Launch Unit: Geology on Mars

Chapter 1: Comparing Earth and Rocky Planets

Earth, Mars, and other rocky planets can be thought of as systems.

These systems are made up of interacting spheres that can include the

geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

When landforms on different rocky planets look similar, it is evidence that

they may have been formed by the same geologic process.

A planet is habitable if it can support life. Scientists think a planet needs liquid water and an energy

source (such as the sun) to support life.

Planetary geologists study rocky planets by comparing them to Earth because we know more about Earth

than we know about Mercury, Venus, or Mars.

Science is both a body of knowledge and the processes and practices used to add to that body of

knowledge.

Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are

understandable through measurement and observation.

Scientists ask questions about the natural world and develop claims, or tentative answers, based on

evidence.

Scientists use reasoning to explain how the evidence supports their claim.

Scientists make scientific arguments using claims, evidence, and reasoning.

Scientists can use models to test their ideas and get evidence about natural processes in the natural world

that are difficult to observe but models are not exactly the same.

Some models are more useful “To Scale” and other times “Not to Scale”.

Landforms can provide evidence about the past because they remain after the geologic processes that

formed them stop happening.

Scientists evaluate how convincing evidence is when they construct arguments. Ex. models vs. pictures

Evidence can support or go against a claim.

A convincing scientific argument is supported by evidence and the process of reasoning.

Mars may have been habitable in the past because it has an energy source (the sun) and there is evidence

that Mars once had liquid water.

UNIT 1 Plate Motions

Key Concepts

Earth’s outer layer is made of hard, solid rock

Earth’s outer layer is divided into sections called plates.

Geologists look for patterns in landforms and in geologic events in order to better understand Earth.

The plates of Earth’s outer layer move.

Earth’s plates move on top of a soft, solid layer of rock called the mantle.

Rocks can be hard solids or soft solids

At divergent plate boundaries, rock rises from the mantle & hardens, adding new solid rock to the edges of

both plates.

At convergent plate boundaries, one plate moves underneath the other plate and sinks into the

mantle.

Multiple lines of evidence can be used to draw a conclusion or to make a convincing argument.

Scientists analyze data in order to come to conclusions.

Geologists examine patterns on Earth's surface in order to confidently make claims about what geologic

processes are happening.

Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that the plate boundary between the South American Plate and African

Plate is divergent.

Earth’s plates travel at a rate too slow to be experienced by humans & takes a long time to move great

distances.

GPS technology is used to accurately measure the small distances that plates move.

Reasoning, the process of making clear how your evidence supports your claim, is an important practice in

science

Scientists apply what they know about how things work in one situation to explain how they will work in other

similar situations.

Scientists must carefully consider all available evidence before making arguments about a phenomenon.

Discussing evidence and ideas with others helps build new understanding.

Scientists can change their minds when presented with convincing evidence.

That to be convincing, a written scientific argument needs to state a claim, describe specific evidence, and

explain how the evidence supports the claim.

Facts to study and know/Practice

NAME Movement Features

Divergent Boundary

Plates move in different directions or apart

Sea Floor Spreading mid-ocean ridges making

new crust earthquakes

Rift Valleys

Earthquakes Volcanoes mountains

Convergent Boundary

Two plates come together or move towards each other

subduction deep ocean trench volcanoes earthquakes

Transform Boundary

The plates are sliding past one another.

Earthquakes (think of the San Andreas Fault),

What is happening at location “A” in the picture to the right? (include crust & boundary type and feature created) This is a mid-ocean ridge where new crust is being formed. This pushes the plates apart creating a divergent plate boundary.

What is happening at location “C” in the picture to the right? (include crust & boundary type and feature created) This is a subduction zone where two lithospheric plates are converging. A deep ocean trench is created along with earthquakes and volcanoes.

What feature created by the tectonic plates moving do we live in? We live in a Continental Rift Valley called the Rio Grande Rift Valley.

Earth’s outer layer is made out of hard, solid rock, no matter if it is continental or oceanic crust.

Patterns on this map tell us that . . . This pattern shows us that Earthquakes and volcanoes often occur at plate boundaries.

