Topographic Maps Lab

This lab was modified from a lab designed by Lisa Walsh, University of Maryland, and downloaded from
https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerdev/AcademicCareer2010/activities/40981.html and
Kyle Fredrick from California University of Pennsylvania, and downloaded from
https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/intro/activities/23407.html. This lab has been modified from an
earlier version designed by Dr. David Kendrick, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY, 2005.
This is adapted from a lab used by Nina Whitney, Carleton College, MN, 2020 by Jeremy R-F, LBCC, OR,
2020

Note: This lab can be completed by printing it out and doing the exercises by hand. After
completing, a scan or photo attachment can be attached.

Introduction
Maps are fundamental geological tools. We use maps to represent a lot of different
information, including rock distribution, water tables, and the shape of the Earth’s
surface. Topography is the 3D shape of the Earth’s surface. Topographic maps depict
the Earth’s surface by means of contour lines, or lines of constant elevation.

Knowledge and Skills you will learn in this lab:

● 1) Understand how a topographic map represents the Earth’s surface and be
able to create and interpret such a map.
● 2) Solve problems using published topographic maps and your newly discovered
map-reading abilities.

A Guide to Using and Interpreting Maps

To use topographic maps, you need to understand several basic map features:

Map Scale: Maps are scaled-down representations of an area. This means that the
distance between two points on a map corresponds to some true distance on the
ground. The ratio of map distance to true distance is the map scale. Most people are
familiar with a map’s scale bar. A scale bar is a line or bar of some predetermined map
length which is labeled with the corresponding true distance, for example (For example
1 cm on the map could represent 1 km on Earth). Map scales can also be expressed as
a ratio or fraction. Many topographic maps, for instance, have a scale of 1:24,000. This
means that one cm on the map equals 24,000 cm on the ground, one foot on the map
equals 24,000 feet on the ground.

Note: These expressions assume that map and true distances are expressed in the
same units! Thus if you measure map distance in cm and calculate true distance, the
calculated distance will be in cm. If true distance is in miles and you calculate map
distance, the calculated distance will be in miles.

Orientation: Most maps have a North arrow. When the map is oriented so that the
North arrow on the map points to north on the Earth, directions on the map are the
same as directions on the ground and the map can be used for navigation.
Contour Lines: Contour lines indicate the shape of the land surface, i.e. its topography.
A contour line is the map trace of an imaginary line on the ground that has a particular
elevation. One way of visualizing such a line is to imagine a shoreline. Bodies of
standing water have level upper surfaces, thus their shorelines are traces on the ground
surface of that particular elevation. Topographic maps have many contour lines, each
adjacent line differing by a constant elevation difference, the contour interval (below).

Contour lines follow some basic rules. If you understand contour lines, you should be
able to explain why each of these rules is true:

1. The closer spaced contour lines are, the steeper the ground surface is.
2. Contour lines never cross
3. Contour lines never branch or merge
4. Contour lines never change elevation
5. Contour lines never skip (e.g., you can never have the sequence of lines 10, 20, 40
without having 10, 20, 30, 40)
6. Contour lines always have an up side and a down side (all elevations on one side of
the line are higher than the line, all elevations on the other side lower). The up and
down side never change along the length of the contour line. Contour lines with
inward hatches indicate a depression (i.e. a decrease in elevation).
 Part 1: Understanding Topographic Maps

1. Label the elevation of the contours on the map below. Watch out for
depressions with repeated contours. The contour interval is 20 meters.
2. On the map above label one area where the ground is steeply sloping, and
one area where it’s relatively flat
 Part 2: Making Topographic Maps

The shaded relief map below provides elevation measurements across Mount Mauna
Loa, an active Hawaiian volcanic island.

1) Using a 3000 m contour interval, draw on the relief map and label the contour
lines across the island. Sea level elevation = 0 m.

(Shaded relief model and elevations across Mauna Loa from Temple University www.temple.edu/geology)

2) Estimate the elevation of location X by interpolating between the contour lines.

X = ____ m

3) It’s really convenient when the elevation data perfectly lines up with your contour
interval. This won’t always be the case though!

In this map below, draw the elevation lines in at 100 foot contour intervals. The 100 foot
line has already been done. Start with the 200 line and estimate where your contours
should be based on the elevation points. Don’t simply connect the dots!
Part 3: Elevation Profiles
Topographic profiles are scaled drawings depicting the elevation of the land
surface along some particular line. The map below should be familiar.

1. Use the axes provided to make an ‘Elevation Profile’ along the A-B line.

Hint: Use your answers from earlier in the lab (Q1) to fill in the contour
lines and then follow the method of making elevation profiles [Video
Explainer (start ~ 2:25)]
2. Use the scale bar to determine the vertical exaggeration of your profile.
3. (Hint: Vertical exaggeration is the ratio of your vertical scale to your horizontal scale, so
if one centimeter = 1 km in horizontal and vertical distance on your profile your vertical
exaggeration would be 1:1. If one centimeter = 100,000 m horizontal and 100 m vertical,
then the vertical exaggeration would be 1:1,000 (100,000 m ÷ 100 m = 1,000 m)