The MARGINS Mini-Lessons Project


 icon-chevron-right Explore the MARGINS Mini-Lesson Collection

15 data-rich class exercises (mini-lessons) exploring tectonic, structural, geochemical, and sedimentary processes along continental margins have been designed for upper-level undergraduate courses. The exercises use cutting edge science and data resulting from MARGINS and GeoPRISMS research to teach about chemical cycling in subduction zones (SubFac), seismogenic zone processes at subduction zones (SEIZE), rift structure and evolution (RCL), and sediment cycling from “source to sink” at continental margins (S2S). Representative mini-lessons include:

baja_californiaRupturing Continental Lithosphere | RCL

Bathymetry of Rifted Margins
Exploring Styles of Extension in the Gulf of California Role of Sedimentation in Rifting
Role of Plate Motion Obliquity in Rifting

thrust_fault_fold.v2Seismogenic Zone Experiment | SEIZE

Accretionary vs. Erosive Subduction Margins
The Spectrum of Fault Slip
The Plate Boundary Fault of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

mississippi_deltaSource to Sink Lessons | S2S

From Source to Sink: How Sediment Reflects the Journey from the Mountains to the Sea Sediment Dispersal and Continental Margin Stratigraphy
Contemporary Climate Oscillations: ENSO and a case study of the Huanghe River
Holocene Optimum: A Time of Massively Increased

Sediment Discharge for Asian Rivers Sediments and Carbon Burial on the Continental Margins

serpentinite.v3Subduction Factory Lessons | SubFac

Subduction Zone Metamorphism
Slab Temperatures Control Melting in Subduction Zones, What Controls Slab Temperature?
Central American Arc Volcanoes, Petrology, and Geochemistry

 

 icon-chevron-right Lessons and more information about the MARGINS Mini-Lesson Project can be found on the SERC website.

The mini-lessons were developed by an interdisciplinary team of about 20 scientists and educators, who participated in a three year curriculum development project funded by an NSF DUE grant. Many thanks to all of the following contributors: Julia Morgan (GeoPRISMS, Rice University), Andrew Goodliffe (University of Alabama), Jeff Marshall (Cal Poly Pomona), Ellen Iverson (SERC, Carleton College), Cathy Manduca (SERC, Carleton College), Jenn Beck (EvalArts Consulting), Robert Stern (Univ. of Texas Dallas), Ben Edwards (Dickinson College), Sarah Penniston-Dorland (Univ. of Maryland), Chris Kincaid (Univ. of Rhode Island), Casey Moore (UC Santa Cruz), Jeff Marshall (Cal Poly Pomona), Eliza Richardson (Penn State University), David Pearson (Idaho State University), Scott Bennett (USGS Golden, CO), Rebecca Dorsey (Univ. of Oregon), Andrew Goodliffe (Univ. of Alabama), Jack Loveless (Smith College), Lisa Lamb (Univ. of St. Thomas), Sue Cashman (Humboldt State University), Steve Kuehl (Virginia Inst. Marine Science), Lonnie Leithold (North Carolina State University), Kathleen Surpless (Trinity University), Adam Hoffman (Univ. of Dubuque), August Costa (Rice University), Kristin O’Connell (SERC, Carleton College).