Virtual Geology Learning Toolbox

 

This document contains information about the virtual geology learning toolbox that is available for public use for education. 

 

VIRTUAL ROADCUT

Tiled GigaPixel Images. Go to the web page below and make some investigations on it by using your mouse. You can use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Please try to see what kind of information you can have and how much detail you can get from it. You can use your smartphones as well.  

 

Faults:

• Normal faults in Chalk

• Normal fault in Fort Payne Formation, Kentucky

• Glarus Thrust, Alps: 3D model | 2D illustration

Folds:

• Anticline and Syncline pair

• Folds in sandstone

Volcanic features:

• Rheomorphic deformation and sheath folds (Owyhee County, Idaho, USA). 

  • Additional materials on GigaMacro image of rheomorphic deformation and sheath folds is at http://bit.ly/rheomorphic. 

  • 3D model of this outcrop is at: https://skfb.ly/6RZsR. 

Roadcuts of exposed minerals or rocks:

• Kingsland Glauconite Roadcuts (Hoover Point, Kingsland, Texas, USA)

 

 

VIRTUAL SPECIMENS

3D Rock & Fossil Models. Go to the Sketchfab web pages to investigate 3D models of some rock specimens we had collected during the Summer Geology Field Camp. You may need to wait a few seconds to have all details completely loaded. Left-mouse button rotates it, the right-mouse button will displace it, and the mouse wheel will allow you to zoom in and out. You can use your smartphones as well. 

 

Please note that specimens created by myself do not have information available on Sketchfab because they are intended to be used for identification purposes. Please refer to the information provided below for the information for each specimen. 

 

Rock collections:

• Sketchfab: https://sketchfab.com/parv/collections/geology-rocks

 

Sedimentary rocks:

Inorganic terrestrial: 

Texture	Sediment size	Chemical composition	Notes	Rock name and specimen link
Clastic	Pebbles - Cobbles - Boulders	Primarily composed of quartz, feldspars, and clay minerals; Fragments of other rocks and/or minerals may be contained.	Rounded fragments	Conglomerate 1, Conglomerate 2, Conglomerate 3
			Angular fragments	Breccia
	Sand		Fine - coarse	Sandstone 1 (Quartz sandstone)
	Silt		Fine	Siltstone
	Clay		Very fine, bedding	Shale 1, Shale 2 (plant fossils), Shale 3 (plant fossils), Oil shale (2D), Shale (Fossils, 2D)
			Very fine, massive	Mudstone 1, Mudstone 2

 

Chemical/organic:

Texture	Sediment size	Chemical composition	Notes	Rock name and specimen link
Crystalline	Fine - Coarse	Halite		Rock salt
		Gypsum		Rock gypsum
		Dolomite		Dolostone
Crystalline/bioclastic	Microscopic - very coarse	Calcite		Limestone, Fossiliferous limestone, Oolitic limestone
Bioclastic		Carbon		Bituminous coal

 

Individual specimens (3D)

• Fossiliferous limestone. Embedded are lots of invertebrate fossils which are primarily crinoids. 
  
• Sandstone (Quartz sandstone). Quartz sandstone contains more than 90% quartz which indicates it might have experienced extreme weathering. 
• Sedimentary rock collection (Sketchfab)

Individual specimens (2D)

• GigaMacro 2D sedimentary rocks (Opengeology)
• GigaPan 2D sedimentary structures (Opengeology)
• GigaPan 2D sediment (Opengeology)

 

Metamorphic rocks:

Texture		Grain size	Chemical composition					Metamorphism	Rocks
			Micas	Quartz	Feldspars and  amphiboles	Garnets	Pyroxene
Foliated	Mineral alignment	Fine	○					Regional metamorphism (increasing heat and pressure)	Slate
		Fine to medium	○	○	○	○			Phyllite 1, Phyllite 2
			○	○	○	○	△		Schist 1, Graphite phyllite, Phyllite with garnet, Phyllite outcrop
	Banding	Medium to Coarse	○	○	○	○	○		Gneiss 1, Promylonite gneiss
Non-foliated		Fine	Carbons					Regional	Anthracite
			Various minerals					Contact	Hornfels 1, Amphibole hornfels, Quartz-biotite hornfels, Viridine hornfels, Hornfels (contact metamorphism) 1, Hornfels (contact metamorphism) 2, Hornfels (with fossils, 2D)
		Fine to coarse	Quartz					Regional or contact	Quartzite
			Calcite and/or dolostone						Marble 1, Granite dyke in Marble
		Coarse	Various minerals						Metaconglomerate

 

3D

• Gneiss. Metamorphic rock

• Slate. Metamorphic rock

• Metamorphic rock collection (Sketchfab)

2D: 

• GigaMacro 2D metamorphic rocks (Opengeology)

