image of some part of the world on the web, other than those depicted in lecture. Make sure it is an image. (Not a map!) A great variety of sources exist including Google maps (satellite view). Each student should have a unique image. Copy or save the image and include it in your response. The image can be directly uploaded to Canvas, or it can be saved in a Word document. For your assignment, complete the following tasks:
1) Describe in words the geographic location covered by the image. What state, country, etc are you in? What is the latitude, longitude, and elevation? Describe the climate and/or ecosystem are you in (i.e. are you in the mountains? Desert? Urban areas? Wetland?).
2) Make a list of the various earth materials that are reflecting light differently. See Lecture 7b for several examples of this. List out which components in your image have high albedo (high reflectivity) and which ones have low albedo (low reflectivity).
3) Which materials might give off the most energy in infrared at night, and why?
4) Discuss which of these materials and albedos can change over time. Consider a time frame of a) over the course of a year, b) over several decades or centuries d) geologic time (hundreds of thousands to millions of years).
Note: Sometimes it is difficult to determine what features are from the air. Feel free to also look at pictures taken on the ground level to figure out all the features in your area. Google map view and Google street view are great for this!
To help your classmates out, post the location name of your area in the title of your response so that others will know what has already been chosen.