Chapter 1: Time to Apply
Below are materials to support teaching and learning about scientific ocean drilling that connect to the content in this chapter. We also encourage you to explore the Resources for Educators page in this OER for links to additional exercises and assessments.
Time to Apply: Part A
Exercise 1
In the Sediment and the Subsurface section of this chapter, take a closer look at the map “Total Sediment Thickness of the World’s Oceans and Marginal Seas, Version 3 (GlobSed).” The map legend shows sediment thicknesses by different shades of color. As noted earlier in this section, ocean sediments record paleoenvironmental and depositional history tied to specific geographic locations over geologic time.
a) Within the Atlantic Ocean between the latitudes of 0° and -30°, identify the areas where sediment is thickest sediment and where sediment is thinnest.
b) Based on the locations of the thicker sediments, what is their most likely principal source?
c) A quick scan of the map shows that most of the Atlantic Ocean is covered by sediment layers that are 0.5 kilometers thick or less. To better understand the scale of this geologically rich but relatively thin layer, calculate the percentage that 0.5 kilometers represents out of Earth’s total radius of 6,371 kilometers.
Exercise 2
In the Plate Tectonics section of this chapter, examine the NOAA map, “Age of Oceanic Lithosphere [m.y.].” The video preceding this map demonstrates how new material is continually generated at divergent plate tectonic boundaries, while older material is destroyed or recycled at convergent plate tectonic boundaries.
a) What color represents the most recently formed lithosphere on this map?
b) The Atlantic Ocean is a great example of where two diverging plates move away from each other and new seafloor is generated. Where in the Atlantic Ocean is this newly generated lithosphere located?
c) The symmetrical ages of the Atlantic Ocean lithosphere track the process of seafloor formation, called “seafloor spreading.” Which region of the Atlantic Ocean—northern or southern—contains the oldest lithosphere?
d) Considering the ages of the oldest ocean lithosphere, which region began seafloor spreading earlier, the North Atlantic or the South Atlantic?
e) Approximately when did this seafloor spreading begin?
Exercise 3
Where Were You in the Cambrian?
On the basis of the video Plate Tectonics Scotese Animation located at the end of the Plate Tectonics section of this chapter, answer the following questions about the constantly changing continents and oceans.
a) According to this video, where was your country or state during the Cambrian? Under water? Still being built, geologically speaking?
b) Compared to its present location where was the land mass that we now call the continent of North America throughout the Cambrian Period?
c) Scan the video during the Silurian Period and locate your country or state. What is your location relative to the equator and in what direction is your home heading?
d) What land masses rift apart to form the Atlantic Ocean and what forms first, the North Atlantic or the South Atlantic?
e) Approximately how many millions of years ago did India converge with Asia to form the Himalayan Mountains?
Exercise 4
Identify Earth’s Interacting Spheres
Time to Apply: Part B
The exercises listed in this initial section of Part B are peer reviewed and come from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT).
1. Learning about marine sediments using real data — This exercise set explores marine sediments using real core photos and composition data from the scientific ocean drilling programs DSDP, ODP, and IODP in an inquiry-based approach. This activity is in NAGT’s Teach the Earth portal and is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection.
2. Virtual marine sediment core collection — A primary objective of marine science classes is to learn the location and formation of ocean sediment types. Nearly 50 years of scientific ocean drilling has produced a tremendous scientific collection of cores from the global ocean floor. In addition, there are large online databases and related publications that have a wealth of associated information to supplement physical cores. Here we created a virtual marine core collection that provides exemplars of the primary ocean sediment lithologies, along with links to expedition reports and datasets, and tips for making requests for real core samples to use in education. This activity is in NAGT’s Teach the Earth portal and is part of the GEODE (Google Earth for Onsite and Distance Education) collection.
These lessons are based on are based on activities developed by educators and scientists who worked aboard JOIDES Resolution. They have been revised by the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) to connect to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and to include additional support for student learning. All lessons can be found under Educational Resources Using Ocean Coring Data.
3. Analyzing Earth’s Climate History Using Sediment Cores — Students identify and describe patterns in ocean sediment core samples that provide evidence of Earth’s climate history, particularly the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.
4. Beyond the Surface: Earth’s Magnetic Memory Revealed in Seafloor Cores — Students use paleomagnetic data taken from the seafloor of the northwest Pacific Ocean to understand that magnetic reversals have occurred throughout Earth’s history.
5. Crustal Clues: Investigating Seafloor Spreading — Students plot sediment thickness along a span of the ocean floor east of the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge and relate it to the process of seafloor spreading and the direction and rate of movement of the Juan de Fuca Plate.
6. Discovery Under the Ocean Floor — Students describe sediment and rock types in cores from the South China Sea to reconstruct the geologic history of the ocean floor near a plate boundary.
7. Getting Salty — With a focus on system interactions (atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere), students explain how large salt deposits can form on the seafloor, similar to those that formed during the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean Sea.
8. Oh Brother Is It Hot! — Students analyze core data retrieved from the submarine Brothers Volcano in the Pacific Ocean to learn about volcanic and hydrothermal activity along a volcanic arc.
9. Plunging Plates — Students integrate information from models and ocean core data from off the west coast of Costa Rica to determine if a plate boundary is a subduction zone.
10. The Evidence is Piling Up…On the Seafloor — Students identify patterns in Indian Ocean seafloor sediment to use as evidence of environmental changes that affect the rate of terrestrial erosion.
11. Virtual Expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge — Students use Google Earth data and microfossils ages from cores retrieved near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to determine the rate of seafloor spreading.
12. Understanding Oceanic Crust Using Density — Students will be able to calculate the density of samples taken off the west coast of Central America to determine the relationship between density and depth in a given core, and measure, calculate, and compare to continental rock samples.
13. Collecting Cores from the Seafloor — Students study captioned photographs from Expedition 375, conducted along the northern Hikurangi subduction margin near New Zealand. Their goal is to determine the sequence of operations and analyses carried out during the expedition, gaining insight into how scientific objectives are established and pursued.
The JOIDES Resolution website has an entire collection of Classroom Activities that include lesson plans, data exercises, digital interactives, posters, and career information. Here in Part B, we call attention to materials that relate to the content of this chapter.
14. Exploring seafloor data — Present students with this data set of microbial phyla from the shallow and deep biosphere and guide them to identify patterns, then form and test multiple hypotheses about the questions they generate. They can then reflect on the elements of “doing science” they experienced, use the Science Flow Chart to document the process they engaged in and share what they would do next.
15. Inquiry into sediment cores — This activity serves as an inquiry-based introduction to ocean sediment through sediment core description, the primary types of marine sediments, their distribution on the sea floor, and the controls that determine their distribution.
16. Secrets of the sediments — During this activity, students will graph and analyze data from sediments collected off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, during ODP Leg 146 (Hole 893A) to determine whether this information can be used to study historical climate change. A Digital Adaptation of this activity is in the IODP School of Rock 2020 collection.
