Chapter 2: A Tropical Alberta
Completion requirements
Chapter 2: A Tropical Alberta
 Alberta's natural resources are the outcome of it's natural history: Courtesy Getty Images |
Oil is an important mineral resource for Alberta. The province’s Rocky Mountains form a treasured landmark. How did the region now called Alberta come to have these riches? You will have to go far back into deep time to answer this question. |
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In this chapter you will take a journey through Alberta to see what things were like in both the Paleozoic Era and the Mesozoic Era. On your journey, you will discover the geological processes that led to both the formation of oil and the Rocky Mountains.
- Turn to page 328 of the textbook, and read the Chapter 2 introduction.
In the previous chapter you made a fossil by embedding an object in plaster of Paris. In the next activity, you will return to the fossil.
Be sure to keep any prying tools away from your body. Wear safety glasses.
If you are working with classmates who embedded an object in plaster of Paris, follow the steps of the procedure. Use only the minimum force necessary to break the mould. You may find a prying tool such as a long-handled, flat-bladed screwdriver to be helpful.
If you are working independently, complete steps 1 and 3 only. Then, make careful observations of your own impression. Based on your observations, try to imagine various objects embedded in plaster of Paris. These can include any small obscure part of a larger object, an entire object, an object having no distinctive pattern on its surface, a soft object, and so on.
When doing questions 1.a. and 1.b., you may just list some embedded objects that you think would answer the questions.
- Read the activity on page 329 of the textbook. Follow the directions, and answer the questions.
Check your answers with those in the “Suggested Answers” in the online course.