SSACgnp G 155 JAM 1 2 Achieve New

SSACgnp. G 155. JAM 1. 2 Achieve New Heights: Go to the Rockies! A Geological Circuit of National Parks and Other Scenic Places in Colorado A trip-planning activity to estimate travel distance, duration and expense. Hyperlinks allow you to explore the geology of each park. Quantitative concepts and skills Basic math Supporting Quantitative Issues Data collection Estimation Ratios Unit conversion Prepared for SSAC by Judy Mc. Ilrath – University of South Florida © University of South Florida Libraries. All rights reserved. 2008 1

Overview of Module This module presents data to prepare a budget and time line for an excursion to some national parks in Colorado. Slide 3 states the problem. Slide 4 gives details of the beginning of the trip and spreadsheet set up. Slide 5 presents a ratio/trig problem. Slides 6 -17 provide trip details for planning the budget along with photos and links to the geology of the featured parks and areas. Slide 7 presents a temperature unit conversion problem. Slide 8 presents a volume unit conversion problem. Slide 16 presents a percentage increase problem. Slide 18 provides final trip details and help with budget totals. Slide 19 consists of some questions that constitute your homework assignment. Slides 20 -23 are endnotes for elaboration and reference. Slide 24 provides route directions used for this trip. You must be in “slide show” view in order to access the national park and help hyperlinks (underlined and in blue font). 2

Problem You are planning a self-guided field trip to see some of the geology you learned about in your introductory geology course. You intend to visit 6 national parks and other points of interest in Colorado. You will fly into Denver, CO, rent a car and start the trip on May 20. You could spend your entire vacation hiking through and exploring any one of these parks, but in order to see the splendor of each, you will spend a minimum time in each park. To plan your schedule, you will use a log written by a friend who made the trip previously. Colorado’s topography changes drastically over short distances. Temperatures can range from 30˚ to 90˚F. Pack accordingly! Before working through the module, make an educated GUESS of how much a trip like this may cost and how much vacation time you need. Enter your guess into the template provided with this exercise. Now, ESTIMATE how much the trip will cost and the amount of vacation time you need. Click here to look at a map of the area to see the distance you will be traveling. Then think about how much you might pay for camping/motels, food, gas, car rental, and airplane tickets. A guess is a prediction with little or no information. An estimate is a rough calculation using simplified methods with approximations and assumptions. How close is your estimate to your guess? 3

Background You guessed and estimated. Now collect data from each of the slides to calculate the cost and duration of the trip. You will camp or get a motel room, rent a car, and eat mostly from a cooler. As you work through the slides, enter all pertinent data into the spreadsheet. The starting odometer reading from your friend’s log is 07910 miles, at the Denver airport. To keep track of your data for the trip, use the template provided with this exercise. Add information to the spreadsheet as you progress through the slides, and use it to answer end-of-module questions. Enter your guesses and estimations from the previous slide here. Add the beginning odometer reading here. = cell with a number = cell with a formula Add information here as needed. You will also make other calculations along the way. 4

Stop 1: Garden of the Gods City Park (National Natural Landmark) After renting a car, leave the Denver airport at 11: 30 am, and drive south towards Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Stop to buy gasoline at a cost of $3. 609/gallon, and spend $51. 15. After driving for 1. 5 hours, you see Garden of the Gods city park and decide to take a look (It’s free!). The odometer reads 08005. Stay one hour, then continue on to Florissant. This rock formation consists of red sandstone that was originally deposited in horizontal layers according to Steno’s law of original horizontality. If the height of the formation is 4. 7 m and the horizontal distance across the layer is 2. 3 m, at what angle are the rocks tilted? (Fill in Spreadsheet 2 provided in the template with the given values, then calculate your answer). 4. 7 m 2. 3 m The rocks that form this ridge near Colorado Springs are similar to those that outcrop at Red Rocks Park near Denver. Photos by J Mc. Ilrath Be sure the formula you use calculates the answer shown above. Click here for help with the spreadsheet. Geologists don’t actually measure the height and width of rock layers to find the slope. Instead a special compass is used to calculate the slope or “dip” of rock layers. 5

