Geography & Atmospheric Sciences

What is VR Excursions ?

• VR Excursions is a text/disk package that contains a dual platform CD-ROM and a lab manual.

  • The CD-ROM contains three field simulations and a virtual office.

  • Professors can use the simulations on the CD along with the exercises in the lab manual for a ready-made solution for incorporating the computer and “field experience” in their courses. Or, professors can create their own exercises to use in conjunction with the simulations on the CD.

What are the three field simulations?

• Simulation 1: The Yucca Mountain Project

  • Students use this simulation to explore issues related to the safety of the Yucca Mountain Project as a nuclear waste repository. Much of the module examines the physical nature of the surficial and bedrock deposits, potential pathways for movement of radioactive wastes, and the levels and sophistication of evaluation needed in order to effectively use scientific data to solve a risk management problem.

• Simulation 2: Coal Power

  • This simulation examines the chemistry of coal-fired power plants, with particular emphasis on three areas: 1. formation of coal and its naturally occurring pollutants, 2. power plant siting given a potentially suitable geologic deposit, and 3. chemical methods of scrubbing emissions, waste handling and reduction processes, as well as the regulatory issues related to wasted and emissions production.

• Simulation 3: Solid Waste Landfill

  • The solid waste landfill simulation centers around the processes involved in managing the environmental compliance program at a municipal landfill. Students investigate hydrological characteristics of the materials underlying the facility, the factors shaping physiochemical regimes in the area, and the volume and chemical characteristics of the leachate, and landfill gas generated by the facility.

• The CD also contains a virtual office and is accompanied by a student laboratory manual.

• VIRTUAL OFFICE provides a resource library for the student. Students can use the resources in this library to help them do basic research and to help them with the field simulations. It features a multidimensional bookshelf with electronic mini-books that access information on the following topics:

  • Research Design

  • Technical writing

  • GAS Meter

  • Scintillometer

  • Portable rock element analyzer

  • Geology

  • Groundwater

  • Toxicology

  • Nuclear Waste

  • Coal

  • Coal power plant

  • Statistics

  • PH and SC and temperature meters

  • Depth to water meter

  • Heat flow meter

  • Scrubber sensors

  • Radioactivity

  • Hazardous waste

  • Regulatory frameworks

  • Solid waste

Every copy of the CD-ROM comes packaged with a student laboratory manual. The student laboratory manual consists of 12 laboratories designed to work with the software simulations. The software can be used along with this manual, or professors can create custom exercises of their own. The lab manual contains the following labs:

Solid Waste Landfill Simulation.


Laboratory 1: Introduction to Groundwater Flow.


Laboratory 2: Groundwater Sampling.


Laboratory 3: Contaminant Behavior.


Laboratory 4: Landfill Gas Generation and Migration.


Coal Power Simulation.


Laboratory 1: Coal-Forming Environment: The Mire.


Laboratory 2: Mire to the Mine.


Laboratory 3: Coal Exploration and Mine Location.


Laboratory 4: The Power Plant: From the Mire to the Fire.


Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository.


Laboratory 1: Exploring Yucca Mountain Issues.


Laboratory 2: Hazards to Storage: Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Groundwater.


Laboratory 3: Transporting Waste to Yucca Mountain.


Laboratory 4: What Is the Potential of a Volcanic Eruption?

Environmental Geology  (Geology & Oceanography)
Environmental Chemistry Lab  (Chemistry)
Principles of Environmental Chemistry  (Chemistry)
Physical Geography  (Geography & Atmospheric Sciences)

The VR Excursions CD-ROM/Laboratory Manual Pack offers students "virtual reality" access to the field sites that are defining the study of the earth today - but which are too often inaccessible because of time, cost, or even physical danger. Developed through an NSF grant VR Excursions contains an electronic technical reference library and three complete simulated environments - a nuclear waste disposal site, a coal-fired power plant, and a solid-waste landfill. Designed to replicate the field experience as closely as possible, VR Excursions enables you to:

• Investigate the sites firsthand
• Collect data and samples
• Analyze and interpret results
• Recommend a course of action

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