Lesson Plan—Seafloor Siphon or What’s Going on in the Basement?!
Summary
The hidden portion of the water cycle is revealed! It is under the seafloor! Students will use temperature data collected from two different sites in the Pacific Ocean to graph the water flow within the oceanic crust! Discoveries of how the water flows in and out of the seafloor will be made. Students will also design and test technology used in the sampling collection methods.
Tags: basement, ROV, AUV, geology, geochemistry, geophysics, microbiology, aquifer, CORK, elevator, engineering, bathymetry
Key Concepts
· ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
ESS2.C The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes The abundance of liquid water on Earth’s surface and its unique combination of physical and chemical properties are central to the planet’s dynamics. These properties include water’s exceptional capacity to absorb, store, and release large amounts of energy, transmit sunlight, expand upon freezing, dissolve and transport materials, and lower the viscosities and melting points of rocks. (HS-ESS2-5)
· ETS2: Links Among Engineering, Technology, Science, and Society ETS1.B Both physical models and computers can be used in various ways to aid in the engineering design process. Computers are useful for a variety of purposes, such as running simulations to test different ways of solving a problem or to see which one is most efficient or economical; and in making a persuasive presentation to a client about how a given design will meet his or her needs. (HS-ETS1-4)
Objectives
Students will be able to:
· Identify biological and physical indicators of water flow within the oceanic crust
· Investigate technology utilized with seafloor sampling
· Construct a graph with data points between seamounts
· Demonstrate engineering skills in constructing an elevator
· Communicate results with an infographic
Materials
· PowerPoint/Computer Projector
· Elevator construction materials – straws, paperclips, tape, helium-filled balloons, string,
· Internet Connection
· Data Tables on Temperature collection
· Student handouts
Procedure
Part 1 – Intro
1. Pre-test will be provided to students and completed (can use polleverywhere.com to incorporate technology)
2. Discussion of results from the pre-test including water cycle review:
a. Water Cycle (accessing prior knowledge) – need to be sure to define aquifer because oceanic crust is basement aquifer for siphon as well as discharge area and recharge area somewhere – use groundwater example to do this.
· Ask students to draw their version of the water cycle on their paper (or in their notebook) and give them two minutes to complete.
· When they all complete, invite students to draw a portion of their water cycle on the board. (Evaporation, Condensation, Transpiration, and Precipitation)
· THEN add the seafloor portion to the drawing OR share the Diagram 1 from the Intro PowerPoint and have the students add this seafloor component to their diagram
b. Continue discussion with the Intro PowerPoint - Layers of the Earth and Plate Tectonics – heat transfer/convection for movement
c. Think/Pair/Share Activity - Show “Global Heat Flow Diagram” (Slide 10) from Intro PowerPoint
· students make observations and propose hypotheses of how and why temperature is found on the particular zones on their own,
· then get in groups of 3-4 and share their ideas within groups
· share ideas with class (Think, Pair, Share)
· Note – Slide 11 is an optional resource to show how the global heat flow model is created
Part 2 – STEM Application: Build a model of an Elevator
1. Begin Part 2/Tech PowerPoint (“How do we study the seafloor?”) from Resources.
2. After the first short video clip on Slide 1, conduct class discussion asking students to suggest technology or equipment used in marine exploration.
3. Show remainder of video, explaining the Research Vessel, Atlantis, the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Jason, the AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) Sentry, and the support vehicle, called an Elevator.
4. Lead students through the activity to create a model of an Elevator. – See student handout 1 for Part 2
Note: An Elevator is an AVT (Autonomous Vertical Transporter), a piece of equipment that is capable of bringing samples or recovering scientific equipment from the seafloor and bring it to the surface.
Part 3 – Exploring the Seafloor Plumbing System - Graphing
1. Five minute C-DEBI Video on Juan de Fuca Ridge - http://vimeo.com/69524899 which introduces the research that this activity is based on.
2. Tell students that they are going to investigate this plumbing system using water temperature (?) in order to determine: (a) which seamount is the recharge area and which seamount is the discharge area and (b) what direction seawater is flowing in the basement aquifer between the two seamounts.