Stop 2: Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument After driving one hour, you reach Florissant Fossil Beds where the odometer reads 08044. The entrance fee is $3. 00/person. It is a small park, and you stay two hours. The fossils found here formed 35 million years ago, when volcanic ash showered the landscape, trapping plants and insects whose carbon imprint was left after the ash eventually turned into rock. Florissant rates third in the world in its richness in insect fossils. Pasque flowers flourish here now. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath The fossil remains of giant redwoods that grew to a height of 300 feet reveal a very different climate for this area of Colorado than what we see today. The stumps of these trees were preserved after lahars (volcanic mudflows) passed through this area. Add the given values to the spreadsheet as shown. Be sure to do this for each of the following slides. 6

Stop 3: Canon City (after a beautiful drive through Phantom Canyon) After leaving Florissant, drive for 2. 5 hours along the scenic route through Cripple Creek and Victor (old gold mining towns). Continue south through Phantom Canyon on a one-lane dirt road. In Canon City, it’s snowing (yes, in May). After looking for a motel and a restaurant for dinner, the odometer reads 08110. The price of the room is $60. 75/night. You’ll stay 12 hours. Abandoned gold mine, Victor, CO Phantom Canyon Road Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Your car’s thermometer reads -1ºC, what is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit? You hear on the news that the high tomorrow will be 54ºF, what will the temperature be in degrees Celsius? Enter the given values and formulas in the template-Spreadsheet 3. Click here for help with temperature conversions. 7

Stop 4: Great Sand Dunes National Park After driving for 2. 5 hours, you reach Great Sand Dunes NP where the odometer reads 08267. The entrance fee is $3/person. Stay for four hours, so you can climb to the top of the dunes. Continue driving 4. 75 hours to Mesa Verde, but stop to get gas at a cost of $3. 699/gallon for a total of $63. 25. Situated at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Great Sand Dunes National Park contains the tallest dunes in North America! Medano Creek is swift, shallow and seasonal and plays a key role in sand recycling and supplying water to the desert valley. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Medano Creek The volume of sand in the dunes is estimated to be 4. 8 billion m 3. The area covered by the dune field is ~77, 600, 000 m 2. Use Spreadsheet 4 in the template to calculate the volume and area of the dunes in feet, miles, and kilometers. Photo by A. Mc. Ilrath - J. Mc. Ilrath in blue oval for scale Click here for help with unit conversions. 8

Stop 5: Mesa Verde National Park At Mesa Verde NP the odometer reads 08495. The entrance fee is $10/vehicle. Pay $23. 55 to camp one night, and stay for 23 hours. Spruce Tree House – population ~100 (114 rooms) Cliff Palace – A village of more than 200 rooms Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Taking advantage of the geology of the area, Ancestral Puebloans built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde within deep, natural alcoves in the Cliff House Sandstone Formation (upper unit of four rock units in the park). The dwellings were occupied for less than 100 years and by 1300 AD, the area was deserted. The park includes over 4, 500 archeological sites (only 600 are cliff dwellings), most of which are unexcavated and closed to the public. 9 “Table” at Mesa Verde entrance

Stop 6: Silverton, CO After spending the day touring through some of the cliff dwellings, drive 1. 5 hours to beautiful, quaint Silverton, CO, where the odometer reads 08620. It is snowing again, so get a motel room for $56. 45/night. Stay two nights and a total of 37. 25 hours in this interesting town. Hydrothermally altered rock slopes Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Silverton, CO Settled in 1874, the town of Silverton sits in an ancient volcanic caldera at an elevation of 9, 318 ft. The population peaked at 5, 000 in 1900 and is currently ~500. More than $150, 000 worth of gold and silver were mined from the Silverton caldera. 10 Cirque and arête

Stop 6: Silverton, CO (Cont. ) It is well worth your time to drive on as many of the scenic back roads in this area as you can. There is always a chance to see some wildlife! You don’t see signs like this just anywhere. Avalanches are always a potential threat and are named similarly as hurricanes and typhoons. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath The caldera is not obvious. After its formation, more volcanic eruptions covered the area which was later carved by glaciers that left behind u-shaped valleys. Avalanche chutes 11

