Geomorphology 3 - Lab Report Example

Introduction The degree of tombstone weathering is figured to rely on various factors given that the some tombstone stayslonger than others do. One of the major the factor that can be measured effectively is the age of the gravestone. Through calibrated relative dating, that involves dating them relative to each other, the age of the tombstones can be arrived at. Other factors that affect weathering degree of a tombstone include type of rock, height, length and thickness. Through exploring these factors, the knowledge about the degree of weathering on tombstones is established.

Further, a model for predicting age can be succinctly tested based on weathering degree.As the result of the above concepts, this lab was specifically designed with the major objective of measuring the degree of weathering on tombstones.The specific goals:Understand how calibrated relative dating worksUnderstand hypothesis testing. Formulate new hypothesesObserve/measure the degree of weathering on tombstones of varying ageDevelop a model that uses weathering to predict ageUnderstand and explain sources of error in your modelHypothesesThe degree of tombstone weathering is related to tombstone ageThe degree of tombstone weathering relies on the height of the tombstoneThe length of tombstone determines the degree of the tombstone weathering.

MethodsApparatusMeasuring tape, slide calipers, notebook, writing utensils, computer, Microsoft Excel, hand-held or online calculator, printerProcedure The class split into three groups and recorded the varying degrees of weathering for different tombstones at the Murray Cemetry. The characteristics of the 20 tombstones were recorded by each group. The characteristics recorded for each tombstone include height, width, length, name, thickness at bottom and thickness at top, texture, lithology, tilt and visual weathering class.

The data obtained were entered into an excel spreadsheet as shown in the result section. ResultsFigure 1: weathering class vs ageAs shown in the above the graph, with the help of a best fit line, there is a general trend observed between weathering class and age. A positive gradient indicates that there is a positive relationship between the two and as the age increases so does the weathering class of tombstone increases. Further, a graph of the weathering class vs height was also plotted as follows:Figure 2: weathering class vs heightAs shown in the graph, there is a general trend between weathering class and height of the tombstone.

The equation gives a positive gradient, showing that as the height increases there is a positive effect on the weathering class. The weathering class increases with increase in height. Next, a graph of weathering class against length was plotted to determine how length affects weathering degree.Figure 3: weathering class vs length A line of best fit, as shown in the graph, indicates that there is a considerable relationship between weathering class and length. The graph shows that an increase observed in length leads to an increase in weathering class.

The positive gradient shows that there is a positive relationship between the two.Discussion The results obtained were able to support the initially listed hypotheses. For age, there was observed consistency in its relationship with weathering class as shown in the graph. Hence, from the methodology used, the hypothesis “The degree of tombstone weathering is related to tombstone age” is sufficiently supported because there was observed consistency with a positive gradient. The results supported hypothesis two which stated that “The degree of tombstone weathering relies on the height of the tombstone” given that there was a general trend.

It was shown that the degree of weathering increased with increase in height. The same was detected as shown in the graph, which supported the fact that length is factor in determining the weathering degree. The results show that that an increase observed in length leads to increase in degree of weathering.Intuitively, the above model has proved successful in predicting the age of a tombstone. In which case, weathering class can be used sufficiently in determining whether a tombstone is young or old.

As weathering degree increases the implication is that age will also be increasing. The older tombstone have more weathering degree than the younger tombstone.However, the lab may have been ineffective and filled with errors, especially when supporting the first hypothesis. The error arose when rating the ages based on weathering classes. Some old rocks were given high ratings while some newer rocks were given low ratings hence leading to the observed inconsistency. This inconsistency may be contributed to randomness used when choosing the tombstones.

Consistency can be assured by making use of age groupings at intervals. ConclusionFrom the lab, it was observed that the degree of tombstone weathering relies on the height and the length of the tombstone. The results also proved that weathering degree can be used as model for predicting age of a tombstone.