Trilobite
Geology
Merit Badge

Mr. R.
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"Geology is the window from the past we use to see the future." 
                                                                                                                         - Kerry W. Rasmussen 

 
Mr. R's Geology Passport© (a 4"x5" pocket guide) is available in PDF format to print out for non-profit use (requires free Adobe Acrobat© Reader).  Passports are copyrighted, but scouts and troops may use them free of charge if they create only one per scout. NO scout may be charged! BSA councils must first contact Mr. R. before creating large quantities for scout camps, merit badge fairs, etc.

 
Req#
1
 Define geology. Discuss how geologists learn about rock formations. In geology, explain why the study of the present is important to understanding the past. 
Geology: The scientific study of the Earth, its origins and evolution, the materials that make it up, and the processes that act on it.

Mt. Etna, Sicily
 

 

Req#
2
Pick three resources that can be extracted or mined from Earth for commercial use. Discuss with your counselor how each product is discovered and processed.
 

 

Req#
3
Review a geologic map of your area with your counselor and discuss the different rock types and estimated ages of rocks represented. Determine whether the rocks are horizontal, folded, or faulted, and explain how you arrived at your conclusion.

 

Req#
4

Do ONE of the following:
a. With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit with a geologist, land use planner, or civil engineer. Discuss this professional's work and the tools required in this line of work. Learn about a project that this person is now working on, and ask to see reports and maps created for this project. Discuss with your counselor what you have learned. 
b. Learn about the career opportunities available in geology. Pick one that interests you and explain how to prepare for such a career. Discuss what courses might be useful for such a career. You may use resources found on the Internet (with your parent's permission), at the library, in books and articles from periodicals, from television programs, and at school.

 

Complete ONE of the options listed below

A, B, C, or D:

 

Req#
A
Surface and Sedimentary Processes Option
  1. Conduct an experiment approved by your counselor that demonstrates how sediments settle from suspension in water. Explain to your counselor what the exercise shows and why it is important.
  2. Using topographical maps provided by your counselor, plot the stream gradients (different elevations divided by distance) for four different stream types (straight, meandering, dendritic, trellis). Explain which ones flow fastest and why, and which ones will carry larger grains of sediment and why.
  3. On a stream diagram, show areas where you will find the following features: cut bank, fill bank, point bar, medial channel bars, lake delta. Describe the relative sediment grain size found in each feature.
  4. Conduct an experiment approved by your counselor that shows how some sedimentary material carried by water may be too small for you to see without a magnifier.
  5. Visit a nearby stream. Find clues that show the direction of water flow, even if the water is missing. Record your observations in a notebook, and sketch those clues you observe. Discuss your observations with your counselor.
 

Exploring Earth (Visualization) Many animations about science
 

 

Req#
B
Energy Resources Option
  1. List the top five Earth resources used to generate electricity in the United States.
  2. Discuss source rock, trap, and reservoir rock - the three components necessary for the occurrence of oil and gas underground.
  3. Explain how each of the following items is used in subsurface exploration to locate oil or gas: reflection seismic, electric well logs, stratigraphic correlation, offshore platform, geologic map, subsurface structure map, subsurface isopach map, and core samples and cutting samples.
  4. Using at least 20 data points provided by your counselor, create a subsurface structure map and use it to explain how subsurface geology maps are used to find oil, gas, or coal resources.
  5. Powerpoint How to create a subsurface map
  6. Do ONE of the following activities:

    7. a. Make a tabletop display showing how oil and gas or coal is found, extracted, and processed. You may use maps, books, articles from periodicals, and research found on the Internet (with your parent's permission). Share the display with your counselor or a small group (such as your class at school) in a five minute presentation.

    b. With your parent's and counselor's permission and assistance, arrange for a visit to an operating drilling rig. While there, talk with a geologist and ask to see what the geologist does onsite. Ask to see cutting samples taken at the site.
 

 

Req#
C
Mineral Resources Option
  1. Define rock. Discuss the three classes of rocks including their origin and characteristics.
  2. Define mineral. Discuss the origin of minerals and their chemical composition and identification properties, including hardness, specific gravity, color, streak, cleavage, luster, and crystal form.
  3. Do ONE of the following:

    a. Collect 10 different rocks or minerals. Record in a notebook where you obtained (found, bought, traded) each one. Label each specimen, identify its class and origin, determine its chemical composition, and list its physical properties. Share your collection with your counselor.

    b. With your counselor's assistance, identify 15 different rocks and minerals. List the name of each specimen, tell whether it is a rock or mineral, and give the name of its class (if it is a rock) or list its identifying physical properties (if it is a mineral).

    • Amethyst Galleries, Inc.  Physical characteristics of minerals including pages on hardness, specific gravity, color, streak, cleavage, luster, and crystal systems.  (excellent) 
  4. List three of the most common road building materials used in your area. Explain how each material is produced and how each is used in road building.
  5. Do ONE of the following activities:

    a. With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit an active mining site, quarry, or sand and gravel pit. Tell your counselor what you learned about the resources extracted from this location and how these resources are used by society.

    b. With your counselor, choose two examples of rocks and two examples of minerals. Discuss the mining of these materials and describe how each is used by society.

    c. With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit the office of a civil engineer and learn how geology is used in construction. Discuss what you learned with your counselor.
  To remember the Mohs scale try remembering this phrase: 
The Geologist Can Find An Ordinary Quartz, (that) Tourists Call Diamond! 
 

