Geoscience Is for Everyone Earth Science Activity Calendar 2019-2020 School Year

This publication was produced with support from the U.S. Geological Survey; National Park Service; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; American Earth Science Week 2019 Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation; ExxonMobil; American Geophysical Union; Society for American Geosciences Institute Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration; AmericaView; Geological Society of America; Association of American www.americangeosciences.org State Geologists; Energy Day (CEEF/CEA); Geothermal Resources Council; Keystone Policy Center; IF/THEN (Lyda Hill Philanthropies); Nautilus; Schlumberger; Society of Exploration Geophysicists; and Water Footprint Calculator. Geoscience Is for You How many of us lead lives shaped by Earth science? All of us. We all live, survive, and thrive through our relationship to — and the interrelationships of — the Earth systems of the geosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere (living things).

That’s why Earth Science Week 2019 focuses on the theme “Geoscience Is for Everyone,” emphasizing the importance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the geosciences. The celebration is engaging young people and others in exploring this theme through learning resources and activities.

No matter who, where, or how old you are, you can learn about and promote understanding of the complex interactions of the planet’s natural systems and processes. Start with a visit to the Earth Science Week website (www.earthsciweek.org). Check out new links to educational materials and information. Engage young people and others in the vital role they can play in Earth science.

And keep learning about the geosciences throughout the school year. Use this calendar, which features education resources, important geoscience dates, and exciting academic activities. Connect with geoscience learning all year long!

Geoff Camphire

Associate Director, Communications Images clockwise from top right: ©Getty Images/iStockphoto/SolStock; ©Shutterstock.com/Jason Patrick Ross; ©iStock.com/olof vandersteen; American Geosciences Institute ©Shutterstock.com/valdezrl; ©iStockphoto.com/Cynthia Baldauf All Aboard for Earth Science Week

This year, you’re invited to join the tens of millions of participants in all 50 states and nations worldwide who are celebrating Earth Science Week. Now in its 21st year, this exciting event has grown steadily in momentum and participation since the American Geosciences Institute held the first Earth Science Week in 1998.

Every year, people in schools, workplaces, civic centers, and elsewhere www.earthsciweek.org celebrate Earth Science Week to help build public understanding and How can you get involved? Explore appreciation of the Earth sciences, promote recognition of the value of Earth the Earth Science Week website at science research, and encourage stewardship of the planet. Earth Science Week www.earthsciweek.org. You’ll find serves the geoscience community by: a host of tools designed to make Credit: Malika Gunasekara/ Earth your event experience easy, fun, Science Week 2018 Photography Contest Entry • giving students new opportunities to Whether you are a faculty member, and rewarding! discover the Earth sciences, student, parent, geoscientist, or ordinary citizen, you can play a leading role in Earth On the website, you’ll see a list of tips • highlighting the contributions made by Science Week. On the event’s website at to help you share your Earth science the geosciences to society, www.earthsciweek.org, you’ll find ideas and knowledge with young people, lead tips for planning activities at your school or an excursion, or attend an event in • publicizing the message that Earth workplace, along with contact information your area: A planning checklist, tips science is all around us, for geoscience resources in your area where for fundraising, recommendations for you can work with local geoscientists to working with the news media, ideas • encouraging responsible stewardship of plan activities. for events, educational activities, Credit: Celia Payne/AGI the planet through an understanding of ways to get official recognition, Earth processes, In addition, this calendar features a variety of downloadable logos and images, exciting activities that you can conduct — in kit ordering information, a map of • providing a forum where geoscientists the schoolyard, at home, or elsewhere in potential partners and activities near can share their knowledge and the community — to explore the theme you, and much more. enthusiasm about the Earth and how it “Geoscience Is for Everyone.” This year’s works, and theme celebrates diversity, equity, inclusion, To stay up-to-date on the latest and accessibility in the Earth sciences. developments and upcoming • making learning about Earth science fun! activities, subscribe to the Earth Let us know how you are planning Science Week Update electronic

Images top to bottom: Smithsonian Institution/James Di Loreto; to celebrate! Send us an email at newsletter at www.earthsciweek.org. Malika Gunasekara/ Earth Science Week 2018 Photography [email protected]. Celebrate Earth Check it out! Contest Entry; Celia Payne/AGI; Smithsonian Institution/James Di Loreto Science Week: October 13–19, 2019! August 2019

LEARNING ACTIVITY: State Soil Investigation

GRADE LEVEL: 6–9 any states have a designated state bird, PROCEDURE flower, fish, tree, rock, and so on. Many 1 Choose (or be assigned by your teacher) a state MATERIALS Mstates also have a state soil — one that has soil to investigate. • Computer with significance or is important to the state. • Go online and find the relevant State internet connection Soil Booklet and the Investigation • State Soil Booklets The Soil Science Society of America has developed Worksheet (soils4teachers.org/state-soils). and Investigation a collection of state soil booklets, designed and Worksheet (soils4teachers. written by professional soil scientists from the 2 Use the worksheet to guide your investigation: org/state-soils) region to share in-depth information on each state • Which state are you investigating? soil. Each soil booklet includes a brief history of • What is your state soil’s name? how the state soil came to be, where it’s found, its • Why did you choose this state soil? importance and uses, limitations, management, • How did the state soil get its name? information on soil formation, ecoregions and land • Where in the state is this soil found? use, a glossary, and additional resources. • On how many acres is this state soil found? • What are common uses for this type of soil? In this activity, you will explore the state soil of your • What is grown in the state soil? choice and report important characteristics back to • What is CLORPT? the class. By the end of this activity, you should have • What is the “Parent Material” of this soil? an appreciation of your chosen state soil and be able • What do YOU find most interesting about to recognize the diversity of soil across the country. this soil?

