Earth's surface and interior
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Building Topographic Maps
Build a topographic map by flooding a three dimensional landscape with water and drawing contour lines. Draw a profile of a landscape based … on the topographic map.
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Earthquake - Determination of Epicenter
Using multiple earthquake recording stations, determine the epicenter of an earthquake by analyzing the arrival of the primary and … secondary seismic waves at each recording station. Real-time charts are generated, providing data that allows for the triangulation of the epicenter.
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Earthquake - Recording Station
Using an earthquake recording station, learn how to determine the distance between the station and an earthquake based on the time … difference between the arrival of the primary and secondary seismic waves. A real-time recording chart is generated, and the times between the waves can be measured.
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Plate Tectonics
Move the Earth's crust at various locations to observe the effects of the motion of the tectonic plates, including volcanic … eruptions. Information about each of the major types of plate boundaries is shown, along with their locations on Earth.
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Porosity
Pour water on a variety of sediment samples to find how much water can be absorbed by the sample (porosity) and how easily water flows … through the sample (permeability).
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Reading Topographic Maps
Understand how topographic maps work by creating a three-dimensional landscape and observing the corresponding contour lines. See … how mountains, depressions, valleys and cliffs are represented on topographic maps. Fill in the landscape with water to demonstrate that contours are lines of constant elevation.
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Rock Classification
Try to classify a dozen different rock samples based on their appearance. Common characteristics of each major rock type are described. … Rocks also can be classified by where they formed.
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Rock Cycle
Play the role of a piece of rock moving through the rock cycle. Select a starting location and follow many possible paths throughout … the cycle. Learn how rocks are formed, weathered, eroded, and reformed as they move from Earth's surface to locations deep within the crust.
