Banana benders - simulating folding and faulting

Following the last post about fault structures, have you tried 'Banana benders; using a banana to simulate geological structures'?

 

There is an accompanying video clip.

This simulation could be used in any lesson where deformation of rocks is being discussed, whether small-scale, in a hand specimen or rock exposure, or large-scale as in mountain building.

Other related ELIs can be found in our 'Deformation - folding and faulting' category.

Describing fault structures in detail

The new ELI today is another in our series of picturing geological features, 'Picturing tectonic structures - 1 faulting: visualise and draw fault structures from a verbal description'.

This activity enhances pupils’ skills of description and interpretation using photographs of faulted rocks at various scales. 

Many more Earthlearningideas relating to structural geology can be found in our 'Deformation - folding and faulting' category.

Storms and erosion rates

Our new ELI today is 'How can storms affect erosion rates? Predict what will happen to a landscape if it is affected by a storm.'

 

In this activity, pupils are asked to study images of various landscapes and to predict how the rate of erosion might be affected by storms.

Many activities related to erosion can be found on our website.

Plate driving mechanisms

The new ELI published today is "‘All models are wrong’ – but some are really wrong: plate-driving mechanisms. Many textbook diagrams of plate-driving forces have arrows in the wrong places".

This activity offers a strategy for teaching that all models are simplifications, and that these can be wrong when superseded by better evidence-based models, Many diagrams in textbooks show mantle convection to be the main driving force behind the movement of tectonic plates, through arrows showing convection currents throughout the mantle. However, evidence from seismic tomography and from the speed of plate movement related to the area of plates and the length of plate margins, shows that slab-pull and ridge-push mechanisms are more important drivers for most, if not all plates.
Many more activities related to plate tectonics can be found on our website by using the search engine or the alphabetical index.

Investigating how sediment is transported by water

'Rolling, hopping, floating and invisibly moving along; investigating how sediment is transported by water'.

Sediment is transported in water (rivers, the sea or currents in gutters) in solution, suspension, by saltation (bouncing along) and by traction (rolling or sliding along). As the sediment is moved along the grains bump into one another and bump against the river or sea bed. They gradually become ground down or eroded; any sharp edges are worn away and the grains become more rounded and smaller.
More activities about how sediment is transported can be found on our website.

Demonstration of how limestone is weathered

The ELI 'Weathering limestone – with my own breath!' is a classroom demonstration of how limestone is weathered. It involves blowing into neutral water to produce a weak acid. Powdered limestone is added to neutralise the acid, as a quick-acting laboratory example of how limestone is weathered in the
natural world.

This activity may be used in Geography or Science lessons.
Many more activities related to all types of weathering may be found on our website.

Building survival in earthquakes

'Quake shake – will my home collapse? When an earthquake strikes – investigate why some buildings survive and others do not'

Video clip

Many more earthquake-related activities can be found on our website.

New ELI+ today - 'From folds to crustal shortening: visualising past processes by calculation. Modelling folding by calculation – thinking through the assumptions'

This activity involves a method of calculating approximate crustal shortening in the field (or from a diagram or photograph). Students then discuss the assumptions involved.
Many more activities about fold mountains, aimed at different age groups, can be found on our website.

Smartphones as Earthquake detectors

MyShake is a free app for Android phones that has the ability to recognize earthquake shaking using the sensors in every smartphone. The app runs “silently” in the background on your phone using very little power – just like the step-tracking fitness apps. When the shaking fits the vibrational profile of an earthquake, the app sends the anonymous information to the central system that confirms the location and magnitude of the quake.
The app has now been downloaded over 200,000 times. Enabled phones have recorded hundreds of quakes all over the globe since then - some as small as magnitude 2.5.
The goal is to build a worldwide seismic network and use the data to reduce the effects of earthquakes on us as individuals, and our society as a whole. MyShake also provides users with information about recent earthquakes around the world and significant global historical earthquakes.
There are some very good earthquake-related Earthlearningideas - use the search engine or index on our website.

The opening of the Atlantic Ocean

'Continental split - the opening of the Atlantic Ocean; modelling how the continents moved, from Pangaea to today'  This ELI is a scissors and paper activity modelling the relative positions and movements of the continents as the ocean floor spreads either side of an oceanic ridge.

This activity could be used in any science or geography lesson about sea floor spreading and Wegener’s concept of continental drift. A video clip accompanies the activity.
Many more activities about plate tectonics and continental drift can be found on our website.

Using cross-bedding to find the directions of ancient currents

Following on from the post of 5th September about cross-bedding and 'way-up' structures, we now have an ELI about using cross-bedding to find the directions of ancient currents. 'Sedimentary structures - cross-bedding and ancient currents'

Cross-bedding is a common feature of sedimentary rocks. The formation of cross- bedding can be seen in modern depositional environments and then related to similar structures in sedimentary rocks – an example of using the present to help us to understand the past. Cross-bedding can be used as part of prospecting in the minerals or hydrocarbon industries.
Many more activities about sedimentary structures can be found on our website.

Cross bedding - are the rocks the right way up?

