Make predictions based on the model. The prediction would be that upon drilling to the bottom of the glacier, a wet material would be found that is not found under other areas of the glacier. 6. Test the predictions in the field by designing an experiment to collect the right type of data to answer the questions. In this case, samples were indeed collected from beneath specific areas of the glacier, a difficult and sometimes dangerous task. Results showed that underlying the fastermoving areas of ice was a wet mud and gravel slurry not found in other areas, perhaps from an old stream bed, that provided lubrication for the ice above it. Using the scientific method can sometimes be complicated for geologists because Earth is their laboratory and it has many variables and is NOT a controlled environment. Controlled experiments (usually carried out in laboratories) are carefully designed to test a specific hypothesis, and they can be repeated. Unfortunately, many hypotheses in geology cannot be directly tested in a controlled experiment (e.g., the origin of the Grand Canyon cannot be discovered by using this approach). Geologists must collect data by mapping or collecting specimens. They must rely on circumstantial evidence, which is subject to interpretation, and therefore can be challenged. The Theory of Plate Tectonics again is an excellent example. Alfred Wegener took some of his own studies and the work of others and realized that the continents on opposite sides of the
Make predictions based on the model. The prediction would be that upon drilling to the bottom of the glacier, a wet material would be found that is not found under other areas of the glacier. 6. Test the predictions in the field by designing an experiment to collect the right type of data to answer the questions. In this case, samples were indeed collected from beneath specific areas of the glacier, a difficult and sometimes dangerous task. Results showed that underlying the fastermoving areas of ice was a wet mud and gravel slurry not found in other areas, perhaps from an old stream bed, that provided lubrication for the ice above it. Using the scientific method can sometimes be complicated for geologists because Earth is their laboratory and it has many variables and is NOT a controlled environment. Controlled experiments (usually carried out in laboratories) are carefully designed to test a specific hypothesis, and they can be repeated. Unfortunately, many hypotheses in geology cannot be directly tested in a controlled experiment (e.g., the origin of the Grand Canyon cannot be discovered by using this approach). Geologists must collect data by mapping or collecting specimens. They must rely on circumstantial evidence, which is subject to interpretation, and therefore can be challenged. The Theory of Plate Tectonics again is an excellent example. Alfred Wegener took some of his own studies and the work of others and realized that the continents on opposite sides of the