3 Report your answers back to the class. Discuss how your state soil differs from those of your classmates.

NGSS CONNECTIONS • Science and Engineering Practices — ​Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Stability and Change Source: Soil Science Society of America. Adapted with permission. Images courtesy of Soil Science Society of America. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3

Happy Birthday!  Henry Darwin Rogers, American Structural Geologist, Contributed to the Theory of Mountain Building, Born 1808 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Happy Birthday!  Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German Geologist Noted for Fundamental Work in Did You Know?  Stratigraphy, Published the First Happy Birthday!  U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour Geologic Profile, Born 1719 Neil Armstrong, American Astronaut Barbara Morgan, the Astronaut, the First Man to Walk First Educator to Safely Reach Friendship Day on the Moon, Born 1930 Space, 2007 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Did You Know?  The First Three Fossil Bones of Happy Birthday!  Did You Know?  “SUE” Tyrannosaurus rex Skeleton Edward W. Gifford, American Hurricane Camille (Category 5) Discovered by Sue Hendrickson, Self-Taught Anthropologist and Strikes Mississippi, Louisiana 1990 Archaeologist, Born 1887 and Virginia, 1969 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Florissant Fossil Beds National Hurricane Andrew (Category 5) Monument, Renowned for Insect Hits Florida and Fossils, Authorized 1969 Louisiana, 1992 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Did You Know?  Colonel Edwin Drake Drills First U.S. Oil Well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, 1859 Aug. 27–30, 2019: Geoscience Event: AAPG International Did You Know?  Conference and Exhibition, Did You Know?  Hurricane Katrina (Category 5) American Association of U.S. Challenger Astronaut Guion Strikes Florida, Later Louisiana, Petroleum Geologists, Buenos Bluford Becomes First Black 2005 Aires, Argentina Astronaut in Space, 1983

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org August 2019 September 2019

LEARNING ACTIVITY: Earth’s Magnetic Field

GRADE LEVEL: 4–12 f you found yourself in the middle of the ocean, do you think you could find your way home? Sea turtles can, thanks in part to MATERIALS IEarth’s magnetic field! • Cereal box and a piece of paper All around the surface of the Earth, there is a magnetic field generated 5 Gently suspend a turtle above the turtle habitat by its string, • Scissors by the planet’s large metallic core. The magnetic field varies in moving it back and forth until you notice it move in response to • Tape strength and direction from place to place, giving different locations one of the magnets. Draw a small dot where you think a magnet is, • 5-10 refrigerator magnets of unique magnetic “maps.” Sea turtles (and other animals like pigeons, then draw a larger circle around the entire area where your turtle is varying strengths lobsters, and honeybees) can detect and remember patterns in Earth’s able detect the magnet. • String magnetic field to find their way over long distances, a behavior called • Bolt, screw, or nail that magnetic homing. 6 When you think you have finished, carefully remove the tape is ferromagnetic (sticks holding the turtle habitat to the table. Lift the turtle habitat up to to magnets) How can you navigate like a sea turtle? Find out by making a turtle look at the magnet positions. Compare your map to the positions • Modeling clay or play dough that can detect magnetic fields and using it to create a magnetic map of the magnet. How similar are they? How would your map differ if • Pencil of its own habitat. your magnets were in different positions?

PROCEDURE 7 Search for a magnetic map of a coastline or major ocean. How do 1 Tie a string to a nail or bolt. the magnetic field lines differ when you compare places along the Atlantic or Pacific coast? What about along the equator compared 2 Press a small piece of clay onto the bolt, and carefully sculpt it into to the poles? Use the magnetic map you found to answer this the shape of a turtle, making sure to keep the bolt on the bottom question: Where do you think it would be easier for organisms and the string on the top. like sea turtles to use magnetic homing, and where might it be harder? Why? 3 Test your turtle to make sure that it hangs easily and turns towards magnets when you hold it by the string. Watch how it moves when NGSS CONNECTIONS it gets close to and touches a magnet. • Science and Engineering Practices — ​Analyzing and Interpreting Data 4 Cut a cereal box in half along its longest sides, and tape the corners • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Motion and Stability: Forces of one half so it holds its shape when it is set flat on a table. Tape a and Interactions piece of blank paper to the top of the box and have a friend hide a • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Cause and Effect few magnets of various strengths underneath the box. This is your turtle habitat. Source: Science Friday. Adapted with permission. Photo by Ariel Zych, Science Friday. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Sept. 4–7, 2019: Did You Know?  Geoscience Event:  Unnamed Hurricane (Category 5) 38th NABG Annual Technical Batters Florida Keys, 1935 Conference, National Association Protect Your Groundwater of Black Geoscientists, Labor Day Day Fayetteville, Arkansas 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Sept. 14–17, 2019: Happy Birthday!  Geoscience Event:  Stephen Jay Gould, AIPG National Meeting, U.S. Paleontologist and Did You Know?  American Institute of Evolutionary Biologist, Hurricane Ike (Category 4) Professional Geologists, Born 1941 Patriot Day Strikes Texas, 2008 Burlington, Vermont 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Sept. 15–18, 2019: Geoscience Event: GRC Annual Meeting & Expo, Geothermal Resources Council, Palm Springs, California Sept. 17–22, 2019: Sept. 15–20, 2019: Geoscience Geoscience Event:  Event: SEG International 62nd AEG Annual Meeting, Exhibition and 89th Annual Asheville, North Carolina Sept. 20–29, 2019: Meeting, Society of International Day for the Citizenship Day Geoscience Event:  Exploration Geophysicists, Preservation of the Flagstaff Festival of Science, San Antonio, Texas Ozone Layer Constitution Day World Water Monitoring Day Flagstaff, Arizona 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Did You Know?  Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Containing World’s Most Active Volcano, Established 1961 Sept. 22–25, 2019: Geoscience Event:  Did You Know?  Geological Society of America Hurricane Rita (Category 5) Annual Conference, Phoenix, Batters Texas and Arizona Autumnal Equinox Louisiana, 2005 National Public Lands Day 29 30

