Learn on PengiAmplify Science (California) Grade 7Chapter 2: Using Models as Evidence

Lesson 2: Landforms as Evidence

Key Idea.

Section 1

Visualizing the Past

Key Idea

Geologic processes are often temporary, but the landforms they create are persistent. A river may dry up, but the riverbed remains carved into the rock for eons.

This persistence means that landforms act as a record of the past. By analyzing the shape, size, and texture of a landform, scientists can reconstruct the geologic history of a region. They look at a dry landscape and see the "ghosts" of the water or lava that once flowed there.

Section 2

Matching Models to Reality

Key Idea

To validate their ideas, scientists look for a correspondence between their model results and the real world. They place an image of their stream table experiment next to a satellite image of Mars to check for matches.

If the features align—showing similar branching patterns or sediment deposits—it strengthens the evidence. This match suggests that the physical laws governing water and sand in the lab are the same laws that shaped the surface of Mars, linking the model directly to reality.

Lesson overview

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Section 1

Visualizing the Past

Key Idea

Geologic processes are often temporary, but the landforms they create are persistent. A river may dry up, but the riverbed remains carved into the rock for eons.

This persistence means that landforms act as a record of the past. By analyzing the shape, size, and texture of a landform, scientists can reconstruct the geologic history of a region. They look at a dry landscape and see the "ghosts" of the water or lava that once flowed there.

Section 2

Matching Models to Reality

Key Idea

To validate their ideas, scientists look for a correspondence between their model results and the real world. They place an image of their stream table experiment next to a satellite image of Mars to check for matches.

If the features align—showing similar branching patterns or sediment deposits—it strengthens the evidence. This match suggests that the physical laws governing water and sand in the lab are the same laws that shaped the surface of Mars, linking the model directly to reality.