Sandcastles and slopes

What makes sandcastles and slopes collapse? Ask pupils if they have ever made a big sandcastle. What was the steepest angle they
could build the side walls of the castle? Could they make a steeper wall if the sand was dampened? Questions like these go well beyond the playground or beach. Many people have been killed by the collapse of unstable slopes of loose rock or sand.
This ELI investigates the factors which affect the angle at which loose materials rest before they begin to slide.
This is one of many activities in our Earth energy/processes category. Activities relating to landslides can be found in Natural hazards.

Opengeoscience 2: tilted and folded rocks

The new ELI today is the second of our Opengeoscience activities. By doing this activity, you will be able to find on geological maps:-
- shallow-dipping sedimentary rocks
- vertical rocks
- folded sedimentary rocks
- unconformity
You will be able to explore how geological features appear on maps and how the formations are linked to relief features.
Brilliant resource!
Let us know how you get on.
This activity is the 130th practical Earthlearningidea to be found on our website - search for an Earth-related topic you want to know about.

UK Geology teaching collection

Geology teaching collection for disposal: a school in Sheffield, England, UK cannot see its way to restarting a geology course, so the excellent teaching collection is now available free to anyone who can demonstrate a need for it, with preference being given to those who are in the early stages of building up a course in a school or 6th Form College.
The collection consists of a wide range of minerals, rocks and fossils, packed into 40 stacking mushroom boxes, a limited amount of equipment, and a range of geological maps, including some multiple copies.
Email to enquire further and to arrange collection.

Trail making

Have your pupils tried making their own 'fossil' animal trails by using the ELI 'Trail-making'? Pupils are asked to use their understanding of how animals move today and in the past to create realistic trails as they might have appeared in the past and been preserved in the fossil record.

This is one of many thought-provoking activities in the Evolution of Life category on the Earthlearningidea website.

Finding igneous intrusions and lava flows on geological maps

Our new ELI this week is 'Opengeoscience 1: igneous intrusions and lavas - opening geological maps to the world'.
Open the British Geological Survey ‘OpenGeoscience’website, click on ‘Maps and spatial data’ and ‘Geology of Britain’ to open the BGS ‘Geology of Britain’ viewer. You can use this to see how geological formations appear on maps and how they affect the shape of the land – and then apply this understanding anywhere in the world.

Try this one - to look at a volcanic vent and lava flow – type ‘Castleton, Derbyshire’ to see the vent or neck of a volcano in red, and a lava flow in pink (as shown in the image above). The snaking view of the lava flow appears like this because it is sandwiched between two layers of limestone on a hillside, shown in turquoise.

Make your own oil and gas reservoir

Have you tried this ELI - Make your own oil and gas reservoir? It demonstrates how oil and water flow through permeable rocks and could form part of a lesson on the world’s resources. It is a simple way of demonstrating that oil and gas do not normally occur in underground lakes, but are held within the pore spaces of the rock.
This is one of many practical activities about world resources - search our website for more.

Please note that we have re-published the pdf for 'The Geoconservation debate; when is collecting wrong and when is it right?' The new pdf is smaller and will take less time to download.