Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

The Federal Government has a nice website where teaching resources created or sponsored by dozens of government agencies have been brought together in an organized collection. This website, free.ed.gov, has resources for Art & Music, Health & Phys Ed, History and Social Science, Language Arts, Math, Science, and more. Of particular note for the earth science teacher are activities related to...

• Earthquake Hazards
• Plate Tectonics
• Earth From Space
• Earth science visualizations
• Land Use History of North America
• Geologic Time
• Introduction to Rock Collecting
• Paleontology
• Minerals, Crystals and Gems
• Geology of the National Parks

Related Content on Geology.com Resources for Teaching Earth Science

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Page from the Winter 2006-2007 Grand Canyon Visitor's Guide. Click for readable size image.

The National Park Service has published a short but informative article on the age of the Grand Canyon in the Winter 2006-2007 issue of the Grand Canyon National Park Visitor's Guide. This article includes summary paragraphs on several basic questions...

• How old is the Canyon?
• Why did it form where it is?
• Why is it so deep?
• Why is it so wide?

A data box that accompanies the article lists all of the major rock units in the Canyon and gives their age in millions of years before present.

The age of the Canyon is explained as follows...

The rocks exposed within Grand Canyon range from the fairly young to the fairly old (geologically speaking). Kaibab limestone, the caprock on the rims of the canyon, formed 270 million years ago. The oldest rocks within the Inner Gorge at the bottom of Grand Canyon date to 1.84 billion years ago. For comparison geologists currently set the age of Earth at 4.5 billion years.

While the rocks are ancient, the canyon is young. Geologists generally agree that canyon carving occurred over the last 5–6 million years — a geologic blink of the eye.

See a large-size image of the Grand Canyon Article. Read the full Grand Canyon Visitor's Guide - Large file - .pdf document.

Labels: Books-Publications, Teaching-Science

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The University of Tromsø (Norway) has a very nice website with flash animated tutorials on many geology topics. These modules are rich in animations, illustrations, photos and text. Topics available include: minerals, rocks, magmatism, volcanoes, metamorphic rocks, structural geology, absolute age, earthquakes, Earth's interior, plate tectonics, mountain building, mineral resources, geochronology and more. Nice work!

Image by WebGeologyLearn more at WebGeology.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Hobart King, publisher of Geology.com, will make a presentation titled: "Teaching Plate Tectonics With Easy-To-Draw Illustrations" at the National Science Teachers Association's 54th National Conference on Science Education in Anaheim, California. The presentation will be given on Friday, April 7th at 3:30 PM (please check the conference program for the room location).

The presentation will demonstrate a draw-with-me approach for teaching about plate tectonics using illustrations that are easy to draw and which have been used successfully to teach students from third grade to graduate school. Teachers attending the presentation will receive a free guidebook which contains printed copies of the base illustrations that they will use at the session. The presentation guidebook containing his "starting point drawings" can be downloaded as a Microsoft Word document HERE. Animations of the primary drawings can also be seen.


Image by Hobart King, Geology.com
The presentation will provide an overview of the plate tectonics theory and will assume no previous knowledge about the subject. Teachers who attend the presentation should leave with a better understanding of plate tectonics and return to their classroom with everything needed to teach a draw-with-me lesson.

Labels: Plate-Tectonics, Teaching-Science

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USGS has published a new area on their site which they have named "Schoolyard Geology". Available so far are teaching resources and lessons related to mapping, rocks, dinosaurs, fossils, glaciers, sinkholes and other topics. The emphasis is taking a field trip without leaving the school property.


Image by USGS

Visit the SchoolYard Geology site for earth science lessons and ideas.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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USGS has a nice collection of websites, each giving an online field trip of a National Park. I've done a few of these tours and there are some very high quality images in them plus some nice descriptions written with the geologist in mind.

Screenshot of USGS field trip
Parks included:

• Arches National Park
• Badlands National Park
• Big Bend National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Canyon de Chelley National Monument
• Canyonlands National Park
• Capitol Reef National Park
• Capulin Volcano National Park
• Carrizo Plain National Monument
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Chaco Culture National Historic Park
• City of Rocks National Reserve
• Colorado National Monument
• Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
• Crater Lake National Park
• Death Valley National Park
• Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
• Dinosaur National Monument
• Fire Island National Seashore
• Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
• Gateway National Recreation Area
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat'l Monument
• Great Basin National Park
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
• Hovenweep National Monument
• John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
• Joshua Tree National Park
• Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park
• Lake Mead National Recreation Area
• Lava Beds National Monument
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Mesa Verde National Park
• Mojave National Preserve
• Mount Rainier National Park
• Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
• Natural Bridges National Monument
• North Cascades National Park
• Olympic National Park
• Petrified Forest National Park
• Pinnacles National Monument
• Point Reyes National Seashore
• Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park
• Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site
• Saguaro National Park
• Sunset Crater National Monument
• Walnut Canyon National Monument
• Wupatki National Monument
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite National Park
• Zion National Park

Go on an Online Field Trip with USGS.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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The American Museum of Natural History continues its award-winning online professional development courses. Available this spring are: The Ocean System - an integrated science course; Space, Time and Motion - a physical science course; Earth: Inside and Out - a dynamic Earth systems course; and Genetics, Genomics, Genethics a molecular biology course. These are six-week courses taught by Museum scientists and educators that earn graduate credit or meet local professional development requirements. Courses begin March 20 through April 30, and registration closes March 6, 2006.

AMNH website screenshotEnroll in an AMNH Online Course today.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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The Department of Geology and Environmental Science at James Madison University will reestablish a field course beginning in Summer, 2006. The new 6-credit field course is particularly noteworthy as it based in the Connemara region of western Ireland, near Galway. The Ireland field camp, formerly administered by Boston University, has a well-established reputation within the geologic community.

