Welcome!

This lab manual is the product of the work of many people dedicated to teaching Earth science, and to making sure that students have high quality and affordable materials with which to learn. The contents are adapted from and build upon projects by three other groups (listed below), and incorporate countless other resources offered free of charge for just this purpose.

This version of the lab manual has been redesigned for the return to in-person lab instruction following the creation of an online-learning-friendly lab manual and a few years of online lab instruction that utilized an at-home rock and mineral kit. It is nevertheless still a work in progress, and subsequent revisions will continue to build upon changing learning needs.

This lab manual was developed to support the Earth Science 111 lab course at UBC’s Okanagan campus, and does incorporate activities that utilize mineral and rock samples that are available in the lab room. The relevant labs include a list of what minerals and rocks are needed.

Attributions

Chapters 1 and 3-7 were adapted from the  Introductory Physical Geology Laboratory Manual – First Canadian Edition (v.3 – Jan 2020) by Joyce McBeth, Karla Panchuk, Tim Prokopiuk, Lyndsay Hauber, and Sean Lacey, developed from Laboratory Manual for Introductory Geology by Bradley Deline, Randa Harris, and Karen Tefend. These works carry a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Chapter 2 was adapted from Chapter 1 of The Story of Earth: An Observational Guide by Daniel Hauptvogel and Virginia Sisson, which has a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Attributions for individual chapters or pages can be found at the bottom of that page.