What is Geoscience?
Ms. Girard
Geoscience
Legacy High School
2015-2016
Essential Question:
What is Geoscience? How does it
affect the outside world? Your Life?
Earth Science
Is any area of science that deals with
the composition, structure and
events or processes that occur on the
earth.
The 4 Branches of Earth Science
The 4 Branches of Earth Science
The 4 Branches of Earth Science
The 4 Branches of Earth Science
Activity 1: Questions/Discussion
1. What type of earth science are you interested in
and why?
2. If you were a geologist, oceanographer,
astronomer, or other type of earth science
scientist, what would you be studying?
(Example: I would be studying volcanoes in
Hawaii.)
Mapping and Map
Types Pg. 9
Ms. Girard & Ms. Stark
Geoscience
Legacy High School
Essential Question
What are maps and map types?
How do they affect society?
Where are maps used and how
are they used?
Mapping
a representation, usually on a flat
surface, as of the features of an area of
the earth or a portion of the heavens,
showing them in their respective forms,
sizes, and relationships according to
some convention of representation
How do we make maps?
 Cartography- the science of map making.
 Cartographers are scientists who make maps.
 They collect data from a lot of source
 Remote sensing—gathering and analyzing
information about an object without
physically touching it.
How do we make maps?
• Map projections –a flat map that represents
the curved surface of the earth.
• The problem is that it is hard to transfer a
curved surface to a flat format.
• Distortions always happen in map
projections.
Map Projections
1. Cylindrical
A cylindrical projection is the
most common type of map.
Imagine placing a movie screen
around a globe in a cylinder shape.
The projection that results is
shown in this image. Near the
equator there is very little
distortion. But, the closer you get
to the poles, the more distorted
the map is. In this ex. Greenland
appears to be many times larger
than it really is.
1. Cylindrical Map
2. Conical Map
A conic projection map is
created by placing a cone
shaped screen on a globe.
The resulting projection
is more accurate than the
cylindrical projection
map discussed above.
However, the further we
travel down the map, the
more distorted and less
accurate the map
becomes.
Conical Map
3. Planar/Azimuthal
A plane projection is
created by placing an
imaginary screen
directly above or
below a globe. The
image that would
result is called a
plane projection.
This type of map
projection is not
commonly used.
Planar/Azimuthal
Parts of a map:
1. Compass directions
2. Legend(key) =
explanation of symbols
3. Scale(the
relationship between
the distance on the
map and the actual
distance)
Types of Maps
1. Road maps
2. Weather maps
3. Satellite maps
Satellite Image of Las Vegas
4. Geologic maps- rocks, faults and folds
Mapping Activity
Latitude & Longitude
Discussion
Have you ever been to any other continent
other than North America?
If yes…
• What continent was it and how did you
like it?
If no…
• What other continent would you like to
visit and why?
Draw in equator. Label and include degrees.
Draw in Prime Meridian. Label and include
degrees.
Draw in the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn. Label and include degrees.
Draw in the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle. Label
and include degrees.
Draw in the prime meridian. Label and
include degrees.
Latitude/Longitude Pg. 11
• One of the Greeks’ primary contributions
to oceanography and seafaring is the
latitude/longitude system.
−Latitude lines run east-west.
−Longitude lines run north-south.
−They are numbered in degrees, then
minutes and seconds like time.
(1degree=1/360 of earth)
Latitude Lines
Longitude Lines
Latitude/Longitude Map
• Attach the Latitude/longitude map and
use it to answer these analysis
questions.
1. What is the latitude and longitude of
these points?
A B C D E F G H
2. Explain the steps you took to find the
answers to question #1.
5. Topographic Maps Pg. 13
Topography
Topographic Maps-show the surface
shape(topography) of the land.
−Uses lines called contour lines to connect
areas of equal elevation(height above sea
level).
• Isogram-line on a map that represents
constant or equal values.
−Contour interval-the difference in elevation
between contour lines.
−Relief-the difference in elevation between the
highest and lowest point on the map.
• lines pointing inward indicate a
decrease in elevation=going
down!
• What is the contour interval?
• What is the relief?
Time Zones
Time Zones
one of the 24 regions or divisions of the
globe approximately coinciding with
meridians at successive hours from the
observatory at Greenwich, England.
The Prime Meridian is the
meridian with a longitude of 0°.
It was adopted officially in 1884 as a
line from which longitude east and
west are measured and as a basis for
standardized time zones. It passes through Greenwich,
England, home of the Royal Greenwich Observatory. The
Observatory was founded in 1675 and closed except as a
museum in 1998. The prime meridian, together with its
opposite meridian(the International Date Line at 180°) divide
the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The International Date Line is the
imaginary line on the Earth that separates
two consecutive calendar days. That is
the date in the Eastern hemisphere, to
the left of the line, is always one day
ahead of the date in the Western
hemisphere. Without the International
Date Line travelers going westward
would discover that when they returned
home, one day more than they thought
had passed, even though they had kept
careful tally of the days. Likewise, a
person traveling eastward would find that
one fewer days had elapsed than he had
recorded.
The International Date Line
can be anywhere on the globe.
But it is most convenient to be
180° away from the Prime
Meridian that goes through
Greenwich, England. It also is
fortunate that this area is
covered, mainly, by empty
ocean. However, there have
always been zigs and zags in it
to allow for local
circumstances.
− If it is 7am in Las Vegas, what time is it in New
York City? _____________________
− If it is 1pm in most of Texas, what time is it in
Calif?_
Out
Tent Paragraph—use the following terms correctly in
a short paragraph. Each term must be highlighted!!!
• Map
• Earth
• Cartography
• Model
• Remote sensing