Stop 6: Silverton, CO (Cont. ) – Old Hundred gold mine Take the time to tour the Old Hundred Gold Mine. The tour guides are former miners who take you one-third mile into the mine in the same train that was used to haul miners in and gold out of the mine. You’ll learn how the ore bodies were identified and how drilling and blasting were used to acquire the metal ores. Unfortunately, the search for riches comes at a cost! Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath One of many abandoned mines Following is a quote from an article about mine reclamation concerning the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton when it closed: “A hundred years ago, the company (Sunnyside Mine) would have walked away with a shrug, public opinion and the environment be damned. That’s how the mountains around Silverton became pocked with 2, 000 old anonymous mines and mills, many of which drain into the river and make it so polluted that trout have a hard time reproducing for 50 miles downstream. Instead, as an indication of a new era, the company got together with the local community and state and federal agencies, everyone trying for a spirit of cooperation. Out of it has come a strategy for the gradual healing of such impacted watersheds around the West. ” Click here to learn more. Tailings pond Animas River Early prospectors would look for quartz veins, turquoise, azurite and malachite in their search for silver and gold. Quartz vein with “tommyknockers” Turquoise 12

Stop 7: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Drive 2. 5 hours to Black Canyon, where the odometer reads 08741. Stop for gas along the way where the price is $3. 719/gallon and you pay $48. 00. The entrance fee is $15/vehicle. Stay for 4 hours. The metamorphic rock (gneiss) of the canyon walls is some of the oldest exposed rock on Earth. It is Pre-Cambrian in age (~2 billion years old). Black Canyon Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath From this viewpoint, the canyon seems non -existent. Painted Wall: highest cliff in Colorado at 2, 250 ft. Compare the canyon depth to some of the tallest man-made structures on Earth: Building Height (ft) Taipei IOI Tower, Taipei, Taiwan Tallest building in the world 1, 670 Empire State Building, NY Built during the Great Depression 1, 250 Sear Tower, Chicago, IL Highest building in the US 1, 454 Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt Tallest structures for 1000 s of years 449 Burj Tower, Dubai, UAE Projected completion: late 2008 2, 625 Information in the table comes from the NPS Canyon dimensions brochure. 13

Stop 8: Colorado National Monument Drive 1. 75 hours to Colorado National Monument, where the odometer reads 08835. The entrance fee is $7/vehicle. Camp for one night at a cost of $10/site. Stay for 16. 25 hours. Coke Ovens The horizontal and once continuous layers of this canyon have been sculpted by the erosional forces of wind, water, and frost over millions of years. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Take the time to stop at Dinosaur Hill, near Fruita, CO. The large femur impression (right) from an Apatosaurus is found in the Morrison Formation. Erosion is not the only process that has been at work here. The area has also been uplifted (in some areas ~10, 000 ft. ) and taken on the form of a monocline. 14

Stop 9: Rocky Mountain National Park Drive 4. 25 hours to Rocky Mountain NP where the odometer reads 09136, after stopping for gas along the way. The price is $3. 969/gallon so just spend $20. 00. The park entrance fee is $20/vehicle. Camp for two nights at a cost of $20/site/night. Stay for 48 hours. The pictures on this slide were taken in mid -May. Although there is snow year-round in the park, glaciers no longer exist here. You can see a prairie dog town at a pulloff along I 70 on the way to the Rockies. Elevations in the park range from 8, 000 to 14, 259 feet allowing for vast diversity of flora and fauna in three different ecosystems: Alpine, Subalpine, and Montane. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath 15

Stop 9: Rocky Mountain National Park (Cont. ) You find a place where gas is $3. 659/gallon so fill up and spend $45. 50. Then head to Denver. The park was dedicated on September 4, 1915. Abner Sprague was the first visitor to pay a fee in 1937. The amount paid is unknown. In 1987, the entrance fee was raised from $2. 00 to $5. 00. The fee was raised to $10. 00 in 1996, $15. 00 in 2001, and $20. 00 in 2005. What is the percent increase in the entrance fee from prior to 1987 to 2005? (http: //www. nps. gov/romo/historyculture/time _line_of_historic_events. htm) Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath Tundra above the treeline Meandering river of horseshoe park Click here for additional help with percent increase. 16

