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Contour Lines

Monday, 22 June 2009 19:57

Objective

Students will construct a three-dimensional model of the earth’s surface and demonstrate how
contour lines are used to represent elevation and landforms.

Materials

- Potato sliced in half


- Board
- Centimeter ruler
- Yarn
- Topographic map of your region
- Markers or crayons
- Felt
- Glue
- Scissors
- Contour Line Basics sheet

Procedure

1. Discuss the purpose of topographic maps and their usefulness as you investigate your
study area.  Contour lines on topographic maps can be difficult for students to comprehend. 
Demonstrate the concept of contour lines with a simple potato.
2. Place the potato, cut side down, on a flat board which represents sea level.  Make small
holes in the potato 1 centimeter up from the bottom all around the potato.  Repeat every cm
until you reach the top.
3. Tie or glue yarn strips around the potato at each 1 cm interval.  Each strip of yarn is like a
contour line on a topographic map.
4. View the contour lines from the side and from the top.  Have students draw on paper what
the contour line map of the potato would look like.  Have them label the lines on their drawings
and color their maps.
5. Choose a small section of the topographic map of your region to enlarge on a copy
machine or with a computer scanner so that the contour lines are about half an inch apart. 
Trace over the contour lines with a pen to make the lines more noticeable and label each line on
your enlarged version with the appropriate elevation.
6. Depending on how many different contour lines are present, give each student several
copies of the enlarged map (equal to the number of contour lines present plus one).  On one of
their sheets have students trace over the lines with markers or crayons, using a different color
for each elevation.  This will be used as the base map.
7. Instruct students to identify the contour line of lowest elevation on another sheet, using
the base map as a guide.  They should cut around that line, cutting away any parts of the paper
that are outside of the line (indicating that they would be lower than that line of elevation).

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Contour Lines
Monday, 22 June 2009 19:57

8. Next, give each student a piece of felt, and instruct students to glue the sheets they just
cut out to the felt, and cut the felt so that it matches the shape of the paper.  Paste this to the
base map making sure the contour lines match up.
9. On the next paper cut along the next contour line moving toward higher elevation.  Again
paste to felt, cut felt, and paste to the base map matching up lines before gluing.
10. Students should continue cutting and pasting each new section as they work toward the
last contour line at the highest elevation.
11. Upon completion students have a three-dimensional representation of that section of the
topographical map, with each layer of felt representing a different contour line.  Discussion:

- How does the model compare to the map?


- Where are the steepest slopes located?  The gentlest slopes?
- How far above sea level is the highest point?
- What is the elevation at the lowest point.

12.  Use the Contour Line Basics sheet to review contour lines, what they represent, and how
to interpret them on a topographical map. Background Information

Topographical maps are a way of representing what the surface of the earth  looks like on
paper.  It is hard to imagine what an area looks like when standing at any one place within it. 
Many things inhibit the visual scope, such as trees, buildings, hills, etc.

Through the use of topographical maps and standardized symbols, a visual perspective of
man-made and physical features of a whole region can be shown.

Topographical maps represent elevation through the use of contour lines.  Contour lines
connect points of equal elevation.  The space between lines is the contour interval and indicates
the change in elevation from one line to another.

Contour Line Basics

Contour lines always make a closed circle.  If a contour line ends on the side of a map, it
would be continued on the next map.

Contour lines inside the closed contour lines are always higher, unless indicated by hachures.

Contour lines can never cross, unless there is an overhang.

Closely spaced contour lines indicate a steep slope. Contour lines that are far apart indicate

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Contour Lines
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a gentle slope.

A contour interval is always an even multiple, such as an interval of 10 or 20.

Once established, the contour interval on a map never changes.

Contour lines always bend toward higher elevation (point upstream) when they cross a
creek, river, or stream.

Every fifth contour line is thicker and labeled with the elevation it represents; these are known
as index lines.

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