EARTH SCIENCE
TOPIC III
Name:__________________________
LAB #______DUE DATE__________
Title: Contour Mapping
Introduction:
Maps are models. The kinds of maps most often used by earth scientists are called
contour or topographic maps. In this investigation, you will work with and make contour
maps to determine how they portray the physical environment and to learn some of their
advantages and disadvantages.
You will be doing a contour map of a rectangular volcanic island called ‘Adams
Island.’ By using water, which always seeks level, we can see the different contours for
the various elevations and map them onto a contour map.
Contour lines use the same basic rules as we used in diagramming isotherms.
Materials:
 1 Clear plastic box
 1 Landform model (Adams Island)
 1 Clear sheet of plastic (overhead)
 1 Overhead pen
 Pencil
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10cm of Masking Tape
1 600 mL beaker
1 sheet of graph paper
ESRT
Objectives: When you have finished this lab you should be able to:
1. given a topographic map, determine the elevation at any given point.
2. given a topographic map, indicate the areas of highest and lowest elevation and the
areas of maximum and minimum gradient.
3. determine the field values of points on a contour map.
4. use symbols to represent various features on a contour map.
5. determine which direction a stream flows from information on a contour map.
6. determine the contour interval of a contour map.
Procedures (Day 1): ( √ off each procedure as you complete it.)
□ 1. Put ALL of your books and papers at one end of your table so you can work with
water at the other end of the table with out getting them wet.
□ 2. Get the equipment listed above and bring them to your table.
□ 3. Put a piece of masking tape on the outside of one side of the box (if there isn’t
one there already) so it extends from the bottom of the box to the top rim. Using
your ESRT and pen/pencil, mark this tape in equal divisions of one centimeter each.
Mark and number from the bottom up to the rim.
□ 4. Place the landform model in the clear plastic box.
□ 5. Using a 600 mL beaker, get some colored water from a bucket near one of the
sinks and CAREFULLY take it to your seat.
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□ 6. CAREFULLY pour colored water into the clear plastic box to a depth of 1 cm on
the masking tape.
□ 7. Put the cover on the box and place the overhead over the top of the box. (Note:
You may tape the overhead to the lid of the box so that it will stay in the same
position every time.)
□ 8. While looking straight down on the shoebox, use the overhead pen to carefully
and neatly trace the interface (boundary) of water to the landform (Adam’s Island)
on the overhead. As you trace you should move your head along with the pen so
that you will continue to look straight down. You may also want to have one eye
closed.
□ 9. READ STEPS 10-12 BEFORE DOING STEP 12.
□ 10. Remove the lid and overhead and add enough colored water to the box to bring
the level up the 2 cm tape mark. Replace the lid and overhead and trace this new
interface. These interface lines are called contour lines and they show points with
the same elevation. If the landform tends to float you may have to weigh it down
with some clay stuck the underside of the landform.
□ 11. Continue these procedures until you have filled the box to the 8 cm mark with
colored water or until the landform is completely covered by water, whichever
comes FIRST. The last one or two contour lines may have water inside the volcano,
as well as, outside. You must draw two contour lines for the same elevation.
□ 12. Normally as you go from one line to the next you are going up the mountain, but
inside the volcano you are going down. To show this you should draw little lines
(hachure’s) pointing inside the contour line inside the volcano. See the diagram to
the right.
□ 13. When you have completed the contour map, carefully remove the landform from
the shoebox and carefully dip out most of the water with the beaker. Put the water
back into the buckets. When the amount of water left in the plastic box is small
enough that you can pick it up without spilling water, you can carefully dump the
rest into the buckets.
□ 14. Remove the plastic sheet from the lid and save it. Do not allow it to get wet.
Dry the box and put the landform inside it. Set the box on the lid. The other
materials can be cleaned up and returned to the front of the room.
□ 15. READ STEPS 16-17 BEFORE DOING STEP 16.
□ 16. Tape the plastic to a window so that the mountain peak is in the Northwest
corner and the Island set East and West lengthwise. Tape your Lab Data Sheet (the
last page of the lab) over the plastic so that you will be able to trace, WITH
PENCIL, the contour lines on you map onto the paper.
□ 17. You may want to have your teacher look at the map to check it over. Rinse off
the overhead when you are sure all of the members of your group have the map
completely copied on the paper. Dry the plastic off on both sides and then return the
plastic to the front of the room.
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EARTH SCIENCE
TOPIC III
MAPPING DIRECTIONS (Day 2)
Name:__________________________
LAB #_______DUE DATE_________
Directions: After completing your contour map of the “island in a box,” do each of the
following steps on your map, using the symbols given to you with this lab. Set your map
so the mountain peak is again in the Northwest part of the island and the island runs East
and West. Check off each step as you complete them.
□ 1) Label the first contour line you drew as 0 ft. and color it blue. This is the outline
of Adams Island. Your blue line represents the shore where your island meets the
ocean.
□ 2) Place a North pointing direction arrow in the southwest corner of your paper
below the island. (↑)
□ 3) Draw a graphic scale for this map, 1 cm below the map and 8 cm long. Let every
cm equal 0.2 miles. Mark every 0.2 miles on the scale and number the even tenths
(0cm = 0mi, 1cm = 0.2mi, 2cm = 0.4mi, 3cm = 0.6mi, 4cm = 0.8mi, 5cm = 1.0mi,
6cm = 1.2mi, 7cm = 1.4mi, & 8cm = 1.6mi).
□ 4) Write ‘Contour Interval = 10 ft’ underneath the graphic scale you constructed in
step 3.
□ 5) Label all the contour lines. Remember your contour interval is 10 ft, so count by
10’s. Be careful near the crater of the volcano – there may be a depression causing
your contour lines to decrease in elevation.
□ 6) Draw an orange circle around the steepest slope area (where all of your contour
lines are the closest together) on the map and label it ‘steep slope.’
□ 7) Use a yellow crayon to highlight the highest area on the map. Be careful – what
you think is the highest area may be a crater.
□ 8) Draw a straight line from the west coast of your map through the highest peak to
the east coast. Have your teacher check your line. Then draw a profile on a sheet
of graph paper using the baseline you just drew.
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9) Continue on to the questions.
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EARTH SCIENCE
TOPIC III – LAB REPORT
Name:__________________________
LAB #_______DUE DATE_________
Directions: Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of Earth Science and
the topographic maps provided for you in the lab. Don’t forget units!!!
**Base your answers for questions 1-8 on the map titled ‘Lake Muhl’ – found on page 6 in
this lab. Base your answers for questions 9-15 on the map titled ‘Fraggle Rock’ found on
page 7 in this lab.
1. What is the length of Auroro Creek?
2. What is the change in elevation between Eagle Hill and Timony Hill?
3. What is the contour interval on this map?
4. What is the highest possible elevation at the top of Patriot Hill?
5. What is the lowest possible elevation of Lake Muhl?
6. What is the gradient between points A and B? SHOW WORK.
7. In what direction does Auroro Creek flow?
8. What shape do contour lines make where they cross a stream?
9. What is the contour interval on this map?
10.What is the elevation of the lowest contour line on this map?
11.What is the elevation of the highest contour line on this map?
12.What is the elevation of point A?
13.What is the distance between points D and E?
14.What direction is the Amethyst River flowing? Be careful North is not straight up!
15.What is the gradient between points A and E? SHOW WORK.
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Use this map for questions 1-8.
‘Lake Muhl’
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Use this map for questions 9-15. Turn your paper so that you are viewing the map with
the map scale on the bottom.
‘Fraggle Rock’
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