In this exercise, students use U.S. Geological Survey and other websites to learn about the history of earthquakes in New York. Through their web research, they will learn what earthquakes are, how and where they occur, and the types of hazards associated with large quakes. They are encouraged to write a report summarizing their results.

This is an activity about how much atmospheric pressure is needed on Mars to maintain surface water and why it does not have surface water today. Learners will use a computer interactive to learn about Mars past and present before exploring the pressure and greenhouse strength needed for Mars to have a watery surface as it had in the past. This lesson is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering education program focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

The Silurian coastal Maine magmatic province is characterized by commingled gabbroic and granitic magmas that have resulted in magmatic structures such as pillows and pipes that can be used to determine the kinematics of the magma chamber. On the Eastern Head of Isle Au Haut, students map and collect structural data on the contacts between commingled gabbroic and granitic/dioritic sheets and the pipes and pillows that form along the base of these. A bedrock geologic map and cross section are then made in ArcGIS showing the geometry of the magmatic sheets. We kayak out to the island to map it, but there is also a ferry there. Eastern Head is situated within Acadia National Park and, as a result, no hammers can be used.

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This activity is a field investigation where students make observations in the Minnesota River valley, discuss their findings amongst other student groups, and describe how those observations fit with the general geology of Minnesota.

Students choose a place that is named based on its relationship to geomorphology. They research and describe the geologic template, geologic processes and time involved in the formation of their chosen place and use Google Earth to report their results.

This video segment adapted from NOVA follows the Apollo 15 astronauts as they collect samples of ancient rock from the Moon's crust, whose discovery helps lead to a radical new theory about the Moon's origin.

The Champlain Lowlands tour is part of the New York Landscape Regions Collection of Google Earth tours, created by a group of New York State science educators. This tour includes views of the gorge of the Ausable River, cut through Late Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone, and the geology of the Champlain Thrust Fault, a low angle thrust fault formed as the proto-Atlantic Ocean closed during the Taconic Oregeny. When it was still connected to the ocean, Lake Champlain was home to whales, whose fossils are now entombed in the lake sediments. The tour also includes classroom activities for students.

This activity is about planetary distances. Learners will create a model of the solar system using beads and string, and compare planetary sizes using common types of fruit and seeds. The lesson models scientific inquiry using the 5E instructional model and includes teacher notes and vocabulary.

This presentation offers an overview of the developing concept of The Anthropocene -- a term coined to describe our current geological epoch, in which human impact on the planet will leave a permanent trace.

In this exercise, sudents write a series of three stories that explain and/or illustrate rock-forming processes. As an alternative, they may write a single story that addresses the rock cycle. Describing these processes at a level appropriate for their target audience (second graders) requires an adequate understanding of the geologic processes involved and can reveal problems or misconceptions in the students' ideas of how rocks are formed. Teacher's notes and rubrics for teacher and peer review are provided.

The first problem in this assignment is the culmination of the unit on energy balance and greenhouse gases. The students have already calculated blackbody temperatures as a function of albedo, sun's luminosity and distance from sun. They have also already calculated the magnitude of the greenhouse effect (optical thickness) of the modern atmosphere. In this first problem, the students apply these same calculations to the Faint Young Sun hypothesis and infer what can account for the geological evidence for liquid water on earth since 4.3 Ga. The second problem follows an introductory lecture on radiometric decay and radiometric dating. The students have seen the decay equation and learned what are decay constants and stable versus radioactive isotopes. In this problem, the students apply these concepts to radiocarbon.

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This is an activity about the atmospheric conditions (greenhouse strength, atmospheric thickness) Mars needs to maintain surface water. Learners will use a computer interactive to learn about Mars past and present before exploring the pressure and greenhouse strength needed for Mars to have a watery surface as it had in the past. This lesson is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering education program focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.

The four exercises give students an opportunity to use their knowledge of graphs, algebra, and maps to solve simple geological problems.

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This article discusses geologic misconceptions held by teachers and students and provides resources for formative assessment and teaching correct concepts.

The Taconic Mountains tour highlights the geology and natural environment of several landscape regions, including the structure of the Highlands Province basement rocks, which were affected by the Taconic Orogeny. Students can view biotite-rich schists and the tight isoclinic folds of the Walloomsac Formation, as well as the Taconic angular unconformity at the south end of Becraft Mountain. Bedding thrusts are also evident within the Roundout Formation and overlying Manlius Formation. They can also examine metamorphosed Briarcliff Dolostone containing yellow, white and black chert layers and Everett Phylite, which represents a metamorphic lithologic transition from slate to phyllite. Dramatically folded calcareous rocks are visible at the Bennington, Vermont bypass, and students can also view Stark's Knob, where pillow lavas formed as Ordovician basalts erupted under the waters of a shallow sea.

This online article, published by the now defunct Daily University Science News (the article is still available in their archives), reports on the proposal of Victor Baker and Shigenori Maruyama, made at the 2001 Geological Society of America annual meeting, that the superplume concept of mantle convection has application to the origin of the Tharsis area on Mars. (A superplume is a broad zone of mantle upwelling many thousands of km's across).

The course treats the following topics: - Relevant physical oceanography - Elements of marine geology (seafloor topography, acoustical properties of sediments and rocks) - Underwater sound propagation (ray acoustics, ocean noise) - Interaction of sound with the seafloor (reflection, scattering) - Principles of sonar (beamforming) - Underwater acoustic mapping systems (single beam echo sounding, multi-beam echo sounding, sidescan sonar) - Data analysis (refraction corrections, digital terrain modelling) - Applications (hydrographic survey planning and navigation, coastal engineering) - Current and future developments.

In this two-day activity, students monitor an evolving volcanic crisis at a convergent plate boundary (Cascadia). Using monitoring data and geologic hazard maps, students make a series of forecasts for the impending eruption and associated risks. By the end of the activity, students will have learned the outcome of the eruption and assess the impacts of the eruption of Mount Rainier on specific locations around the volcano.
This unit begins by having students examine past volcanic eruptions at Mount St. Helens, associated with the Cascadia convergent plate boundary, through firsthand accounts by United States Geological Survey (USGS) personnel who describe their work monitoring the geologic activity and some associated impacts. During class on the first day (Unit 5), students will begin working in small groups to interpret one of three data sets used to monitor volcanic activity (seismic, gas and ash emissions, and tilt). During prework and in-class activities for day 2 (Unit 6), students will update their predictions by combining information from all three data sets in mixed groups in which students act as "experts" for a particular data set. The exercise culminates with students assessing the impacts of a simulated volcanic eruption at their assigned locations.

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This is a series of three lab exercises integrating seismic interpretation and sedimentary geology. Each lab uses freely available software from dGB Earth Sciences, OpendTect. The seismic volume is the F3 Block in the North Sea, which is publicly available via dGB's Seismic Repository. The software is very user-friendly. The exercises are written so that no experience is needed using the software prior to the labs. Students are guided through the program as they answer questions on sedimentology, stratigraphy, geomorphology, structural geology and petroleum geology.

A great variety of processes affect the surface of the Earth. Topics to be covered are production and movement of surficial materials; soils and soil erosion; precipitation; streams and lakes; groundwater flow; glaciers and their deposits. The course combines aspects of geology, climatology, hydrology, and soil science to present a coherent introduction to the surface of the Earth, with emphasis on both fundamental concepts and practical applications, as a basis for understanding and intelligent management of the Earth’s physical and chemical environment.