Six station cards — print one per table (one card per page; figures are embedded).
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 1 — The Whole Planet

planetary interior · ~10,000 km
Group 1 — The Whole Planet figure

Question

How do we know Earth's outer core is liquid iron — and how would you find the core of Mars with a single seismometer?

Methods on the table

S-wave shadow and teleseismic body waves; normal modes and PKIKP; mean density and moment of inertia; the geodynamo.
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 2 — Ocean Geophysics: The Spreading Seafloor

ridge to abyssal plain · ~1,000 km
Group 2 — Ocean Geophysics: The Spreading Seafloor figure

Question

For one patch of seafloor — how old is it, how deep should it be, and how much heat should it give off?

Methods on the table

Magnetic reversal stripes (age); bathymetry and gravity (depth); heat-flow probe with the half-space cooling model (q = 510·t^(−1/2) mW m⁻², d = 2500 + 350·t^(1/2) m, t in Ma).
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 3 — Cascadia Earthquake & Tsunami Hazard

subduction margin · regional
Group 3 — Cascadia Earthquake & Tsunami Hazard figure

Question

What will the next Cascadia megathrust do to Seattle and the coast?

Methods on the table

Seismic imaging of slab geometry and width W; waveform and paleoseismic moment M₀; geodetic (GPS/InSAR) locking; ground-motion and tsunami forward models (M₀ = μ·D̄·L·W).
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 4 — Mountains, Basins & the Continents

lithosphere · 10–500 km
Group 4 — Mountains, Basins & the Continents figure

Question

Why is the Tibetan Plateau (or the Cascades) high — and what holds it up?

Methods on the table

Free-air versus Bouguer gravity; Airy and Pratt isostasy; crustal refraction for Moho depth; the Nafe–Drake bridge (Airy root r ≈ ρ_c·h / (ρ_m − ρ_c)).
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 5 — The Cryosphere & Climate–Solid Earth Coupling

ice sheet to mantle · regional–global
Group 5 — The Cryosphere & Climate–Solid Earth Coupling figure

Question

How do we weigh an ice sheet and watch it melt — and why does the solid Earth bounce back?

Methods on the table

Time-lapse and satellite gravity (mass change); glacial isostatic adjustment (rebound, mantle viscosity); cryoseismology; distributed acoustic sensing on ice.
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.
ESS 314 · Lecture 30 Synthesis Studio

Group 6 — The Reconstructed Past: Plate Kinematics

whole planet · deep time
Group 6 — The Reconstructed Past: Plate Kinematics figure

Question

How do we rewind the plates 100 million years — and why isn't the hotspot frame fixed?

Methods on the table

Paleomagnetism (paleolatitude, apparent polar wander); seafloor magnetic isochrons; hotspot tracks; plate reconstructions.
Synthesis Card
1 · Methods (2–4 course methods you would deploy)
2 · Observable → property (what you measure; what Earth property it senses)
3 · The null space (what one method alone cannot tell you)
4 · The joint move (method A + method B removes which ambiguity?)
5 · One number (an order-of-magnitude estimate you can produce)
6 · The one-method trap (the hidden single-method assumption)
The one rule: name at least two methods, and one ambiguity their combination resolves.