Map Reading

Introduction

Everyone has used maps at one time or another--whether it was a road map, a map of the local mall, or a map of a wilderness area. A map is simply a scaled representation of a surface. For a geologist, a map is an important tool for recording the distribution of rocks, geologic structures, sample locations, etc. In fact, being able to record, analyze, and intrepret spatial data is one of the critical skills of almost anyone who works in the geosciences.

In this pre-lab exercise you will be introduced to several concepts about reading maps that are particularly important when using maps to interpret geologic data. This pre-lab contains more content than some of the later pre-lab assignments, but understanding how to read maps is a very important skill that will be used over and over in lab.

On the other hand, this exercise is NOT intended to be a complete tutorial on map-reading skills. There are a number of good books as well as web sites on this topic--check the FYI link on the sidebar for more sites on map reading.

PreLab Assignment

Read through the web pages listed under the Introduction along the sidebar to the left. After you've finished going over the material, and trying the examples, take the self-quiz to see how well you've learned the material. The lab quizes and exams will be very similar to the types of questions on the self quiz.