Sept. 30–Oct. 2, 2019: Geoscience Event:  SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Society of Rosh Hashanah begins Petroleum Engineers, Calgary, (sundown) Alberta, Canada

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org September 2019 October 2019

LEARNING ACTIVITY: Find a Feature Challenge

GRADE LEVEL: 2–8 eoscience is for everyone! And everyone can Gaccept the Find a Feature Challenge! MATERIALS Find a Feature • Computer with What is the shape of the land in your neighborhood? Challenge: “Arch” internet access Is it flat or hilly? Do you see small or large rocks? Are Can you find an arch where you live? Arches are they rough or smooth? What color is the soil, and curved structures, like an upside-down “U.” where does the water flow? When you see arches in rocks, they are often The shapes and patterns that we see around us tell made of sandstone or limestone, which are the story of the Earth and the many forces that are sedimentary rocks. The arch is formed due to at work in shaping our world. The United States erosion by wind, water, or freezing and thawing Geological Survey (USGS), whose mission is science, of ice in cracks taking away particles over would like to share the excitement of unraveling geologic time, which is many thousands or this story with people of all ages, backgrounds, and even millions of years. The softer rock at the locations through our Find a Feature Challenge! bottom of the arch becomes eroded away on both sides of the formation, until there is PROCEDURE a cavity formed clear through the formation, 1 Visit www.usgs.gov/findafeature or USGS_YES which leaves the arch. The top layer that on Instagram to find the latest “Find a Feature” remains is harder, and not as easy to erode. challenge. We will explain the science behind a It’s called the “caprock” layer. An arch is a very particular feature of the landscape, such as red strong shape that transfers the weight of what rock, waves, faults, arches, or invasive plants. it is holding down the “legs” to firm ground, which is why both architectural arches and 2 Look around you! What do you see in your natural arches look alike. neighborhood or on vacation? The feature doesn’t have to be in nature. It can be in your house, in your classroom, or even on your dinner plate!

Source: U.S. Geological Survey. 3 Take a picture of what you see and share it with NGSS CONNECTIONS Adapted by permission. us by tagging @USGS_YES #FindaFeature, or • Science and Engineering Practices — Developing All USGS photos. Photographers, clockwise from left: Mt. Vernon, Rock Bridge State email it to us for use in educational materials And Using Models Park MO and arching girl all by Annie Scott; at [email protected]. • Disciplinary Core Ideas — Earth’s Systems Gateway Arch: Jennifer LaVista; Delicate Arch: Phil Stoffer. • Crosscutting Concepts — Patterns Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5

Oct. 4–10, 2019: Rosh Hashanah ends World Space Week 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Happy Birthday!  Nevil Maskelyne, English Happy Birthday!  Astronomer Noted for His Thomas Dibblee, U.S. Contribution to the Science of Yom Kippur begins Geologist, Pioneering California Navigation, Born 1732 (sundown) Yom Kippur ends Cartographer, Born 1911 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Did You Know?  San Francisco’s 1989 Earthquake (Estimated Magnitude 6.9) Rocks Northern California, 1989 Great ShakeOut earthquake drill 10:17 a.m. Learn more at Columbus Day No Child Left Inside Day ShakeOut.org International EarthInternational EarthCache Day Earth Science Literacy Day EarthScience Observation Day National Fossil Day Geoscience for Everyone Day WeekGeologic Map Day Archaeology Day 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Did You Know?  Oct. 24–26, 2019: Fossil Butte National Geoscience Event:  Monument, Containing Nearly NSTA Area Conference, National Oct. 20–26, 2019: Perfectly Preserved Fossils, Science Teachers Association, National Chemistry Week Established 1972 Salt Lake City, Utah 27 28 29 30 31

Oct. 31–Nov. 2, 2019: Geoscience Event: The SACNAS National Diversity Happy Birthday!  in STEM Conference, Society Othniel Charles Marsh, American for Advancement of Chicanos/ Paleontologist, Made Extensive Hispanics and Native Americans Scientific Explorations of the in Science, Honolulu, Hawai’i Western U.S. and Discovered Over 1000 Fossils, Born 1831 Halloween

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org October 2019 November 2019

LEARNING ACTIVITY: Geoscience Reading Is for Everyone

GRADE LEVEL: 4–12 he study of the Earth and space is for everyone. Geoscientists study topics from 5 Read the article. You may want to read it earthquakes and volcanoes to hurricanes and mountains and other land features. all at once. If it is a long article, however, MATERIALS TEveryone can find something in the geosciences that interests them. you can stop from time to time to think • Computer with about what you have read. Jot some internet access Reading about geoscience can open whole new worlds to explore — ​at least through your notes about what you have read. Do you Feature

Damage imagination. Often articles about geoscience topics contain more than text. They might have understand what the article is saying? Do Scale Victoria Severe photos, maps, and diagrams, all of which can help you enjoy and understand what you read, you need to re-read something so that as y 1

tegor a C especially if you know a few strategies to make reading more fun. you move on you are sure about the ideas Moderate you have already read? y 2 ategor C Trivoli PROCEDURE stands out? What do you think the article y 3 tegor Low Ca 1 To learn strategies for careful reading, start is about? Are there words you might want 6 In particular, as you read, look for claims Refugio

y 4 egor Cat by finding an article on a topic that you to look up before reading? being made in the article about what has think will be interesting. Articles can be happened and how Earth systems work.