"Sedimentary structures – cross-bedding and ‘way-up’" This ELI uses cross bedding to determine the way-up of a bed of sedimentary rock.

This activity is an introduction to the types of evidence which can be obtained from cross-bedding in sediments and in sedimentary rocks. Many other sedimentary structures are explained in activities on our website. The index will help you to find all of them.

Watch the moving sediment in a bottle gutter

Try this extension idea to an earlier ELI - 'Moving sediment in an even smaller bottle gutter; using cut-off plastic bottles as ‘stream tables’ so that all pupils can take part'.
You can see nearly all the sediment movement visible in the ‘Mighty river in a small gutter’ Earthlearningidea activity at the scale of a cut off 2 litre bottle. The advantage of using cut-off bottles is that all groups in the class can carry out the activity at the same time.
Sediment movement seen:
- Erosion hollow where the water is poured in
- Transportation of the sand down the bottle (by rolling, sliding and jumping grains)
- Deposition of sand in the pool at the bottom – in a small micro- delta
(High energy flow = erosion; moderate energy
flow = transportation; lower energy flow = deposition)

Weathering limestone - with my own breath!

Today's new ELI is 'Weathering limestone – with my own breath! - a classroom demonstration of how limestone is weathered'

This is a pupil activity, or a demonstration, involving blowing into neutral water to produce a weak carbonic acid. Powdered limestone is added to neutralise the acid, as a quick-acting laboratory example of how limestone is weathered by rain (a weak carbonic acid) in the natural world.
Lots of activities to do with weathering can be found in the list of 'Activities related to the new ELI' on our website.

Margarine mountain-building

Have you tried making mountains every time you make a sandwich? Try this ELI 'Margarine mountain-building'  The activity uses materials that pupils use every day to remind them how folds and mountain belts are formed, as surface and near surface materials are scraped up during plate subduction.
Many more free-to-download activities can be found on our website.

Sand ripple marks in a tank

Ever wondered how ripple marks form in wet sand? This ELI gives you the answer -
Sand ripple marks in a tank'
We have received a really good extension idea for this activity:-
The tank can be rolled back and forth on pieces of broom handle rather than lifting it up and down – less tiring and more controllable.  Once the ripples have formed, move the broom handles through 90 degrees and gently do the same back and forth motion.  You should be able to form ladder ripples.

2014 Year of Crystallography

Have you tried 'The Unfair "build your own crystal" race'? This is a crystal-building race which shows the greater the time available, the larger the crystals.

The activity can be used as a ‘starter’ or plenary activity for a lesson on the crystallisation of igneous rocks, emphasising that the more time there is available for the magma to cool and crystallise, the larger the crystals will be. A coarse-grained igneous rock (granite) may have taken thousands of years to cool; the medium-grained rock (microgranite) may have taken years or hundreds of years to crystallise
whilst the fine-grained rock (rhyolite) may have solidified in days or weeks.
Visit the website and the link to 'Teaching strategies' to find lots more ideas.

Earthlearningidea news

New link on our 'Useful websites' page to Earth Science Western Australia

And now some results from 'Party time for volcanoes'. The chart below shows the aggregated results of many experiments at different venues with a total of 814 pops.

Have you also tried 'Take a chance on the volcano erupting'?
Visit our website for many more great ideas for teaching Earth science.

Frozen magnetism

Teaching magnetism and the Earth? Have you tried the ELI 'Frozen magnetism; preserving evidence of a past magnetic field in wax'? This activcity is a demonstration of how the evidence for the magnetic field around a bar magnet may be preserved, even after the magnet has been removed. This gives an analogy for the three- dimensional magnetic field of the Earth, with a North and a South Pole.
This is one of many Earthlearningideas in the Earth energy/processes category.

Earthquakes and art

Earthquake Rose

A sand tracing pendulum, in Washington, USA, produced some very interesting patterns after an earthquake of magnitude 6.8. The smooth curves you can see on the outside are what you normally see when someone sets the pendulum in motion to make a tracing ... without seismic assistance. The earthquake's handiwork is the design in the centre.
The motions caused by the earthquake moving the pendulum's base started small, and the initial tracings were overwritten as the strength of the ground's motion increased. Once everything started to slow down after the shaking stopped, the pendulum slowed to a stop, gradually "writing" the pattern in tighter circles as it moved back to its natural centre. If you look at it closely, you can see that the pendulum was apparently centreing in one spot, and then moved a final time to come to rest in a slightly different location. This may be explained by last minute settling in the ground.
It's interesting to think that such a massive and very destructive release of energy can also contain such delicate artistry within its chaos. 
You could use this image to lead into a discussion about earthquakes and then try some of the following ELIs:-
- Earthquake prediction - when will the earthquake strike?
- Earthquake through the window - what would you see, what would you feel?
- Geobattleships (ELI+)
- Quake shake - will my home collapse?
- Shaken but not stirred?
- Surviving an earthquake
- Waves in the Earth 1: the slinky simulation (ELI+)
- Waves in the Earth 2: human molecules (ELI+)