 

 

Req#
D
Earth History Option
  1. Create a chart showing suggested geological eras and periods. Determine which period the rocks in your region might have been formed.
  2. Explain to your counselor the processes of burial and fossilization, and discuss the concept of extinction. Identify three plants or animals on the threatened or endangered list of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  3. Explain to your counselor how fossils provide information about ancient life, environment, climate, and geography. Discuss the following terms and explain how animals from each habitat obtain food: benthonic, pelagic, littoral, lacustrine, open marine, brackish, fluvial, eolian, protected reef.
  4. Collect 10 different fossil plants or animals. Record in a notebook where you obtained (found, bought, traded) each one. Classify each specimen to the best of your ability, and explain how each one might have survived and obtained food. Tell what else you can learn from these fossils.
  5. Do ONE of the following:

    a. Visit a science museum or the geology department of a local university that has fossils on display. With your parent's and counselor's approval, before you go, make an appointment with a curator or guide who can show you how the fossils are preserved and prepared for display.

    b. Visit a structure in your area that was built using fossiliferous rocks. Determine what kind of rock was used and tell your counselor the kinds of fossil evidence you found there.
 
 

 

THE FOLLOWING ARE OLD REQUIREMENTS,

BUT GOOD MATERIAL

 

Req#
2
 Make a collection of at least 10 different earth materials or geological specimens from your locality or an area of special interest to you. Label, to the best of your ability, classify, and explain the origin, and use of the materials collected.**
  • Amethyst Galleries, Inc.  Physical characteristics of minerals including pages on hardness, specific gravity, color, streak, cleavage, luster, and crystal systems.  (excellent) 
**NOTE: Alternatives:
In place of requirement 2, you may present a collection of 10 different rocks, with specimens of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks properly marked, cataloged and displayed.
-or-
You may present a collection of 10 different minerals (or ores) properly marked, cataloged, and displayed. Also identify each of the 10 minerals and give their sources and possible uses.
 

 
Req#
3
 Define rock. Discuss and define three classes of rocks. List the characteristics of each class, how they are formed, and how they are named. 

Rock Cycle
 

 
Req#
4
 Define mineral. Tell how to identify minerals. Tell how rocks and minerals differ. List five of the most common rock-forming minerals. Tell how they are identified. Tell how hardness, specific gravity, color, streak, cleavage, luster, and crystal form are useful in identifying minerals.

Chalcopyrite
To remember the Mohs scale try remembering this phrase: 
The Geologist Can Find An Ordinary Quartz, (that) Tourists Call Diamond! 

 
Req#
5		 Secure a topographic map of your how locality or an area of special interest to you. Explain the origin of the landscape, including any unusual features. Account for any influences of the landscape on the location of towns, parks, highways, railroads, airports, industries, or similar structures. 

 
Req#
6
 Draw a diagram of the hydrologic cycle and discuss it and its effects with your counselor.

http://web.bryant.edu/~langlois/ecology
/hydrologiccycle.html

 
Req#
7
 Do ONE of the following:
a. Tell about the occurrence of volcanoes on land and in the ocean. Describe the difference between intrusive igneous rocks and extrusive igneous rocks. 
b. Describe the major steps in the geologic history of a mountain rage. Describe the anticline, syncline, fault, strike, dip and an unconformity. Discuss the relationship between mountain building and erosion in forming the present landscape. 
c. Describe the major features of an ocean floor between the shorelines on either side. 

USGS 
NOTE:  To remember the difference between anticlines and synclines, many learn the following saying:
"Angels go up while Sinners go down"
Anticline
Syncline

 
Req#
8
 Make a chart showing the geological eras and periods and show in what geologic time the rocks in your region were formed. 

 
Req#
9
 Do ONE of the following:
a. Tell what fossils are and how they aid in understanding the story of the earth's history. 
b. Make a collection of 10 different fossils and identify them to the best of your ability. 
c. Discuss with your counselor the theory of continental drift. 

 
Req#
10
 Discuss two environmental problems related to geology. Tell how land-use planning relates to geology. Tell why faulting, landslides, waste disposal, pollution, water supply, and subsidence are important in land-use planning. Give an example of poor use of land in your area or an environmental hazard in your area related to geologic features or processes. 
SUBSIDENCE: The sinking or depression of the land surface as a result of too much ground water withdrawal (or overwithdrawal of any mined fluid such as petroleum). Sink holes can be caused by subsidence.

Where did the swimming pool go?
 SINKHOLES are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by ground water circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces then a sudden collapse of the land surface can occur. These collapses can be small, as this picture shows, or they can be huge and can occur where a house or road is on top.
USGS

 
Req#
11
 Do ONE of the following:
a. Describe five energy sources, how they occur, and how they are used today. Describe the source of the products supplied by your local utilities. Tell which of these products are related to geologic processes. 
b. Visit a mine, oil or gas field, gravel pit, stone quarry, or similar area of special interest to you. Make a collection of geologic specimens found at the site visited. Tell about the geology of the place.

Designed by Robyn Embry

 

 
Req#
13
 Discuss with your counselor what you have learned about careers in geology and how to prepare for them.

 

BSA Advancement ID#: 58
Pamphlet Revision Date: 2005
Requirements last updated in 2006
 


This site was reviewed by
Paul Bybee, PhD
Utah Valley State College
 
 


 

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