GEOMORPHOLOGY
Geography 4350/5350 - Fall 2017
SEMESTER PROJECT
The objective of the semester project is for you to describe and explain the geomorphology of a Texas county. Steps involved in completion of the project are:
1. Choose a county to study; this should preferably be a county you are already somewhat familiar with (e.g. the county you are from; or presently live in; or spend a lot of time in). It is also recommended that the county should be fairly accessible to you during the semester - the reason for this is so that you can visit the area while researching your project, in order to examine the landforms, vegetation, soils, etc., and also, possibly, to obtain photographs that can be incorporated into your project (a visit is NOT required however). It is important to choose a county with a variety of interesting landforms; usually this means there should be a variety of different rock outcrops in the county (Dallas County is an example of a suitable county, but it is excluded – read on). Flat, featureless counties, like those in the Texas Panhandle and near the coast, should not be selected. A final note on county selection - DALLAS County is to be excluded, because it is the subject of our field trip.DENTON County is to be excluded because many of its features have been covered in class. Some counties (e.g. in the Big Bend region) are very complex and it’s difficult to do a good job on them (avoid these). If you are uncertain if a county is suitable – check with me.
2. Collect data on your study area. You will require information on:
a. Geology
Usually, there’s a strong connection between geology and geomorphology, so incorporating the geology of your county in your project will be crucial (for example, review labs 2 and 8). Scanned 1:250,000 scale geology maps of all parts of Texas (part of the Geologic Atlas of Texas) are available from several online sources e.g. at this scale, each map covers about 5 to 6 counties, but this level of detail should be sufficient. These maps show the distribution of major rock types, their dip and strike, location of faults and folds, and recent river deposits, including Quaternary terraces. You can incorporate an image of your county and the legend for your county in a WORD document for your project (recommended). Eagle Commons Library has hard copies of the Geologic Atlas of Texas (you should be able to color copy a county and legend from these maps, if you prefer not to use scanned images).
b. Topographic maps
Scanned 1:24,000 scale USGS 7.5' topographic sheets of all parts of Texas are also available from online sources (e.g. ) - at this scale one county is covered by 4 to 5 maps. The topographic maps show you the shape of the surface - in other words, the landforms that constitute the geomorphology (e.g. cliffs, plains, hills, valleys, drainage patterns, cuestas, outliers... etc.). You will only need small extracts of maps to illustrate your project (e.g.image of part of a map showing a particular feature such as a scarp, a hill or a terrace – you can paste these images into a WORD document). Hard copies of maps are available from Eagle Commons Library.
c. Personal visit
It is highly recommended (but not required) that you visit your study area to take a look at landforms, rock outcrops, streams, river terraces etc. for yourself. This will also give you the opportunity to obtain photographs of notable features for use in your project.
g. Other sources
You may use information from whatever other sources you can find, including the internet, but EVERYTHING must be properly referenced. You should not use any factual data without referencing the source of the information (e.g. this is wrong… “The rainfall of Williams County is 30 inches per year.” This is right.. “The rainfall of Williams County is 30 inches per year (Smith, 1997).”
3. The written report
This must be typed (no exceptions), double-spaced; maps (e.g. location, geology, topography, etc.) should be included. All text on figures must be large enough to be readable(2 mm minimum for all text – including text on maps). Integrate figures and tables into the text(donotsimply put all figures in the back of your report). All figures and tables should be numberedconsecutively, have captions and must bereferred to in the text (e.g. the outcrop has a north-south trend (Figure 3)... Table 2 shows stream flow data for this region..). The project should be neat and well-written – presentation and relevance of material will be taken into account during grading. See me if you are uncertain as to how to correctly format your report. The following sections must be included (use these subheadings in your report):
a. Introduction
A general (i.e. not detailed) introduction to your study area; example content - where is it (include location map)? is it wet? dry? mountainous? flat? Are there any major rivers? lakes? Vegetation - any? how diverse is it? Settlements? Land use? (text length: about 1/2 page + map).
b. Description of study area (only include material that is RELEVANT to the interpretation of the geomorphology).
(i) Geology (legible color map and legend required):
Major structures - strike and dip of strata; faults; folds; outcrop pattern; outliers? surficial geology? Rock types - age, origin, relative resistance of rocks; is all rock covered by soil? is some rock exposed? (text length: about 1 page). (remember– information must berelevant to the interpretation of the geomorphology). (Note: no rock samples, please).