Rockport found many places. For example, EARTH 3 Take a “Text Feature Walk.” Look over the Write those claims down. Is evidence Gregory Magazine’s online archive (https://www. text features. This involves skimming presented? Are they based on facts or Category Hurricane Harvey Path earthmagazine.org/) has articles on every over headings, boldface words, maps, opinions? Where might you go to check Corpus Christi

Austin Earth science topic. In the upper right of diagrams, photos, and captions. Based claims made in the article? • Houston• Top: Neighboring houses near Copano Bay in Rockport show 0 10 20 40 N the EARTH website is a search box where on those features, what are some ideas km varying degrees of damage, suggesting that highly localized wind Regional damage along the central Texas Coast is shown here, gusts and/or differencesyou in can the houses’ type structural terms integrity played to find articles on you think you’ll read about? What do you 7 Share and discuss what you have read. along with contours indicating areas that experienced maximum roles in determining damage. Above: Ample tree debris, leaning wind speeds corresponding to Category 1 to 4 hurricanes. utility poles and missing shingles were observed in Ingleside, Credit: Stephanie Fovenyessy and Sierra Patterson with data from the just inland from Porttopics Aransas. of interest. For example, you might already know about those topics? What Telling others about what you have National Weather Service and National Hurricane Center Credit: both: Stephaniefind Fovenyessy an article like this one: questions might you have about the topic read can help you put the ideas in your Along with high winds and rainfall, coastal com- was almost exclusively related to strong winds. Also that you can think about as you read? own words. That can make it easier to Part of amunities page were from also hit the with EARTHstorm surges up to surprising was that the damage was sporadic: Some 4 meters. Within Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, homes were left with only a few walls standing while Magazinethe storm article surge was “Wind more than or3.5 meters above sea neighboring homes“Wind of similar design or Water?had little to no Hurricane Harvey’s Most remember them. You may also find you level. Other areas that observed significant storm damage. The vast disparity in the degree of damage Water? surgesHurricane included Port Harvey’s Lavaca (greater thanMost 3 meters), between adjacentDestructive structures suggests highly Force”localized 4 Focus on the maps. Geoscientists often still have questions. You might re-read all DestructivePort Aransas Force,” (1.5 to 2.8 which meters) and featured Holiday Beach wind gusts. and Copano Bay (1 to 2 meters). In Corpus Christi,https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/ we saw damage to street and think about how things relate to each or parts of the article for answers. Or you several maps. business signs, utility poles and power lines, fences Credit: AGI; Article and map authors: and trees. One residentwind-or-water-hurricane-harveys-most- we talked to reported feeling other in space. This leads them to use might look up information in reference Data Collection Stephanie Fovenyessy and Sierra F. Patterson “vibrations from the strong winds for six to seven A week after the hurricane hit, we headed to Cor- hours” as this persondestructive-force took shelter in a third-floor maps. If your article has a map, look at books or online. pus Christi, then traveled up the coast to Port Lavaca apartment. The damage this resident experienced, and Victoria, stopping in other communities along however, was relatively mild: “Only a few shingles it closely before reading. What is the the way. For four days, we drove through neighbor- fell off the roof of my apartment complex during the hoods, talked to residents and took a lot of photos. passing of the storm,”Once and “a fewyou young find trees [were] an article, try these steps. location the map shows? Look at map Maybe you want to become a geoscientist. We expected the damage we witnessed to have uprooted within the complex and the streets nearby.” been caused by a combination of strong winds and On our way to Rockport, we saw an increased elements such as lines, shapes, colors, and Or maybe you just enjoy understanding the storm surge, as normally seen from a hurricane of number of utility poles knocked down and more this strength. But we were surprised to find that tree debris scattered2 Preview about the streets. the Throughout text. Scan the whole article symbols. What do they show? Sometimes world around you. Either way, careful reading the damage in all of the communities we visited the Rockport area, palm trees were snapped in half, quickly. Notice each of its parts, but there are explanations for these elements can open the richness of the geosciences Source: ExxonMobil. pageAdapted 31 • April 2019 with • EARTH • www.earthmagazine.org permission. without stopping to read in detail. What on the map. to you. Top image credit: NASA/NOAA Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2

Happy Birthday!  Alfred Wegener, German Meteorologist, Framer of Continental Drift Theory, Born 1880 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Did You Know?  Marie Curie’s Inaugural Lecture as the First Woman Lecturer at the Sorbonne, 1906 Happy Birthday!  Léon-Philippe Teisserenc de Bort, French Meteorologist, Pioneer in the Field of Happy Birthday!  Aerology, Co‑discoverer of the Marie Curie, Polish Geochemist Daylight Saving Time Ends Stratosphere, Born 1855 and Physicist, Born 1867 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Happy Birthday!  Charles Lyell, Scottish Geologist, “Principles of Geology” Author, Nov. 10–13, 2019: Born 1797 Geoscience Event:  ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Nov. 14–16, 2019: Happy Birthday!  Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX Geoscience Event:  James W. Mitchell, American NSTA Area Conference, National Chemist Advanced the Accuracy Nov. 10–16, 2019: GIS Day (Geographic Science Teachers Association, of Trace Element Analyses, Geography Awareness Week Veterans Day Information Systems) Day Cincinnati, Ohio Born 1943 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Guion “Guy” S. Bluford, Jr, Alan Shepard, American American Astronaut, First Black Astronaut, First American in Astronaut in Space, Space, Born 1923 Born 1942 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Thanksgiving

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org November 2019 December 2019