Dr. Bailey and his team are studying two plates that are far apart from each other. However, these two plates used to be next to each other. Which diagram shows what Dr. Bailey and his team would find between these plates?

Diagram A. At divergent plate boundaries magma rises up, adding rock to the edges of both plate. Diagram B is not correct because there are not plates under plates. Diagram C is not right because sand and dirt do not fill in the gap. Diagram D is not correct

A team of researchers has been using GPS data to track two plates that are moving toward each other. Which diagram shows what is happening at the place where the plates are moving toward each other?

At convergent plate boundaries one plate gets pushed (subducted) underneath the other plate, into the mantle (magma) below.

Fossil remains of Cynognathus (an extinct large-bodied animal) have been discovered in Argentina & South Africa. When they were living, all the Cynognathus lived together on land, and they could not swim. However, now there is an ocean between the Cynognathus fossils. What could explain how these fossils got so far apart? There must be a divergent plate boundary between the plates. Ove a long time (millions of years) the land got separated. Since the fossils are in the land, the fossils got separated.

Engineering Design The Design Cycle is a process used by scientists and engineers to create solutions that address specific goals or

criteria.

The design cycle has four main steps: plan, build, test, and analyze. These steps form a cycle that repeats.

Typically, you begin with plan. In this stage, you think about your criteria and make a plan for a design that

meets those criteria.

On the build step, you actually start creating your design.

Once the design is built, you test it.

The test results give you information about how well your design works.

Next, on the analyze step, you examine your test results.

o How well did your design measure up to your criteria?

o Here you figure out whether there are areas that need improvement.

Finally, you’re back at plan.

This is when you think about what you can change in your design to better meet the criteria.

You will go through the full cycle over and over until you have addressed the criteria as effectively as possible.

Just remember your goal is to improve your design each time you move through the cycle.

Unit: Rock Transformations

Key Concepts

Three types of rock: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic.

Rocks can form in different ways. This causes them to be different types.

Matter gets transformed by energy, but the same matter is still present

Any rock can become magma or sediment.

Sediment forms when any type of rock is weathered, a process driven by energy from the sun.

Magma forms when any type of rock is melted, a process driven by energy from Earth’s interior.

When sediment is compacted and cemented together, it forms sedimentary rock.

When magma cools, it hardens to form igneous rock.

When any rock is exposed to heat and/or pressure, it will form a metamorphic rock.

Plate motion moves rock formations.

Subduction moves rock down, below Earth’s outer layer.

Uplift moves rock upward toward Earth’s surface.

Uplift and subduction can expose rock formations to different energy sources, which can transform them.

Weathering is a complex process, which results in wind and water breaking down rock into sediment.

Erosion is the process of moving water and wind, carrying sediment, downhill to a low point in the landscape

where it accumulates.

Energy drives the processes that transform rock.

Any type of rock can transform into any type of rock because of plate motion.

Energy from different sources leads to different types of rock. Energy inside Earth melts rock into liquid rock,

but energy from the sun causes rock to weather into small pieces of rock.

Could the material from igneous rock come from sedimentary rock? Yes, if sedimentary rock is moved below

Earth’s outer layer and exposed to energy from Earth’s interior, it can melt into liquid rock and form igneous

rock.

How did material from the rock formations turn into sand? Wind and rain interacted with the rock, breaking it

into small pieces.

Is it possible that material from an igneous rock formation could ever form sedimentary rock on Earth’s

surface? Yes, if igneous rock is moved to Earth’s surface and exposed to energy from the sun, it could weather

into small rock pieces that could form sedimentary rock.

Facts to study and know/Practice

Look at the rock layers to the right.

Which layer is the oldest? ___Layer 5______ Which layer is the youngest? ___Layer 1______ Which type of age dating are you using? _Relative___ AGE DATING How did you determine which layer was the oldest and what do you call that? LAW OF ___Super Position__________ ABSOLUTE AGE DATING is the age of a rock or fossil given as the ___number___of years since it was formed.

