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Improving Ocean Literacy By Teaching the Geology of Lake Huron

Improving Ocean Literacy By Teaching the Geology of Lake Huron. David P. Lusch , Ph.D., GISP Dept. of Geography Michigan State University NSTA Northern/Midwestern Area Conference, Detroit, MI October , 2007. Ocean Literacy Concept Map, Grades 3 – 5

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Improving Ocean Literacy By Teaching the Geology of Lake Huron

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  1. Improving Ocean Literacy By Teaching the Geology of Lake Huron David P. Lusch, Ph.D., GISP Dept. of Geography Michigan State University NSTA Northern/Midwestern Area Conference, Detroit, MI October , 2007

  2. Ocean Literacy Concept Map,Grades 3 – 5 Subset that are covered using Geology of Lake Huron 2. The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the earth 2.1 Some landforms we see today were once underwater 2.2 Movement of water erodes and deposits materials (sediments)

  3. Ocean Literacy Concept Map,Grades 3 – 5 2.1 Some landforms we see today were once underwater • 2.1.1 Forces underneath landmasses and the sea floor (tectonics) can change the shape of the earth’s surface • 2.1.2 Changes in sea level shape the earth’s surface • 2.1.2.1 During ice ages, sea level falls; during periods of warm climates, sea level rises

  4. Ocean Literacy Concept MapGrades, 3 – 5 2.1 Some landforms we see today were once underwater • 2.1.3 Some rocks found on land were formed in the ocean • 2.1.3.1 Sedimentary rocks form when ocean sediments are compressed • 2.1.3.2 Organisms embedded in sedimentary rocks become fossils • 2.1.3.2.1 Marine fossils can be found in various types of sedimentary rocks, especially shale and limestone

  5. Ocean Literacy Concept Map Grades, 3 – 5 2.2 Movement of water erodes and deposits materials (sediments) • 2.2.1 Rivers carry sediments downstream to the oceans (clastic sediments) • 2.2.2 The facies concept explains lateral variations in the lithologic characteristics of sediments of the same geological age • 2.2.2.1 Wave energy in the shore zone keeps the finer clastic sediments in suspension • 2.2.2.2 Fine clastic sediments settle out in the off-shore clastic zone • 2.2.2.3 Carbonate-rich sediments are deposited in the deeper off-shore, non-clastic zone

  6. Michigan Sedimentary Basin Canadian Shield

  7. Michigan Sedimentary Basin • Michigan Basin was inundated numerous times by oceans, which eventually filled it with sedimentary deposits • Four general sedimentary rock types fill the Michigan Basin: • Sandstones • Carbonates (limestone and dolostone) • Shales • Evaporites (halite and gypsum)

  8. Michigan Sedimentary Basin • Younger rocks (542 – 145 million years old) • All sedimentary (mostly marine deposits) • Sandstone • Shale • Carbonates (Limestone and Dolostone) • Variably resistant to erosion • Sandstone and carbonates resist physical erosion • Shale is soft, thinly bedded and easily eroded

  9. Cambrian 500 Ma N Equator X

  10. N N Mississippian 325 Ma Mississippian 345 Ma Equator Equator Equator What a difference 20 million years makes!

  11. No wave energy - no clastics non-clastic sediments settle out No wave energy - fine clastic sediments settle out Wave energy keeps fine clastic sediments in suspension Near-shore zone Off-shore clastic zone Off-shore non-clastic zone Becomes limestone/ dolostone Becomes sandstone Becomes shale Facies Concept • Lateral variations in the lithologic characteristics of a volume of sediments of the same geologic age

  12. Differential erosion • Sedimentary rock types are of unequal resistance to physical erosion: • SandstonesandCarbonates are stronger and tend to support highlands • Shales are weaker and tend to underlie lowlands

  13. Michigan Sedimentary Basin • Structural basin – like nested bowls • Oldest rocks at the bottom, youngest at the top

  14. Niagaran Escarpment • Major resistant-rock (dolomite) landform in the Michigan Structural Basin

  15. Bruce Peninsula, Ontario Dip slope Scarp slope N Niagaran Escarpment

  16. Bedrock of theLake Huron Basin

  17. Bathymetry of the Lake Huron Basin

  18. Bathymetry of the Lake Huron Basin

  19. Origin of the Great Lakes • Distal causes • For Lake Superior - plate tectonics and rifting • For the lower Great Lakes - development of the Michigan sedimentary basin • Proximal causes • Glacial sculpting of bedrock, mediated by differences in resistance to erosion • Isostatic uplift of the region shifting the watershed outlet

  20. Beginning about 15,500 C14 years ago, the melting Ice Sheet began uncovering Lower Michigan. • A series of proglacial lakes formed at the margin of the retreating Ice Sheet wherever the land sloped towards the ice front.

  21. Glacial Lake Elkton 12,400C14 yrs ago Glacial Lake Elkton (Lundy)

  22. Lake levels in the Great Lakes Basin progressively fell as new outlets were uncovered and down-cut. • Eventually, the water levels in the Huron Basin reached their lowest elevation when drainage shifted to the final outlet at North Bay, Ontario, which flowed eastward along the Ottawa River Valley.

  23. ISOSTATIC REBOUND

  24. Algonquin 11,000 C14 yrs 184.4 m Nipissing 4500 C14 yrs 184.4 m Algonquin wave cliffs 51.8 m rise in 6500 yrs. Nipissing wave cliff Nipissing wave cliff • Isostatic rebound evidence

  25. The End http://www.rsgis.msu.edu/

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