Laboratory Manual for Introductory Geology 4e

GEOTOURS EXERCISE 16
Using Landforms to Interpret Arid Environments
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Exploring Geology Using Google Earth
1. Visit digital.wwnorton.com/geolabmanual4
2. Go to the Geotours tile to download Google Earth Pro and the accompanying
Geotours exercises file.
Expand the Geotour16 folder in Google Earth
by clicking the triangle to the left of the folder
icon. The folder contains placemarks that
highlight various landforms that form in arid
settings.
(a) Check and double-click the Baja
California Sur, Mexico placemark.
Study the time-lapse animation in the
placemark balloon to watch the dunes
migrate over time. Toward what direction
did the wind blow to create these dunes?
(b) Look carefully at the tips of the dunes
relative to the wind direction that you
determined in question (a). Now refer
back to Figure 16.9 to help identify the
type of sand dune that mostly comprises
this dune field.
(c) Check and double-click the Uluru (Ayers Rock) placemark to fly to Australia. Uluru is a resistant erosional remnant
of a large regional fold that projects above the alluvium in this arid setting. Features like this that stand out in
erosional relief in such an arid environmental are called what?
(d) Check and double-click the Badwater, CA placemark to fly to Death Valley to observe a feature that commonly
develops in arid settings with centripetal drainage. What is this feature? What kind of deposits will likely form
within the feature?
feature
deposits
(e) Check and double-click the Death Valley placemark for a more regional perspective of the valley. Several alluvial
fans have coalesced along the mountain front here to form what kind of feature?
430 CHAPTER 16 PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS IN ARID ENVIRONMENTS