(ii) Drainage
Describe the drainage system of your county. What is the drainage pattern? The density of channels? Does geology control the drainage pattern(s)? Are there many dry or intermittent streams? Are the major streams consequent? subsequent? resequent? obsequent? incised? Are streams meandering? braided? straight? Are there any active floodplains? What is their extent? Are channels in alluvium or bedrock? (text length: about 1/2 page). (remember– information must berelevant to the interpretation of the geomorphology. Do not include a lot of detailed information which you then do not use to explain the geomorphology).
c. Geomorphology
In this KEY section of your project you must describe the geomorphology and attempt to relate the landforms to the data you have collected. This is by far the most importantsection of the project – 75% of the grade will be based on this section. The geomorphology section MUST INCLUDE A MAP OF THE COUNTY SHOWING MAJOR LANDFORMS (DRAWN BY YOU) (examples - floodplains, valleys, scarps, rolling hills, plateaus, uplands, lowlands, plains, terraces, etc. Note: every part of any county is a landform – there should be no “blank” areas on the map), along with brief descriptions of these landforms/geomorphic processes (i.e. a floodplain is related to fluvial processes; scarps to differential erosion.. etc.) and their relationship to geology, drainage, etc. Examples: is the drainage pattern related to the geologic structure (strike valleys etc.); are scarps related to resistant rock outcrops? faults? is there evidence of present-day erosion or deposition? why are high areas high? why are low areas low? why are flat areas flat? why are hilly areas hilly? Note: this section should be kept to a maximum of three pages.You should illustrate individual landforms (e.g. a hill, a scarp, a cuesta, etc.) with photos, small extracts from topographic maps and/or hand-drawn sketches (photocopies will be OK). It is very important that this section of the project be completely in your own words–DO NOT copy word-for-word from other sources. The field trip to Dallas County will give you an idea of the type of features that can be incorporated into your project.
d. Reference list
All information sources must be properly listed in a reference list. Web page references must include the page title, the author and the URL.Note: Although many of you will probably work on the same county, all projects must be completely independent. Due November 30th, in class; late penalty 1 mark out of 10 per day.An example of format, citations, captions and a reference list is shown below:
GEOMORPHOLOGY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY
The outcrop pattern is this area consists of roughly parallel bands trending in an approximately Northeast – Southwest direction (Barnes, 1991). An outlier of Woodbine Formation forms a prominent hill near Williamsville (Figure 1).
Harbor (2003) documented several large rockfalls down the steep northwest slope of this hill between 1955 and 2003. Erosion rates, based on these rockfall records, were calculated by Wolman and Schick (2004) (Table 1).
Table 1. Rockfall Erosion Rates
(from Wolman and Schick, 2004).
1955 / 20.4
1959 / 17.8
1964 / 11.2
1974 / 5.6
1981 / 4.5
1995 / 3.2
2003 / 3.0
Durham (2005) suggested that the larger erosion rates coincide with unusually heavy rains and that the slope is gradually stabilizing over time, as erosion reduces the slope angle and vegetation becomes established, increasing cohesion. Similar findings have been reported for other parts of the North Texas region (Wetzel, 1998). The Human cost of these rockfalls was tragically highlighted in 2003 when members of a UNT Geomorphology class were buried by tons of falling rock, resulting in bad bruising and three broken pencils. The field trip leader, Dr. Harry Williams, escaped unhurt by shielding himself behind several of the injured students (Williams, 2003).
REFERENCES
Barnes, V.E., 1991. Geologic Map of Texas: Sherman Sheet. The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, scale 1:250,000, 1 sheet.
Durham, L.S., 2005. Rainfall-driven erosion in Denton Texas. Explorer. American Association of Petroleum Geologist (AAPG). Web site accessed May 2007.
Harbor J., 2003.Rainfall and erosion processes in Texas. Geomorphology, 31, 247-263.
Wetzel, R.G., 1998. Erosion: Causes and Consequences, third ed. Academic Press, San Diego.
Williams, 2003. The Horrors of Teaching – Ghastly Stories from the Geomorphology Class, 1996-2003. Gruesome Science, 11, 231-243.
Wolman, M.G., Schick, A.P. 2004. Review of erosion rates in the North Texas region. Water Resources Research, 3, 451-64.
Grading Rubric.
The following grading rubric will be used to assess how your submission meets the project requirements:
REQUIREMENT / YES √ / NO xSelected a suitable county
Typed
Figures and tables integrated with text
Information on figures & maps readable
Figures and tables numbered consecutively
Figures and tables have captions
Figures and tables referred to in text
Required subheadings used
Required legible color geology map and legend
Required landform map
Factual data properly referenced
Required reference list
Description of geomorphology in own words
Neat and well-written
Material relevant to geomorphology