The new ELI today is 'When did the poles ‘flip’? Simulating how the Earth’s Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale was established.'
This activity can be used to help teach students to understand how the pattern of ocean floor anomalies (magnetic stripes) can be dated; something they rarely appreciate. It might be used prior to a lesson on the palaeomagnetic evidence for plate tectonics on the ocean floor.
Related activities can be found in our Plate tectonics and Oceanography categories.
The ELI today is - Marie Tharp: "The valley will be coming up soon". Bruce Heezen: "What valley?" ‘A woman scientist in a man’s world’ – what was it like?
Marie Tharp identified oceanic rift valleys. She is one of the key figures not only of early oceanography but also in the development of plate tectonic theory. The activity helps pupils to think what it might have been like to be a female scientist at a time when science was dominated by men.
Related activities can be found in our Oceanography and Plate tectonics categories.
We continue our ocean floor theme with 'Model a spreading ocean floor offset by transform faults; a model of the transform fault ‘steps’ in oceanic ridges and their magnetic stripes'.
