Plate Tectonics - Project Blog (3/26-3/30)

This is our model of the Three Sisters Mountains 

Summary:

The three sisters mountain in Oregon were created due to the movement of tectonic plates, called subduction zones. This movement created the mountains that we know today. The oldest mountain, known as the North Sister, or "Faith" is less than 170,000 years. This mountain is most eroded of the three and contains rock pinnacles and glaciers. The Middle Sister, or “Hope,” is a stratovolcano that is made up of basalt but has also erupted less common things such as andesite, dacite, and rhyodacite. The middle sisters has last erupted approximately 50,000 years ago and is considered extinct. The South Sister, also known as “Charity,” is the youngest and tallest out of the three. It is also a stratovolcano, and is about 50,000 years old, and has last erupted about 2000 years ago.

These mountains are part of the cascade volcanic are which contains many volcanoes and ranges from western North America to southwestern British Columbia as passes through a few states in the U.S. This volcanic arc stretches for around 700 miles. This arc is formed by subduction along the Cascadia subduction zone. The top layer of the mountains is made of olivine basalt, which was created due to cooling lava. Below this are layers of sandstone, which started forming around 290 to 230 million years ago. At the bottom of mountains are metamorphic rocks that formed from sediments. As you can see, these mountains were created over different times to create the Three Sisters Mountains that we know today.

Backward-Looking

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

To produce this piece, first, we had to choose our landform and research the movement of tectonic plates that contributed to the creation of the Three Sisters Mountains. Once we collected all of our information, we analyzed and sorted it. We found images to use in our presentations and created a script for the presentation that would go with it. Once we were completely finished with our presentation, we started creating our model. We created the mountains in our model out of clay and paint, and we also added trees and stones that added to the natural landscape. Once we are done, we are going to present our discoveries with the class.

Inward-Looking

How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I feel like we put a lot of effort into this project, so I do feel pretty good about this piece of work. I liked this project because there was a lot of freedom and we had many choices to pick from. I enjoy how we could use a lot of creativity while we were creating our model. In our piece of work, I liked how we made our model realistic, however, we did not have enough time and materials to make it big, so our model is pretty small. I really enjoyed this project because we could be creative, we had a lot of freedom, and I like the landform that we created.

Outward-Looking

Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

There was a lot of freedom with this project, so different groups chose different topics and projects to do. However, a few groups did the same project as us, and the process was similar. Each group chose a different landform, so each group made their model differently, however, many groups did the same process. Overall, many of the groups did their projects differently, so each group had a unique topic and landform.

Forward-Looking

What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?

If I had a chance to do this piece over again, I would make the mountains bigger and more realistic so that it would look a lot more like the actual landforms. I would also spend more time on the model than to the presentations, as I did feel like we were rushing as it got closer to the due date, so next time I would manage my time better and be more efficient. Overall, we put a lot of work and effort into this project so there would not be a lot of things that I would change.