Directions to Make the Topo 3-D Model

Lesson Objective
Method
Materials
Instructions (for downloading and printing USGS maps)
Procedure for making the 3-D model
References

Objective:
Students develop topographic map reading skills and gain a more concrete understanding of watersheds and local topography of the Finger Lakes region.

Method:
Students will construct a 3-D model of a topographic map to reinforce the concepts of the elevation and watersheds. To practice this exercise you can use a portion of the topo map of Filmore Glen State Park .

Materials:
Copies of topographic maps: see below for instructions on how to download a topo map from USGS; cardboard scraps, glue, scissors or exacto.

Instructions for downloading a topo map and selecting an area to copy.

1) Locate your topo map and download it from the USGS map locator website:

URL: http://store.usgs.gov/locator/

2) After downloading open the map in adobe acrobat reader or professional.

3) Zoom into the map 125-150%.

4) Using the hand tool center the map to the location you want to use for the exercise.

5) Under file go to print set-up select landscape view, select the printer.

6) Under file go to print and click on current view and fit to print margins.

7) This is the view that will print, if there is too much white space go back to edit.

8) Edit under View - select hide toolbar; using the mouse click on the sides of the picture and using the arrows provided compress the size of the margins so that the white area does not show on your screen.

9) Go back to step 5.

10) To save the image as a new pdf file you will need Adobe Professional. Using the snapshot tool you can select the area of the image and save a copy; it will be saved to the clipboard. You can then create a new pdf file from the clipboard image.

11) Using the section of the topo map you selected copy onto card stock as many copies as there are 50 or 100 foot elevations. For example, if the topo maps elevations run from 1500 -900 ft. then make 8 copies of the map for each student group. Make one extra copy as the base map. Note – if there is a creek running down the middle of the image (as in the case of the state park file linked in this lesson) you may want to carve the image right down the middle of the creek using an exacto knife so the groups can work with two parts of the image and put them together on the base map.

•  Have the students work in groups of two or more.

Procedure for Making the 3-D Model:

•  Glue one map to a piece of cardboard – this is the base map.

•  Highlight one contour line per sheet, moving sequentially up or down the map on each copy. (The students may want to split the task so that one student highlights 1500-1300 and one student highlights 1200-900).

•  Cut out the shape of each contour, labeling the back of the piece of paper with the contour number i.e. 1500, 1400, etc.. Do not to throw away anything yet!

•  Take pieces of cardboard and glue them to the back of their contour pieces. The cardboard should not stick over the edges.

•  Glue each piece onto the base map for each contour. The pieces that are not glued can be discarded.

References:

For background information about the geology of the Finger Lakes and specifically how these gorges were formed see the weblink from the Paleontological Research Institute.

For pdf files of the six state parks in the Finger Lakes region link to:

Letchworth

Treman

Taughannock

Watkins Glen

Buttermilk Falls

Filmore Glen

This lesson was adapted with permission from The Catskills Conservation Center