 

Igneous rocks:

3D

	Mafic	Intermediate	Felsic
Volcanic	Basalt, Basaltic Scoria 1, Basaltic Scoria 2, Basaltic Scoria 3	Andesite 1, Andesite 2	Rhyolite
Plutonic	Gabbro, Gabbro/Hornblende Diorite	Diorite 1, Diorite 2, Diorite 3 (+Dacite)	Granite 1, Granite 2, Granite 3, Granite 4, Granite 5

• Rhyolite (ignimbrite) from the Prosser Rock. Rhyolite, Saguache County, CO, USA. This model can also be seen in 3D map platform:
• https://bit.ly/2SnUVDV
• Rheomorphic deformation and sheath folds on the cliff of Little Jacks Creek, Owyhee County, Idaho, USA. A 2D Gigamacro version is posted here: https://bit.ly/rheomorphism (additional information: http://bit.ly/rheomorphic)
• Obsidian
• Pegmatite from Opportunity Mine, CO, USA (you need to be careful that micas are not depicted being reflective in this model)
• Igneous rock collection (Sketchfab)

2D: 

• GigaMacro 2D igneous rocks (Opengeology)

 

Fossils:

3D

• Fossiliferous limestone or crinoidal limestone. 

• Petrified wood from Table Top. Petrified wood on Table Top - A petrified wood on Table Top, Saguache County, CO, USA (#fossil, #colorado, #petrifiedwood, #saguachecounty)

• Petrified wood in front of Hilbun Hall, Mississippi State University

• Shark Tooth

• Rugosa. Devonian Rugose coral

• Sketchfab fossil collection

2D fossil pictures

• Marine microfossils

• Fusulinids

• Foraminifera

• Contemporary forams

  • Beach sand from Bell's Beach near Victoria, Australia

  • Foram from Bell's Beach near Victoria, Australia, 2870x, Foram from Playa Rocosa De Piñones, Puerto Rico, at 3265x, Foram from Punta Uva, Puerto Viejo, Limon, Costa Rica, 4295x, Bermuda "Pink Sand" Foram, 2580x, Foram from Hapuna Beach, Big Island, Hawaii, 2920x

     

 

Minerals:

Anionic groups

• Silicates
  • Quartz
  • Quartz Geode
• Sulfides
  • Pyrite
• Carbonates
  • Dolomite
• Sulfates
  • Gypsum (desert rose)
• Mineraloids
  • Obsidian
• Mineral collections
  • Sketchfab mineral collections
  • 2D mineral pictures (Opengeology, GigaMacro)

Crystals and crystallography

• Crystals of minerals(Museum of Mineralogy and Petrography, UAIC)
• Crystallography (Museum of Mineralogy and Petrography, UAIC)

 

2D Thin Sections:

• Gabbro

  • Gabbro, cross-polarized

• Diorite

  • Diorite, cross-polarized

• Basalt

  • Basalt x5 thin section, brightfield (>>Brightfield Microscopy)

  • Basalt x5 thin section, cross-polarized

  • Basalt x10 thin section, full waveplate

  • Basalt x5 thin section, full waveplate

• Rhyolite

  • Rhyolite x5 thin section, brightfield

  • Rhyolite x5 thin section, cross-polarized

  • Rhyolite x5 thin section, full waveplate

  • Rhyolite x10 thin section, full waveplate

• Andesite

  • Andesite x5 thin section, brightfield

  • Andesite x5 thin section, cross-polarized

  • Andesite x10 thin section, full waveplate

• Serpentinite

  • Serpentinite thin section, surface photography

• Stromatolite

  • Stromatolite thin section, surface photography

 

Virtual Helicopter Tour

3D Map Streaming Platform with Tiling CapabilityFollow the links below to open a 3D map application with terrain models for Table Top, Prosser Rock, and P2 in Saguache County, Colorado. The shaded area in a lighter color is the 3D terrain model. We have created 3D terrain models for Table Top, Prosser Rock, and P2. Please either click on each of the links below or you can move from one terrain model to another because they are in the same map environment and are close to each other. The left-mouse button will let you move the map, the right-mouse button will let you rotate it, while the wheel will let you zoom in and out. 

 

 

Volcanic features:

• Table Top, http://bit.ly/tabletop3d (lower resolution)

• Prosser Rock, https://bit.ly/2KLW8AJ (lower resolution) | Drone video footage over Prosser Rock
  

• P2, https://bit.ly/3bgKNDy

• Rhyolite (ignimbrite) from Prosser Rock

 

 

References

NAGT’s Designing Remote Field Experiences, https://nagt.org/nagt/teaching_resources/field/designing_remote_field_experie.html

 

 

 

Youngwoo Cho

demishrain@gmail.com

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