LEARNING ACTIVITY: Predict the Flow

GRADE LEVEL: 5–10 ot everyone lives in a part of the world where there are volcanoes. But virtually anyone can learn about the MATERIALS Ngeologic principles behind volcanoes using some common • 2 containers of modeling everyday materials. compound or clay • Clear plastic bin Ever play with clay? Using a common modeling compound, you • Dark colored water (make can form a representation of a volcano and examine its topography sure that your modeling to predict which way lava will flow down its slopes. You could also Tungurahua Volcano in Ecuador exploding during the night of November 30, 2011. compound is a contrasting investigate mud flows or debris flows. Credit: Shutterstock.com/Ammit Jack color from your water) • Clear clipboard PROCEDURE 3 Use your ruler to mark 1-cm intervals up 6 Now, get the other group’s volcano and • 2 transparencies and 1 Cut a piece of transparency to fit in the the side of the bin. Add colored water to bin. Look at the volcano carefully and see if transparency marker bin’s bottom. On it, build a hollow volcano a depth of 1 cm in your bin. Look down you want to change your prediction about • Safety scissors out of modeling compound. Put a hole through the clipboard and draw the lava flow. Discuss where it would be safe to • Dish detergent in the top of the volcano and shape it new outline of your volcano. Continue be if the volcano erupted. If you have them • Baking soda around your cup. The cup’s opening adding water in 1-cm increments and available, put tiny houses or toothpicks • Vinegar should be just below the volcano’s crater. drawing the outline until you are less than where you think would be safest. • Dropper 1 cm away from the volcano’s peak. This • Metric ruler 2 Put a new transparency on the clipboard. process provides a topographic map of 7 In the small cup just below the volcano’s • Tiny plastic cup (about 2 oz.) Set the clipboard on top of your your volcano. opening, put about a teaspoon of baking • Teaspoon measure volcano-filled bin. Look down through soda, eight drops of detergent, and • Paper towels the clipboard and use a marker to draw 4 Carefully remove the volcano and pour several drops of food color that contrasts • Binder clip the outline of your volcano on the the water from the bin. Dry the volcano with the color of your volcano. Add a • Food color transparency. Include the volcano’s crater and put it back in the dried-out bin. full dropper of vinegar and watch the • Coffee stirrer on your drawing. Also, mark “North” direction the “lava” flows. How did this • Small play buildings as and “South” on the bin and the map on 5 Trade the topographic map of your meet or contradict your predictions? How from a board game and/or the transparency. volcano with another group. Based on can you explain any differences? toothpicks (optional) the new volcano’s topography, where would lava most likely flow first when the NGSS CONNECTIONS volcano erupts? Use your marker to make • Science and Engineering Practices — ​ arrows showing where the lava is likeliest Analyzing and Interpreting Data to flow. • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Earth’s Systems Source: American Geophysical Union. • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Systems and Activity developed by AGI. System Models Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Happy Birthday!  Clyde Wahrhaftig, American Did You Know?  Geologist, Environmentalist, and Aniakchak National Monument, Recipient of GSA’s Kirk Bryan One of World’s Finest Examples Award for Geomorphology, of Dry Caldera, Pearl Harbor Born 1919 Established 1980 World Soil Day Remembrance Day 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Dec. 9–13, 2019: Dec. 12–14, 2019: Geoscience Event:  Geoscience Event:  AGU Fall Meeting, American NSTA Area Conference, National Geophysical Union, San Science Teachers Association, Francisco, California International Mountain Day Seattle, Washington 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Did You Know?  Happy Birthday!  First of Three Earthquakes in Allan Cox, American Did You Know?  New Madrid, Missouri (Estimated Geophysicist, Paleomagnetism Albert Michelson Receives the Magnitude 8.0), Causes Specialist, and Author of Two Nobel Prize in Physics, Becoming Mississippi River to Change Books on Plate Tectonics, the First American to Win the Course, 1811 Born 1926 Nobel Prize in a Science, 1907 Winter Solstice 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Did You Know?  Earthquake Off West Coast of Did You Know?  Northern Sumatra (Magnitude Pierre-Jules-César Janssen Flew 9.0), Sets Off Massive Tsunami, in a Balloon in Order to Study a Did You Know?  2004 Solar Eclipse, 1870 American Astronauts on Apollo 8 Become the First People to Orbit Dec. 26, 2019–Jan. 1, 2020: Hanukkah Begins (Sundown) the Moon, 1968 Christmas Kwanzaa 29 30 31

Hanukkah Ends New Year’s Eve

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org December 2019 January 2020

LEARNING ACTIVITY: 3D Geology

GRADE LEVEL: 6–12 s technology advances, the way should use a different area or section 8 Repeat these steps until the 3D image is as geologists study Earth also advances. of one outcrop or landscape as their accurate as possible. MATERIALS ASome new technologies also make target area. • Digital camera it possible to bring aspects of outdoor 9 Make a list of observations of the target • Computer with fieldwork into the classroom, opening 2 The SfM program will calculate the shape area based solely on the 3D image. internet access opportunities for a broad range of audiences of the target area, but not the size. Before Compare this with the list of observations • Measuring tape to explore geologic structures and localities. taking pictures of your target area and made in the field. • Educator version of measuring its size, place markers within the Agisoft Metashape Structure from Motion (SfM) is one technology area at a known, measured distance that 10 Exchange images with another group software (https://www. that is enabling scientists and classrooms can be used for scale in the photographs. and make a list of observations about agisoft.com/buy/online- to examine various locations that otherwise their image. store/educational-license/) might be difficult to study due to travel 3 Using a digital camera, take a series of constraints, remoteness, or inaccessibility. SfM photographs of the target area from many 11 Compare observations with the other is a computer program that uses an algorithm different angles. group and discuss any details that to create a 3-dimensional (3D) structure from were missing from the 3D images but a series of 2-dimensional (2D) images. The 4 As a group, make a list of observations observable in the field. Discuss with the application of this program in the geosciences about the geology, shape, and appearance entire class and your teacher how this allows scientists and students to approach of the target area. technology could help expose a wider geology in a whole new way. audience to the geosciences that might 5 Return to the classroom and import the normally face barriers to conducting RCHERS EXPLO SEA RIN RE G D A N ND To prepare for this activity, the teacher should photographs onto a computer without field work. A C S O R L E L H A C B A O E visit https://www.agisoft.com/ and install altering them. R T A

