Bubble-mania - bubbling clues to magma viscosity and eruptions

Our new Earthlearningidea activity is 'Bubble-mania; the bubbling clues to magma viscosity and eruptions'. Pupils try blowing through straws into two similar-looking liquids, e.g. syrup and yellow-coloured water.
Some pupil responses to this ELI:-
"The bubbles blown into the syrup were really good; huge and gloopy."
"The bubbles make a very satisfying pop and splattering when they finally collapsed."
"It's much more fun blowing into the sticky syrup than into the water and it splattered out of the glass like volcanic bombs."
There are lots more very enjoyable activities associated with volcanoes and volcanic eruptions on our website. Use the 'search activities' or 'search topics' to find them.

Dam burst danger

Have you tried 'Dam burst danger; modelling the collapse of a natural dam in the mountains - and the disaster that might follow'.
When glaciers in high mountain regions melt they often leave behind deep lakes. The lake waters are held back by natural dams, formed by piles of rocks, sand and clay dumped by the melting glacier. This debris is called moraine. Moraines often contain large hidden blocks of ice among the debris. These can take years to melt, and when they do, the natural dam may break suddenly, releasing a flood of lake water, which rushes down the mountainside, sweeping all before it.
This is one of many activities in our Natural Hazards category of Earthlearningidea

Our new activity is the last in this series of Mapwork from models

Mapwork from models 8 shows the four main types of faults and how these affect the geology of a flat area with a sequence of dipping rocks. The model shows how different sorts of faults can
affect outcrop patterns; in particular, that different sorts of faults can have similar effects on outcrop patterns; here the strike-slip fault and the reverse fault have the same effects and that the movement on thrust faults is likely to be greater than the movement on other sorts of faults.
At the end of these mapwork exercises you will find a progression and spiralling of spatial thinking skills shown by the ELI 'Geological mapwork from scratch' exercises and the 'Geological mapwork from models' exercises.
If you are not doing mapwork at the moment, then there are lots of other innovative ways to teach Earth science on our website

Dust bowl; investigating wind erosion

Have you tried the ELI 'Dust bowl'? This investigates the effects of different wind strengths and particle size on the erosion, transportation and deposition of sediment by wind. The activity could form part of a lesson looking at the mechanism of sediment movement. It could also lead to an understanding of the
effects of wind erosion in flat, exposed areas and dry climates. Wind erosion and subsequent deposition of the load is an important source of fertile soils in the area of deposition.
You can also find ELIs about the erosion, transportation and deposition of sediment by rivers, the sea and ice on our website.

Mapwork from models 7

This activity is the next in our mapwork series. It investigates a plain with faults parallel to the outcrops of the beds. By doing this activity, pupils can:
• add geological data to a 3D block model of a flat area;
• link up the data with geological boundaries;
• interpret these into a 3D picture of the geology;
• explain how different types of faults can have similar effects on outcrop patterns.
The mapwork series so far can be seen in our category 'Investigating the Earth'
These are just a small part of a  wide variety of Earth-related activities which can be found on our website

Erosion by ice

Have you tried ELI's 'Grinding and gouging'?
Ask your pupils:
• what will happen when they rub a clean ice cube on the piece of painted wood?
• what will happen when they rub a sand-covered ice cube on the piece of painted wood?
Carry out the activity by asking the pupils to rub a clean ice cube over the wood, pressing down as hard as possible. Next, ask them to press an ice cube on to some loose sand in a dish for about 15 seconds and then rub this over the wood. Are the results as predicted?
ELI activities about erosion by rivers, the sea and wind can also be found on our website. Use the topic search or search engine to find them.

Mapwork from models 6: plain with faults in the direction of dip

In this latest ELI mapwork from models activity, pupils are shown a photograph of a plain and then are asked to cut out a 3D paper model of a flat plain-like area. They should use the cut-out to make the first version, then either cut out another
model, or turn the first model inside out, and trace the geology to make the second version.
Plain with faulted rocks, version 1.
With the experience from previous Earthlearningidea models, pupils should realise that when dips are known (as for the fault) they can be drawn using a protractor, and that dipping beds appear horizontal for cross sections drawn at right angles to the dip direction (strike-sections). This makes completing the model fairly
straightforward. Faults like this, which are parallel to the dip of the beds, are called dip faults.
Plain with faulted rocks, version 2.
Completion of this model is even more straightforward, since the fault is vertical and all other lines are drawn in the same places.
However, completion of the second model shows an important geological fact, that the same outcrop pattern can be produced by a normal fault as by a tear fault.
This is one of a series of Mapwork from models exercises on our website. The others can be found in the Investigating the Earth category