2. Show students map of study area that shows the location of two seamounts – Baby Bare and Grizzly Bare in Part 3 powerpoint slides.
3. Student Handouts
a. Data Table with Temperature and distance across seamount. – currently missing!!
b. Figure with seamount seismic section and graph paper above with axis labeled.
c. Map of seamount locations.
5. Have students, in groups or individually, plot the heat flow vs. track distance data above each seamount on handout 3b or in a chart in an excel spreadsheet.
6. Once students’ plots are completed have them get into groups of 2-3 people and discuss their plots and try to determine the recharge and discharge seamounts and then the direction that the water is flowing through the basement aquifer.
7. Students can draw an arrow on the map (Student Handout 3c) from the recharge seamount towards the discharge seamount or write a brief (2-4 minutes) reflection describing the flow direction and explaining how they determined recharge and discharge seamounts and the flow direction.
8. Use Part 3 powerpoint slides to have whole class wrap-up discussion on the siphon plumbing system.
Part 4 – Communication of Findings
1. Scientists share their results and students will as well. Students will display what they have learned about global heat flow, ocean technology and/or the seafloor basement aquifer plumbing system in a multimedia presentation. They may choose from options such as online poster (ex. Glogster), Prezi, video, online comic, Infographic.
2. They can include any graphing, data analysis, or content knowledge that they have learned.
3. Refer students to the Grading Rubric (included) before they begin to alert them to all required components.
4. Resources for creating multimedia presentations that may be novel to students are included in Additional Resources.
Assessment
· Performance—Students will make observations of global heat flow data and pose hypotheses about its global distribution, pose hypotheses about equipment and technology used to study the deep seafloor, build a working model of an Elevator, plot temperature data across and between seamounts
· Grading Rubric attached for the Infographic
· Product—Formal assessment through a pre/post-test, seamount map with arrow and written reflection of thermal flow direction, Multimedia Wrap Up Project
REFERENCES
Fisher, A. T., Harris, R. N.,Using heat as a tracer of subseafloor fluid flow, Geofluids, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-8123.2009.00274.x.
This technical paper explains how measurements of seafloor "heat flow" can be used to determine the rate of fluid transport in the ocean crust.
Fisher, A. T., Wheat, C. G.,Seamounts as conduits for massive fluxes of fluid, heat, and solutes, Oceanography, 23 (1): 74-87.
This paper written for an educated lay audience (maybe Scientific American level?) explains how water moves in and out of the seafloor through seamounts.
Hutnak, M., A. T. Fisher, R. Harris, C. Stein, K. Wang, G. Spinelli, M. Schindler, H. Villinger, and E. Silver (2008),Large heat and fluid fluxes driven through mid-plate outcrops on ocean crust, Nature Geoscience, doi: 10.1038/ngeo264.
This technical paper explains how it is we know, from heat flow measurements, that a system of seamounts in the central eastern Pacific Ocean helps to mine about 70% of the heat from an area the size of Connecticut.
Large-scale lateral heat and Fluid transport in the sea£oor: revisiting the well-mixed aquifer model
by N.D. Rosenberg, A.T. Fisher, J.S. Stein
Additional Resources
Creating Infographics: Piktochart.com
Tutorial - All About Piktochart's Infographic Editor – See Basics: How to Piktochart http://support.piktochart.com/hc/en-us
Videos: Learn how to sse Piktochart in no time! http://piktochart.com/video-tutorials-learn-use-piktochart-in-no-time/
Deep-sea Exploration:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – Ships and Technology http://www.whoi.edu/main/ships-technology
Elevators:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute: http://www.mbari.org/news/homepage/2011/line-elevator/elevator.html
C-DEBI (Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations) http://www.darkenergybiosphere.org/resources/videos.html
Optional extensions:
· Use “clickers” or the app for smartphones to take the pre-test http://www.polleverywhere.com/classroom-response-system
· http://www.immersionlearning.org/programs/nautilus-live - Explanation of ROVs and build an ROV online and test it
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