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G

O P the educator version of Agisoft Metashape NGSS CONNECTIONS SfM software. (If you download a 30-day free 6 Using the SfM software, your teacher will • Science and Engineering Practice — ​ trial, you will be able to run the software and help you create the 3D image (aligning Developing and Using Models, Analyzing W W M W. .C O POLARTREC create the image, but you will not be able to photographs, creating a dense point and Interpreting Data save or export the image.) cloud, and creating a mesh). This process • Crosscutting Concept — ​Scale Proportion can take minutes to days depending on and Quantity, Systems and System Models PROCEDURE the settings, file size, and so on. • Disciplinary Core Idea — ​Earth’s Systems or 1 Break into small groups and, with the help Earth’s Place in the Universe Source: Geological Society of of your teacher or another adult, choose 7 Examine the resulting 3D image and America. Written by Lauren Neitzke a nearby outcrop or landscape as your discuss how accurately the target area Adamo in collaboration with GSA and PolarTREC. target area. You’ll take pictures of this area was rendered. Think about how you might Images courtesy of Lauren Neitzke Adamo. and create a 3D image of it. Each group improve the overall accuracy of the image. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4

Jan. 1–31, 2020:  Did You Know?  Hawai’i Volcano Awareness Cleveland Abbe Becomes the Month Chief Scientist of the Newly Formed U.S. Weather Service, New Year’s Day 1871 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Did You Know?  Voyageurs National Park, Featuring Some of North America’s Oldest Rocks, Established 1975 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Did You Know?  Happy Birthday!  Earthquake (Magnitude 7.0) Benjamin Franklin, U.S. Scientist, Strikes Capital of Haiti, Causing Pioneering Inventor and Nearly 300,000 Deaths, 2010 Diplomat, Born 1706 Jan. 12–16, 2020: Did You Know?  Geoscience Event:  Happy Birthday!  Northridge Earthquake AMS Annual Meeting, American Arthur Holmes, British Geologist, (Magnitude 6.7) Strikes Meteorological Society, Boston, Pioneer of Radioactive Dating Los Angeles Area, Massachusetts of Minerals, Born 1890 California, 1994 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Happy Birthday!  Andrija Mohorovicic, Croatian Physicist, Seismologist and Meteorologist, Namesake of Base of Earth’s Crust, the “Moho,” Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Born 1857 26 27 28 29 30 31

Did You Know?  Earthquake (Magnitude 8.7–9.2) Happy Birthday!  Occurs Along the Cascadia Friedrich Mohs, German Subduction Zone and Causes a Geologist and Mineralogist, Tsunami on the Coast of Japan, Creator of Scale of Mineral 1700 Hardness, Born 1773

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org January 2020 February 2020

LEARNING ACTIVITY:

Pumice Rocks Ahoy! Credit: deltalimatrieste/ Wikimedia

GRADE LEVEL: 2–5 umice, scoria, and obsidian are all igneous rocks. Igneous rocks are rocks MATERIALS that either cooled from hot, liquid Scoria material on flank of Teide on Tenerife, Canary P Islands, Spain • Samples of pumice, scoria, magma within the Earth or from volcanic Credit: Chmee2/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 and obsidian (Samples can ash or lava on the surface of the Earth. The be purchased online through many types of igneous rocks come from • Why do you think pumice is mined for use school specialty stores. different types of magma that contain in abrasives (for personal care, industrial “Pumice stone” can also be different materials and cool at different rates cleaners, rubber erasers, stonewash jeans, found at bath and body depending on how they are placed. Obsidian etc.) and in absorbents (potting soil, pet suppliers. Scoria, or “lava Credit: ©Dr. Richard Busch, from the ESW Image Bank litter, etc.)? rock,” can be purchased at Pumice forms from magma that contains a garden supply centers.) large amount of gas bubbles, and when it of space taken up by the sample (its • Why do you think scoria is used in • A large, transparent, plastic erupts to the Earth’s surface and cools and volume). A sample that feels heavier than landscaping instead of obsidian? tank or bucket half-full of hardens, these gas bubbles remain in the rock. another sample of about the same size water, with the amount of has more material within the sample, • Why has obsidian been used throughout water significantly more than Scoria is another volcanic rock with holes in which is to say the heavier sample is more history to make sharp tools for cutting? the size of the largest sample it, though the amount of volcanic material dense than the other. A sample that sinks (It is important to use plastic between the holes is usually thicker, or more is denser than water. • What other materials are mined due to to ensure it won’t break compacted, in scoria than in pumice. It is their useful characteristics? during the tests.) often dark red. 2 Now test each sample by placing it into • Towels for spills the tank to see what happens. Note: Some NGSS CONNECTIONS • Tongs Obsidian is a shiny, dark, dense volcanic glass. specimens may become water-logged if • Science and Engineering Practices — ​ It was formed from lava that cooled very they sit in the water too long, so try to test Analyzing and Interpreting Data quickly. It normally contains very few gas dry specimens. • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Earth and bubbles, if any. Human Activity 3 Discuss the results. How do you think • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Cause and Effect PROCEDURE commercial use of these items would 1 Compare the samples by simply holding vary based on the differences of (For more standards correlations go to www. them and seeing which you find heavier these samples? MineralsEducationCoalition.org/standards.) and which feels lighter. Do you think these samples are heavier or lighter than FURTHER DISCUSSION This activity is based on the “Sink & Float water? Density describes the relationship • Why would pumice be used to make Rocks” activity on the MEC website. Learn Source: Minerals Education between the amount of material (mass) lightweight construction materials such as more about rocks and the rock cycle Coalition. Adapted with permission. contained in the sample and the amount concrete block and concrete? at www.MineralsEducationCoalition.org. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Did You Know?  The First of Five Strong Did You Know?  Earthquakes (Magnitude 7.0) Earthquake (8.8 Magnitude) Groundhog Day Hit the Region of Calabria in Shakes Chile, Triggering a Southern Italy and Produce Tsunami That Hits Hawai’i, World Wetlands Day Significant Tsunamis, 1783 2010 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Did You Know?  Death Valley National Park, Lowest Below Sea Level in North America, Proclaimed 1933 Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Charles Darwin, English Naturalist, Galileo Galilei, Italian International Day of Women “The Origin of Species” Author, Astronomer, Physicist and and Girls in Science Born 1809 Valentine’s Day Engineer, Born 1564 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Did You Know?  John Glenn Becomes First American to Orbit the Earth, Feb. 16–22, 2020:  Flying Aboard Spacecraft National Engineers Week Presidents Day Friendship 7, 1962 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Charles M. Hall, a Young U.S. Grand Canyon National Park, Chemist, Successfully Invented Exhibiting Largest Section an Inexpensive Method for of Geologic Time on Earth, Producing Aluminum by Established 1919 Separating It From Its Bauxite Ore, 1886 Ash Wednesday

