Natural History of Point Defiance
Geology observations
SAFETY – Your actions and words must promote the safety of yourself and others. Loss
of privilege or reduction in grade may result from a violation of this prime expectation.
OBJECTIVE – You are to take observations of geology in the park and generate
questions to investigate back in the classroom. You must write in your journal and use an
effective organization scheme.
ASSESSMENT – You will be assessed on how well you organize your notes in your
journal. Be sure to include headings for any new notes and include the location (a
description and latitude and longitude) of any observations.
OBSERVATIONS – Address these points, using an organizational scheme that you think
is most effective.
 What types of rock do we find in the park?
 What types of sediment do we find in the park?
 What evidence is there to determine how these sediments were deposited?
 What are the grain sizes and textures of sediments we find?
 Are the sediments well sorted or poorly sorted?
 What are examples of transportation and erosion that you see?
 Which of Steno’s Principles do we see in the park?
QUESTIONS – Record in your notes at least 3 questions that you would like to
investigate. For example, some questions may be similar to these (you may use one of
these as a question you would like to investigate):
 What areas of the park have been altered by humans, possibly disrupting the
geology?
 I found a layer of sediment with grain size of up to 5 cm. What kind of
transportation mediums could move grains that size?
 I found a layer of sediment with a number of round pebbles. How did these
pebbles get round?
 I found a sedimentary layer with other rocks in it. Are these rocks igneous,
metamorphic, or sedimentary?