Stop 10: Red Rocks Amphitheater & Dinosaur Ridge, Denver, CO Drive 1. 5 hours to Red Rock Amphitheater and Dinosaur Ridge where the odometer reads 09278. Neither of these points of interest have an entrance fee. Stay for 3. 25 hours. Spend your last night in a motel for $43. 00 (12 hours). The total stay in Denver, including the time at the Amphitheater and Dinosaur Ridge will be 15. 25 hours. Dinosaur Ridge preserves the remnants of a vast inland sea where dinosaurs roamed along the edge, leaving their footprints in the sand. A plaque on a rock wall at the Amphitheater parking lot marks an unconformity between the Fountain Formation and Proterozoic gneiss representing a 1. 4 billion year time gap. Drive for 1 hour. Be sure to return the rental car with a full tank, so spend $24. 75 at a cost of $3. 639/gallon. The odometer reads 09308. Photos by J. Mc. Ilrath 17

Budget If your airfare is $299, your rental is $25/day, and you spend $20/day on food, what is the total price of your trip? (Place these values in the template. ) How many miles/gallon did you average on the trip? (Place a formula in the template cell to make a calculation) Use the “sumproduct” function in this cell. After filling in the rows and columns with the data that you collect, the formulas that you use should give you the values indicated in the spreadsheet above. If you have different values, you either did not enter all the pertinent information or your formulas are incorrect. An America the Beautiful - Annual National Park and Federal Recreational Lands Pass is available for $80. It covers “entrance” fees to parks for up to four people, but does not include camping or special access fees. Was your guess or rough estimate close to the calculated value? 18

End-of-Module Assignment 1. The first spreadsheet in the template should have the same values shown in the Power. Point if you used all the correct formulas. As you answer the rest of the questions, make sure that these answers do not change. If you do not have the correct cell references, they will change and be incorrect. 2. Even though you made a calculation for your trip expense, your total trip price is still an estimate (but more accurate). What is the total estimated cost of your trip if your airfare is $399, your car rental is $31/day, and you spend $30/day on food. All other prices are as originally stated in the exercise? (Fill in the Question 2 per diem and airfare in the appropriate cells. Your trip total $ value will change. ) 3. You really want to visit Ship Rock, NM and Four Corner’s Monument. Add the following information to the spreadsheet: 130 miles to the driving distance, 2. 5 hours to driving duration, 2 hours for visit duration (one hour at each place), and $3. 00/person entrance fee for Four Corners. Buy gas at a price of $3. 709/gallon and pay a total of $27. 70. Use the airfare and per diem from question 2. Bold boxes in trip total section should contain new values with new cell references reflecting the additional information. 4. You convince your Mom, Dad, and sibling to take the trip with you and share the cost. Your parents have a park pass that will eliminate all the park fees except Four Corners ($3/person). Keeping all other values from question 3, but multiplying times four where appropriate, what is the trip total for all four family members? What is your share if you split the cost four ways? 5. Use the lengths of the red arrows on the picture of an angular unconformity (next slide) to calculate the angle of slope of the tan rock layer. Height = 0. 6 m, Length = 3. 2 m 6. The sand surface during the day in the summer can reach 60°C, what is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit? If the air temperature is 82°F, what is the temperature in degrees Celsius? 7. The dunes of Great Sand Dunes National Park comprise only 11% of the 855, 000 m 2 sand deposit in the valley. What is the area of the sand deposit in feet, miles, and kilometers? 8. If you found an airfare for the trip on-line for $329 but didn’t buy it, and you later purchased the ticket at $419, what is the percent increase in the higher ticket price? 9. Using the values of the entrance fee to Rocky Mountain National Park (slide 16) create a graph showing the change in cost over time. 19

End-of-Module Assignment Material This contact is known as an angular unconformity. 0. 6 m 3. 2 m Shiprock, NM is a remnant volcanic neck and is a sacred place to the Native Americans. This is the route you will take from Mesa Verde to see Shiprock, NM and Four Corner’s Monument is the only place in the US where you can be in four states at once. Back 20

