1. Given that “Environmental Unity” means: changing one thing in the environment affects other things in the environment…

From lecture on 8-27:  Damming a river in the mountains will change the amount of sand (and other sediment) that will reach the end of the river at the ocean coastline.  

Here's another one:  Building a new parking lot for a new shopping mall on what was previously a hay field.  The parking lot will change the way rain will soak into the ground. Instead of soaking into the ground over the large area that is now a parking lot, the water will run-off the parking lot into the street and possibly flood the street.  The water flowing off of the parking lot will also have oil and gasoline mixed with it as it rinses these things off the parking lot. 

First, gather information about the geology of the area: location of faults, location of different earth materials, and the history of past seismic activity: size and frequency of earthquakes.

Then use this information to design building codes for the area, keeping in mind that different areas may require more stringent codes depending on whether the areas are prone to violent shaking or liquefaction.

Use this information to determine where to locate essential facilities like hospitals, police stations, and fire stations. Try to locate them so that they will receive the least material amplification and are not separated from the majority of the population by a fault.

 3.  Paragraph on  how chemistry of magma controls the shape of a volcano:

    The chemistry of the magma refers to how much silica (silicon and oxygen) is in the magma.  We can divide magma chemistry into two catagories:  high silica and low silica.  Magma with high silica content has a high viscosity, which results in slow moving lava and trapped gas.  The slow moving lava tends to build up near the vent, making the volcano steep sided. The trapped gas builds up in pressure, then escapes in an explosion resulting in lots of ash and pyroclastic material being ejected into the air.  The ash falls back down around the vent creating a cone-shaped pile that has steep sides also.  These volcanoes are called stratovolcanoes (or composite volcanoes) because of the layered ash and lava that make them up.  Magma with low silica has a low viscosity, which results in fast moving magma and allows gas to escape easily.  The fast moving lava spreads out from the vent and covers a large area.  Several layers of lava are required to build up this type of volcano.  Because the gas can escape easily from the magma, the pressure does NOT build up,  so the eruptions are relatively mild, and very little volcanic material is thrown into the air.  Thus the resulting shield volcanoes are broad mountains with gently sloped sides. 

4. Worksheet on Mt. Pinatubo documentary "In the Path of a Killer Volcano"  

5. "Name that Rock"

6. Relative Age Dating

7. Answers to Glaciers pop-quiz:

1. Arete	2. Striations	3. Kettle lakes	4. Erratics

8. Soil loss:

Steps farmers can take to mitigate soil loss

Steps urban planners can take to mitigate soil loss

Urbanization will remove soil from agriculture by simply covering the region with buildings and cement and other infrastructure.  Once urbanized, the top soil is destroyed and cannot be replaced by removing buildings. Thus, urban planners need to be aware of the agricultural needs of their region or state, and set aside land for agriculture.  Oh yeah, and I'd want to know if there are any expanding soils in my area--not that this has anything to do with soil loss, though.  'Cause if so,  I may have to recommend  that the soil be either engineered before buildings are put on them, or just plain avoided.

9. How water influences mass wasting

There are many ways, but the 2 main ways are:

1) it adds mass to the rock or soil causing it to weigh more, which increases the driving force for failure.
2) water pressure in the rock or soil pores counter acts the normal force (which combines with the friction to contribute to the resisting force) and thus decreases the resisting force.

10. Groundwater

The well is not in danger. Diagram from lecture.

12. Answers to Coastline pop-quiz:

1. Pocket Beach	2. Headlands	3. Sea Stack	4. Wave-cut bench (platform)

Useful links:

Syllabus Fall 2008

GLY 160: Environmental Geology web page