Rock Blog

Ice Age Learning Module.

This module, created at the University of Minnesota (team of people including Kent Kirkby, Paul Morin, and Heidi Kamp) builds upon the information in Dr. W. Peltier University of Toronto ‘s publication cited below, to create a compact lesson about the processes and impact of the last major glaciation. The animations (visualizations), as regular QuickTime and Quicktime VR, provide a good learning pathway for visually oriented learners, with good text explanations as well.

The authors provide nice “self checks” for students, to prompt their understanding.

Peltier, W.R., 1993, Time Dependent Topography Through Glacial Cycle. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 93-015. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

The Animated Cordillera, Animation, by James W. Sears (University of Montana) is a nice animated gif that shows the plate motions 220-60 Ma, and covers much of the western US and Canda.

Accompanying test provides point form information about each site. The perspective is interesting:

“The lines are actual geological features such as the lower-middle Cambrian paleo-shoreline position or the zero edge of the Belt Supergroup (see legend). The map implies that the accreted terranes of the Cordillera are not far travelled wanderers, but have origins in an Aleutian-type arc and its collapsing marginal sea.”

(from http://www2.umt.edu/geology/faculty/sears/animation/aboutanimated.htm).