Hillslope shape

Lab manual exercise 19 “Drainage Basin Analysis” discusses the influence of hill slope shape on overland flow and erosion. Use this animation to help understand these concepts.

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Drawing Topographic Profiles

Lab manual exercise 17 “Introduction to Topographic Maps” requires the construction of topographic profiles and the use of vertical exaggeration. Use this animation to help understand how to complete these questions.

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Reading topographic maps

Reading topographic maps is a skill applied in unit 4 of the course. In addition to the material in your lab manuals, see this previous blog posting for topographic map reading resources.

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Earth Revealed video series

Your online textbook, The Physical Environment, integrates several videos from the Earth Revealed series. I encourage you to view videos from this series concerning topics discussed in the fourth unit of the course. They are a good way to help visualize earth processes and review textbook and course content.
Image: Mt. St. Helens. Courtesy USGS

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Reading topographic maps

Reading topographic maps can be confusing to some. Here are a few resources that may be of help:
Topographic Mapping from the USGS
Topographic map symbols from the USGS
Understanding topographic maps from Idaho State University
Interpreting a topographic map from Idaho State University
Landforms on topographic maps from Prof. Susan Clark Slaymaker (These are particularly helpful to study for [...]

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