Earth Science
Name_____________________________
Chapter 3
Period_____________________________
Lab
Date______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Exploring a Topographic Map
Geneva Quadrangle
Use the topographic map of the Geneva Quadrangle to complete the questions below. (0.5 points each, 15 points total)
Name and North
_______________ 1. What is the name of this quadrangle, and the date it was published?
_______________ 2. Which way is north on the map (top, bottom, left, right)?
Latitude and Longitude
3. The latitude in this map area is given on the right and left edges of the map in
minutes and seconds, and in the corners in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
_______________
What is the latitude of the northern boundary of this map?
_______________
What is the latitude of the southern boundary of this map?
_______________
How many total minutes of latitude does this map cover?
4. The longitude in this map area is given on the top and bottom edges of the map in
minutes and seconds, and in the corners in degrees, minutes, and seconds.
_______________
What is the longitude of the eastern boundary of this map?
_______________
What is the longitude of the western boundary of this map?
_______________
How many total minutes of longitude does this map cover?
_______________ 5. Give the latitude and longitude of the southwest corner of this map.
_______________ 6. Give the approximate latitude and longitude of Geneva High School.
Scale and Distance
_______________ 7. What is the fractional scale of this map?
_______________
Given the scale from the previous question, answer this. If from the doors of the
high school to the far end of the Burgess parking lot is 1 inch on the map, how many
inches is it in reality?
_______________ 8. How wide is Geneva from Kirk to Randall in miles? (Use the graphic scale of this
map, to find how many miles (to the nearest tenth of a mile, example: 2.3 miles) is it
from Kirk Road to Randall Road. Use the straight line distance from Kirk to Randall
across the center of the high school.)
_______________ 9. To the nearest whole mile, approximately how many miles of the Fox River is shown
on this map?
Symbols and Color
_______________ 10. Find Harrison Street School on the map. Draw the symbol used to represent it.
_______________ 11. Find the Pratts Wayne Woods County Forest Preserve in the northeast corner of the
map. Draw and identify the map symbol that represents some of the ground
around the lake near the 57’30” N latitude mark on the eastern edge of the map.
_______________ 12. What does the color red represent on the map?
_______________ 13. What does the color pink represent on the map?
_______________ 14. What does the color black represent on the map?
_______________ 15. What does the color brown represent on the map?
Contour Lines and Elevation
_______________ 16. What is the contour interval of this map?
_______________ 17. What is the approximate elevation of the southern tip of Burgess Field?
_______________ 18. What is the exact elevation given by the benchmark along IL 31 on the northern tip
of Wheeler Park?
_______________ 19. What is the approximate elevation of the Fox River directly east of that benchmark?
Finding Slope
_______________ 20. What is the approximate elevation of the Fox River at the gaging station near Old
Mill Park just north of the IL 38 Bridge?
_______________ 21. There is another gaging station near the northern border of the map on the Fox
River. What is the approximate elevation of that station?
_______________ 22. What is the difference in elevation between those two points (in feet)?
_______________ 23. Within a thousand feet, how far apart are those two gaging stations (in feet!)?
_______________ 24. Lets find the slope of the land under the Fox River in this area. To find the slope
between any two points on a map, all you need to do is simply divide their difference
in elevation (which you found in question 23), and the distance between them (which you
found in question 24).
Follow the formula below and calculate the slope between the two gaging stations at
the north and south ends of the Fox River.
Change in elevation (rise)
#23
Slope = --------------------------------- = ------- = -----------------------Distance between (run)
#24
25. The fastest rivers, like the Colorado as it rages through the Rocky Mountains, flow over a land sloping at
about 0.5. Some of the slowest rivers like the old Mississippi flow over land sloping at about 0.002.
Describe how the slope of the land under the Fox River compares to the slope of the land under some of
the fastest and slowest moving rivers.