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org February 2020 March 2020

LEARNING ACTIVITY: Using Energy Resources Wisely

GRADE LEVEL: 6–9 eople everywhere depend on their energy resources, so they need to know how to use them wisely. How do you think MATERIALS Ppeople can use the energy they rely on to heat their homes • Plastic cup, foam cup, and more efficiently? metal soup can, all around the same size PROCEDURE • Plastic wrap and sheets 1 Predict which item — plastic cup, metal soup can, or foam cup — ​ of paper will keep water warm the longest. Record your prediction in your • Masking tape notebook, as well as a reason for your prediction. • Supply of warm water • 3 alcohol thermometers 2 Around the plastic cup, wrap six sheets of paper as tightly as you • Measuring cup can, and secure them with masking tape. Do exactly the same with • Calculator and notebook the can and the foam cup. • Graph paper • Watch or clock 3 Use the measuring cup to fill all containers with the same amount of warm water. Place a thermometer in each container.

4 Measure and record the temperature of the water in each container. Wrap each container with plastic wrap as well as you can, while leaving the thermometer in place. Leave the containers to stand side by side.

5 Discuss: What do you think will happen over time? Why? Make a prediction, based on what you know about heat. Include the reason for your prediction.

6 Measure the temperature in each container every minute over a 15-minute period. Record this information. When you finish, graph your results. NGSS CONNECTIONS 7 Discuss: Does your evidence support your prediction and the • Science and Engineering Practices — ​Analyzing and Source: American Association of reason you gave for it? What does this tell you about conserving Interpreting Data Petroleum Geologists. Adapted with permission. heat energy? How can this be applied to heating your home • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Energy Photo by Tembela Bohle from Pexels.com. more efficiently? • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Energy and Matter Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Did You Know?  Yellowstone National Park, Containing Half of World’s 1,000 Known Geysers, Becomes First Did You Know?  National Park, The United States Geological Established 1872 Survey was Founded, 1879 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian- March 8–14, 2020:  John Playfair, Scottish Soviet Mineralogist and Happy Birthday!  National Ground Water Mathematician, Physicist, and Geochemist Who Is Considered Albert Einstein, German- Awareness Week Geologist, Author of “Illustrations One of the Founders of American Physicist, Author of of the Huttonian Theory of the Geochemistry, Biogeochemistry, “Theory of Relativity,” Daylight Saving Time Begins Earth,” 1748 and Radiogeology, Born1863 Born 1879 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Happy Birthday!  Lucy Myers Wright Mitchell, Persian-American Self-Taught Archaeologist Who Was One of the First American Women in the St. Patrick’s Day Vernal Equinox Field, Born 1845 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Did You Know?  Happy Birthday!  Did You Know?  Great Alaska Earthquake John Wesley Powell, U.S. Earthquake (Magnitude 7.7) in (Magnitude 9.2) Is Second- Geologist and Anthropologist, Venezuela Causes a New Lake to Largest of 20th Century and Grand Canyon Explorer, Form and the River Yurubí to Be Largest Recorded in Northern World Water Day World Meteorological Day Born 1834 Dammed Up, 1812 Hemisphere, 1964 29 30 31

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org March 2020 April 2020 GLOBE Observer App The app currently LEARNING ACTIVITY: includes four main tools: Clouds, Mosquito Habitat Mapper, Land Cover, and Trees.