The 2006 faculty will include JMU professors Scott Eaton, Mike Harris and Steve Whitmeyer. Other faculty members who will continue to be involved with the Ireland program include Dr. Declan De Paor, Worchester Polytechnic Institute; Dr. Adam Lewis, Ohio State University; and Irish professors Dr. Martin Feely and Dr. Kathryn Moore, both at National University of Ireland, Galway.

Designed as a capstone geologic experience, the field course will synthesize the full breadth of classroom experiences within a challenging field environment. Important components of the course include glacial geomorphology, bedrock field mapping, digital field mapping and environmental mapping and assessment.




Image provided by JMU
Visit the field course website for continually updated information and pictures of our students at work and play.

Attention Faculty Members at K-16 Institutions We invite you to send us a short story about a lesson, course or field activity that features your students. Please send one to three short paragraphs and one to three photos for consideration.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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A U.S. District Court has ruled that requiring the teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in a public school classroom is unconstitutional.
Read more about the Intelligent Design Ruling at the Geotimes website.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Summer field camp season is just around the corner and to help those who are searching for a good camp we have created a "Summer Field Camp Directory". The directory contains information on over 60 camps. Included are references to essays and articles on how to select a field camp, the challenges that geology departments now face in maintaining a field camp program and sources of financial aid.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Meghan Kerr, a student at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania is studying at the University of Iceland this semester. Here is a report that she sends about her visiting student experience.

The Land of Ice and Fire: Iceland, located at 65 degrees north and on the Mid Atlantic ridge is not only a culturally unique place but a geographic phenomenon. It is a geologist’s paradise, which is one reason I have decided to spend my fall semester studying at the University of Iceland. The Earth and Space Science program for foreign students has brought 45 other interested geo students from across the world to study together here.

The biggest advantage of studying here in Iceland is the field work experience and practical application of class-learned material. The first class offered through the program is Geology and Geography of Iceland, which begins with an excursion across the southern half of the country. During this trip I climbed a volcano, saw table mountains, stood on a magma chamber, walked on a glacier and much more. Our studies varied from tephra layers to pseudocraters! Most of the geo classes offered through the university also entail an element of field work varying from a weekend trip to an afternoon hike. Recreational traveling here has also been equally rewarding and has been a wonderful experience.




Images by Meghan Kerr
Learn more about visiting student programs at the University of Iceland.

Reports and announcements from other visiting student and field studies programs related to geology or earth science are invited. Please send them with a photo to:

Labels: Teaching-Science

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A Reuters article summarizes many issues related to intelligent design versus evolution. Numerous political, social, religious and philosophical positions provide staging points for support on both sides of this debate.
Read more about Intelligent Design Versus Evolution at AOL.com.

Labels: Fossils, Teaching-Science

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Several online geology and earth science courses are available for viewing at the MITOpenCourseWare website. A partial list of courses available:

• Geobiology
• Structure of Earth Materials
• Sedimentary Geology
• Atmospheric and Ocean Circulations
• Introduction to Astronomy
• Hands-On Astronomy: Observing Stars and Planets
• Thermodynamics for Geoscientists
• Geodynamics
• Principles of the Global Positioning System
• Paleoceanography
• Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere
• Introduction to Observational Physical Oceanography
• Global Climate Change
• Prediction and Predictability in the Atmosphere and Oceans
• Trace Element Analysis of Geological Materials
• Electron Microprobe Analysis
• Surface Processes and Landscape Evolution
• Essentials of Geophysics
• Surface Processes and Landscape Evolution

Visit their Online Geology and Earth Science Courses at the MITOpenCourseWare website.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Here is an amazing website that should be of very high value to anyone interested in mineralogy, petrology, hydrology, geochemistry, oceanography and many other earth science areas - "An Earth Scientist's Periodic Table of the Elements and Their Ions" by Bruce Railsback of the University of Georgia. It is an online periodic table that is loaded with all of the standard information such as element name, symbol, atomic mass, isotopes, atomic number, ionic radius, etc. information. However, it also includes a wealth of information specific to the earth sciences. This additional information is included in the form of special symbols (we are listing only a few here):

* Ions commonly concentrated in residual soils and sediments
* Ions concentrated in deep-sea ferromanganese nodules
* Ions that enter early-forming phases in igneous rocks
* Ions that enter later phases in igneous rocks because of their large size
* Most abundant solutes dissolved in seawater
* Cations that form simple fluoride, oxide, sulfide and bromide minerals
* Anions that form minerals with a variety of metal cations
* Elements that occur as native minerals
* Elements that make natural mineral alloys with Fe, Cu, Os, Pt, Au
* Most abundant constituents in the atmosphere

This is a fantastic resource that you can use on the web or you can order printed copies from the Geological Society of America Bookstore. Dr. Railsback has also posted simpler versions of the table on his website and these include:

* Abridged periodic table
* Speciation of cations
* Oxidation and reduction on the periodic table
* Chemical weathering on the periodic table
* Ground water solutes on the periodic table
* Solutes in seawater
* Ions used in fertilizers

Read more and use the online Periodic Table for Earth Scientists at Bruce Railsback's website.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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Art Crossman has given us permission to post his editable and printable mineral identification chart. This chart is a great tool for students and teachers and you can download it for modification and printing from this website.


Learn more and download Art's Mineral Identification Chart.

Labels: Minerals, Teaching-Science

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We are pleased to offer a new geologic time scale that you can view on the web or download as a Microsoft Word document. This format will allow you to print the time scale and annotate it as you see fit. Professors and teachers are invited to link to our geologic time scale web page so that their students can easily find this printable time scale.

Labels: Teaching-Science

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