Layer 1

Layer 2

Layer 3

Layer 4

Layer 5

How did the two layers labeled

“Pennsylvanian” become separated?

The one at the top of the Sandia

mountains was uplifted.

Could the bottom layer labeled

“Pennsylvanian” ever become weathered

and broken into sediment?

Yes, the one under all the other layers

could become weathered and broken

into sediment if that rock is ever

exposed at the surface. Weathering

happens at the surface, because it is

driven by energy from the sun.

Dependent/Responding Variable - The variable that is being measured (data

collected) & may or may not be affected by the changed variable.

Independent/Manipulated Variable - The one variable that is changed on

purpose in an experiment.

Identify the Independent/Manipulated Variable: (Think MIX) X-axis label, M

stands for Manipulated, I stands for Independent _# of students__

Identify the Dependent/Responding Variable: (Think DRY) Y-axis label, D stands

for Dependent, R stands for Responding __Favorite Color _

Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space.

All matter is made up of tiny little particles known as atoms and molecules.

Earth, Moon, Sun Unit

Key Concepts

The Moon does not make its own light; the sun illuminates the Moon.

When a model is “to scale,” object sizes and distances are larger or smaller

than in the real world but the same relative to one another. Some models

need to be “not to scale” to be useful.

D R Y

The sun illuminates the half of the Moon that is facing it, and the other half is dark.

Light from the sun travels in straight lines.

From Earth we can only see the half of the Moon that is facing us.

Because the Moon moves to different positions around Earth, we see different amounts of the illuminated

half of the Moon. This is why we see different phases of the Moon.

There is a pattern to the position of the Moon because the Moon orbits

around Earth.

It takes about one month for the Moon to orbit Earth, so it takes about one

month to see the full pattern of moon phases. This pattern repeats with every

orbit of the Moon.

During a lunar eclipse, the Moon is completely dark because Earth blocks sunlight from hitting the Moon.

Lunar eclipses can only happen when Earth is in between the sun and the Moon.

Lunar eclipses do not happen every time Earth is in between the sun and the Moon.

The Moon is only completely dark when the sun, Earth, and the Moon are in

a straight line, with Earth in the middle.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and

the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at

the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun

and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth's surface.

Facts to study and know/Practice

Earth rotates (spins) on its axis. One rotation equals 24 hours or 1 day.

The Moon also rotates on its axis, but much slower than Earth’s rotation.

It takes the moon 27.3 Earth days to make one rotation on its axis.

It takes the same amount of time (27.3 Earth days) to also orbit around Earth.

Astronomers made two observations of the Moon that were several days apart. Their observations are shown in the

diagram above. The light part of the Moon appeared to get larger over time. Why did this happen?

The moon orbits Earth. The moon is always half illuminated. We are seeing different parts of the illuminated

half at different angles as it orbit Earth.

Use the diagram to the right to identify the different phases of

the moon. (Remember, the key is to locate the sun first)

Which moon is the full moon? #5 Which moon is the new moon? #1 Waxing side (growing) #’s 2, 3, 4 Waning side (shrinking) #’s 6, 7, 8

A lunar eclipse occurs during a Full Moon when the Earth’s shadow does fall

on the moon.

A solar eclipse is when the Moon’s shadow falls on Earth. This occurs during

a New Moon and during the rare times that the tilt of the Moons orbit is

aligned with Earth’s orbit.

The diagrams above show Earth and the Moon in different positions, as seen from above (top view). Sunlight is coming

from the left, but these diagrams do not show what parts of Earth or the Moon are light or dark. Could the half of the

Moon that faces Earth ever be completely dark in any of these diagrams?

Diagram 3. Yes, it is possible because Diagram 3 is a New Moon, which appears completely dark from Earth.

Three students made the diagrams above to show what they think the Moon looks like when it is seen from above (top

view). In these diagrams, the sunlight is coming from the left, as shown by the arrows. Which diagram is accurate and

why?

Diagam C is accurate because half of the moon is illuminated. It has to be the side facing the sun,

Diagram A is wrong because the moon is completely dark. Diagram B is wrong because the moon is

completely illuminated.