Distance estimation Pick the best circular route starting and ending in Denver. The six parks you want to visit are marked with red stars. Use the scale bar at the bottom of the map to estimate the distance you will travel. Back Knowing the approximate distance you will travel should enable you to estimate the cost of gas and amount of time you will need for your trip. 21

Understanding Ratios 3× Rather than looking at a table to find the specific angle related to the calculated ratio, a simpler approach is to use an equation to solve for the angle: 2× e OR c ө a b d If in the diagram to the left, e = 16 and f = 12, what is θ? Following the example below, you should get an answer of 53. 1˚ f In similar, right triangles, the lengths of the legs that make the angle (ө) are proportional. Legs c, d are twice (2×) as long as a, b, respectively, and legs e, f are three times (3×) as long as a, b respectively. Therefore, the ratios of a/b, c/d, and e/f are all the same value, and that value is called the tangent of the angle theta. In the table to the right, each value of tan θ (angle in degrees) represents the ratio of the opposite side to the adjacent side, That is the value of the tangent of that angle regardless of the size of the triangle. Angle (ө) . 176 20 º . 364 30 º . 577 40 º . 839 45 º 1. 000 50 º 1. 732 70 º 2. 747 80 º 5. 671 In Excel, the equation looks like: =ATAN(C 43/C 44)*180/PI() 1. 192 60 º OR Ratio 10 º To solve the equation, fill in the given values: where C 43 is the cell reference for the opposite leg (16) and C 44 is the cell reference for the adjacent leg (12). Because Excel displays answers in radians, you must use *180/PI() to convert the answer in radians to degrees. Back 22

Understanding Unit Conversions Below are examples to help you understand how to convert units. To convert 32 cubic meters (m 3) to cubic feet (ft 3), set up the equation as shown below: To convert 95 o. F to Celsius: Type the formula for temperature into your spreadsheet as follows: =(A 2 -32)*(5/9) Now remove the first set of parentheses and see how your answer changes. Order of operations! Correct use of parentheses: Missing parentheses: Back WRONG! 23

Colorado Circuit Depart from Denver International airport on E 470 traveling south to I 25. Take I 25 S to US 24 W (exit 141) in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods will be on the right side. Continue west on US 24 to Florissant. Turn left onto Rd 1 and follow signs to Florissant Fossil Beds Visitor Center (on right). Turn left out of the Visitor’s Center onto SR 67 toward Cripple Creek. In Victor, take Phantom Canyon Road (one lane(? ), dirt road, but scenic byway and very worthwhile!!!) toward Canon City. Take US 50 W to US 285 S in Poncha Springs. At Mineral Hot Springs, take SR 17 to Mosca, turn left onto County Lane 6 North and follow signs for Great Sand Dunes National Park. Take 150 S to US 160 W to Mesa Verde National Park. From Mesa Verde, take US 160/149 W to Shiprock, NM. Turn left onto US 64. Several miles out of Shiprock, turn left at a small sign for Victory Life Fellowship of Tokoi, NM onto a dirt road. Go past a cluster of houses working your way toward Shiprock volcanic feature. Where the road ends is a viewpoint of Shiprock. Turn left onto US 64. At Teec Nos Pos, turn right onto US 160 to Four Corners Monument. From Four Corners, turn right onto US 160 E to Durango. In Durango, turn left onto US 550 N to Silverton, CO. Be sure to take as many of the back roads in and around Silverton that you can, especially the one out past Old Hundred Gold Mine. The mountains reflect beautifully into some standing water and there is a chance of seeing a porcupine. From Silverton, take US 550 N to Montrose, CO. Turn right onto US 50. Turn left onto 347 to Black Canyon of the Gunnison. From Black Canyon, take US 50 toward Grand Junction. Follow signs for Colorado National Monument. From Fruita, take US 70 E (20 miles from Colorado National Monument is a pulloff where you can see a prairie dog town) to Wolcott, CO. Make sure you have plenty of gas! Take 131 N to Toponas. Turn right on 134. Turn right on US 40 to US 34 just outside of Granby, CO. to Rocky Mountain National Park. From Rocky Mountain (Estes Park), take US 36 S to Boulder. Take SR 93 S toward Denver. Follow signs for Dinosaur Ridge and Red 24 Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison.