Students use a beach or sand-covered driveway to create flood models at a large scale and to see more clearly the features created by an immense flood. Features created in the model illustrate features associated with the Scabland flood. Larger-scaled models enable one to study the more subtle aspects of a process. Students examine sand samples and realize that sediments can provide information about where they originated and how they were deposited. This awareness helps students understand why Pathfinder landed in a floodplain.
Sand grains contain clues about their origin and history.
A sand sample reflects the geology of its watershed or region. One of Pathfinder's mission objectives is to gather evidence that will enable scientists to better understand the composition of the Martian crust and the planet's early geologic history. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer on the Mars Global Surveyor and the APXS mounted on the micro-rover will enable scientist to determine the abundance of major chemical elements in the rocks and soil near the lander. Students apply what they learned earlier in the module about flooding and consider whether the evidence supports the idea that there were mammoth floods on Mars. The fluid that created the channels was probably water.