Possible Topics (Or Come up with Your Own)

Possible Topics (or come up with your own)

Astronomy/Space Science Topics

Was there water on Mars? What is a black hole?

Why isn’t Pluto a Planet? Elliptical Orbits

Halley’s comet What are comets?

What are potentially hazardous asteroids? The Asteroid Belt

What killed the dinosaurs? What is the Oort Cloud?

What causes the auroras? What is a meteor shower?

What is a supernova? The International Space Station

How did we get to the Moon? Geostationary Satellites

Why are there Moon Phases? The Milky Way

The moons of Jupiter The Big Bang

Probes that have explored Mars Solar Cycle (Sunspot Cycle)

Fusion on the Sun Planets Beyond the Solar System

Space Shuttle Program Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo Programs

Animals in the Space Program How do telescopes work?

Why are there tides? Why do eclipses happen?

The Tunguska Event Scale Model of the Solar System

Spectral Analysis Radio Astronomy

The Contributions of Galileo (or other scientists) What causes seasons?

Apollo Missions The shapes of orbits (planets, comets, etc.)

Geology Topics

Geology of Mt. Helena The ancient Elkhorn Volcano

Leonoard the Mummified Dinosaur Formation of the Little Rockies

What happened at Lake Nyos? What goes on at Ash Grove? Mass Wasting in the Gates of the Mountains Montana during the Cretaceous Period

Formation of the Madison Limestone How did the Helena Valley form?

Helena area faults and earthquakes East Helena Lead Smelter

East Helena Superfund Site The Boulder Batholith

Egg Mountain Fossil Site Mammoth Fossil Site in SD

Ashfall Fossil Site in NE Labrea Tar Pits

Belt Meteor Crater and other sinkholes How do varves form?

Glacial Lakes of Montana Floods of Glacial Lake Missoula

Why does Montana have so much coal? Where does electricity come from?

What’s so unusual about Chief Mountain form? Lewis and Clark Caverns

Copper Mining in Butte during the early 1900’s How do gold deposits form?

Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships How do unconformities form?

Mt. Mazama’s Ash in Montana The K-T Boundary

What is paleomagnetism? Tsunamis

Greatest Pre-historic Eruptions Did Toba cause a volcanic winter?

Past Eruptions of Yellowstone The Bodies of Pompei

Frost Wedging Chemical Weathering

The Alaskan Pipeline Pipelines in Montana

How does porphyry form? Helena’s Famous Brownstone (rhyolite)

Types of Fossils What is limestone used for?

Seismic Waves Madison Canyon Landslide

Helena Quakes of 1935 Helena Area Liquefaction Concerns

The Casdadia Earthquake of 1700 Volcanoes of the WA/OR

Are granite counter-tops really granite? Alfred Wegener (or other geologists)

Refraction of Seismic Waves Native American Use of Boiling Stones Meteorology Topics

Why are Chinook winds warm? How do clouds form?

What are microbursts? Tornadoes in Montana

Super-Cooled Water/Latent Heat How do barometers work?

What’s a dew point? How does a psychrometer work?

What causes wind? (convection) What is a temperature inversion?

What is a tornado? Cold Fronts and Warm Fronts

What is the greenhouse effect? The Recent Ice Age

Snowball Earth Climate Feedback Cycles

The Carbon Cycle How do wind generators work?

Why is Livingston so dang windy? Lake sediment cores

Tree-Ring Analysis What do ice cores tell us?

Japanese Balloon Bombs of WWII Weather Balloons and the Jet Streams

How does RADAR work? Weather Satellites

What is a storm surge? Why does it get colder as you go up?

The Contributions of Fujita (or other scientists)

Hydrology Topics

Montana Drainage Basins The Helena Valley Watershed

The Helena Valley Aquifer Floods of 2011

How do septic systems work? Thermal Pollution

Giant Springs: An Artesian Situation What causes saline seep?

What is a watershed? Tailings and Acid Mine Drainage Removal of the Milltown Dam The Berkeley Pit

Coal-bed Methane Concerns How does fracking affect groundwater?

How do dams generate electricity? Salmon Migration on the Columbia

Where does your water come from? Sewage Treatment in the Helena Area

What is hard water? Montana’s Snotel System

Oil Spill on the Yellowstone River Nitrate Contamination of Groundwater

The Mississippi Delta Montana’s Deadly Flood of 1964

Oceanography Topics

What is El Nino? What is La Nina?

Why is the Oceanic Conveyor Belt important? Density Currents

Western Interior Seaway El Nino’s impact on Montana

What if the conveyor belt stops? The Coriolis Effect

Tsunami Debris Headed Toward USA The Significance of Upwelling

Tsunami Warning System Ocean Acidification

IMPORTANT

You can choose a topic from the list, or you can come up with your own. Possible sources for topics include the Internet, your text book, and www.formontana.net.