Practical Earth Science Exercises

We are pleased to present the 5th edition of Practical Earth Science Exercises, a laboratory manual originally conceived by Drs. Lisa Rossbacher, David Jessey, and David Berry in 1986 during their early teaching years at Cal Poly Pomona. 

Exercises in this volume will acquaint students with practical aspects of physical geology, natural hazards, and engineering applications of geology.  The chapter sequence is organized such that fundamental concepts and definitions are thoroughly introduced before exercises involving practical applications, natural hazards, and geotechnical analysis.  Topics are chosen to compliment lecture materials covered concurrently in introductory level Earth Science, Natural Disasters, and Engineering Geology courses. Key words and/or important technical “jargon” are highlighted in underlined italics.  Instructors may select various exercises in different sequences to meet the needs of their lecture itinerary.  Each exercise is designed to provide the student with "hands on" experience in geological techniques or analysis.  Some exercises may take less than 50 minutes to complete; others may take three hours or more.  Students will find it most useful to read the introductory material for the appropriate exercise before class meetings.  We also recommend previewing the various web pages cited in the exercises to prepare for assigned problems.