Clouds By photographing clouds, recording sky observations, and comparing them with NASA satellite data, you can help scientists gain a new perspective on clouds that satellites f you find yourself creating excuses to be outside or to learn more about just can’t provide: from the ground looking up! This new GRADE LEVEL: 4–14 the natural world, look no further! Citizen science is a fun way to participate perspective can help refine satellite-derived models and Iin meaningful studies of Earth’s atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, enhance scientific understanding of Earth’s atmosphere. MATERIALS pedosphere (soil). • Computer with Mosquito Habitat Mapper internet connection The GLOBE Program (www.globe.gov) PROCEDURE By identifying potential breeding sites for mosquitoes, is an international network of students, 1 Install the GLOBE Observer app sampling and counting mosquito larvae, and by using optional equipment to examine, photograph, and identify teachers, scientists and citizen on your mobile device from your the genus of your specimens, you will be enabling scientists scientists working together to learn app store. to better predict and understand mosquito population more about our shared environment. 2 Then, go outside and follow the changes in different locations. In addition, public health Help the GLOBE Program celebrate prompts in the app to observe authorities can use your observations to help communities its 25th Anniversary this month by your environment. reduce disease risk. contributing observations to its 3 After recording observations, database using the GLOBE Observer submit your data to the GLOBE Land Cover app. Your measurements help database straight from your phone. With this tool you can record what is on the land around you scientists understand, and even 4 Go to https://vis.globe.gov and (from trees to buildings to bare ground). By observing an area the size of a soccer field, you will be assisting scientists track changes in clouds, mosquitoes, compare your observations with who are working to enhance global maps of land cover. trees and land cover in support of those provided by students and Your observations will contribute to new maps with more environmental research. citizen scientists around the world. detail than is possible using satellites alone. Land cover is critical to many different Earth processes, and is of interest Teachers are invited to download to scientists and decision makers. and use the GLOBE Observer app, to NGSS CONNECTIONS become part of the GLOBE community • Science and Engineering Trees and contribute important scientific Practices — ​Analyzing and The Trees observation tool allows citizen scientists to data to NASA and GLOBE, your Interpreting Data measure tree height (and optionally tree circumference) to track the growth of trees over time. Observing tree height local community, and students and • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​ Source: NASA. Adapted enables NASA scientists to understand just how accurate are with permission. scientists worldwide. Educators can Earth’s Systems satellite-based measurements, such as those taken from the find activities and resources in various • Crosscutting Concepts — ​ ICESat-2 satellite, launched in September 2018. languages on the GLOBE site. Systems and System Models Students in more than 120 countries participate in The GLOBE Program.

Sponsored by: Supported by: Implemented by: Learn more about GLOBE at www.globe.gov Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4

Did You Know?  Start of Midwest Flood of Upper Apr. 2–5, 2020: Mississippi River Basin That Geoscience Event:  Would Cover Nine Midwestern NSTA National Conference on and Great Plains States, 1993 Science Education, National Science Teachers Association, April Fool’s Day Boston, Massachusetts 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

April 8–16, 2020: Passover 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Happy Birthday!  Apr. 16–19, 2020: Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Marie Maynard Daly, American Geoscience Event:  Great 1906 San Francisco Arches National Park, World’s Start of Mount Eyjafjallajökull Biochemist, the First Black National Ocean Sciences Bowl Earthquake (Estimated Highest Concentration of Eruption in Iceland, Grounding American Woman in the U.S. to Finals Competition, Consortium Magnitude 7.8) Tears 270-Mile Natural Arches, Flights Across Europe for Earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry, for Ocean Leadership, Rift Along San Andreas Fault, Established 1929 Almost a Week, 2010 Born 1921 Gulf Coast, Mississippi 1906 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Did You Know?  Start of Great Flood of Apr. 25–26, 2020: Did You Know?  Mississippi River Valley That Geoscience Event:  Soviet Union Launches Salyut 1, Would Inundate 27,000 Square USA Science & Engineering First Space Station, 1971 Miles, 1927 Earth Day Arbor Day Festival, Washington, DC 26 27 28 29 30

Happy Birthday!  Charles Richter, American Seismologist and Physicist, Devised the Richter Scale that Measures Earthquake Magnitudes, 1900

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org April 2020 Stalactites and May 2020 stalagmites in Mammoth Cave. Credit: National LEARNING ACTIVITY: Park Service Growing Speleothems

GRADE LEVEL: 3–12 aves are naturally occurring underground cavities large enough for human entry. Caves Ccontain many minerals, of which calcite is one of the most common minerals. MATERIALS • 1 small plate/saucer, or piece Cave formations, technically called speleothems, are formed as rainwater absorbs carbon of aluminum foil dioxide from the air. As water and carbon dioxide mix, a weak acid called carbonic acid is • 1 spoon formed. Carbonic acid can sometimes dissolve underlying rock. When carbonic acid carrying 11 Place your jars in a safe location with • 2 paper clips dissolved rock seeps into the air-filled cave, it loses carbon dioxide to the cave atmosphere, minimum sunlight. Direct sunlight can • 2 jars of the same volume/ causing calcite to precipitate, or come out of the mixture. The precipitated calcite deposits as a prevent crystallization, so reduce exposure size (matching 1-pint jars solid in different forms. Calcite precipitates on ceilings, walls, and floors as speleothems. to sunlight. Make sure not to touch or work well) move the jars once you’ve set them in • Epsom salt (about 1 cup There are many types of speleothems, but the most common that people are familiar with are place, as any movement of the string per setup) stalactites and stalagmites. Stalactites are formed by mineral-rich dripping water, and they could change the result. • Hot water grow down from the cave ceiling, resembling icicles. Stalagmites are formed when mineral‑rich • Thick cotton string or yarn water drops from stalactites and accumulates on the cave floor. These speleothems grow 12 Check your “cave” jars at least once a (natural fibers) upward in a cone shape. Sometimes a stalactite and stalagmite grow large enough that they day and record your observations in the • Food coloring connect, forming a column. observation tables.

PROCEDURE 6 Tie a paper clip to each end of the string, 13 Consider the set up with jars and string. 1 Heat about 12 ounces (1.5 cups) of water to act as a weight in the jar. How is what happened like what happens to boiling. Hot tap water also can be used. in a cave? How is it different? What parts 7 Place the two jars in a tray lined with a of a cave system are represented by the 2 Add Epsom salt to the water until the salt sheet of aluminum foil to catch the water parts of your setup? will no longer dissolve in the hot water as it drops. Note: Results may vary depending on the (approximately 8 ounces, or 1 cup). temperature and humidity of your area. 8 Wet the entire string in tap water. 3 Carefully pour about half of the hot For a more detailed version of this activity, go solution into each jar, making sure each jar 9 Place the ends of the strings into each jar so to https://go.nps.gov/learncaveminerals. is no more than two-thirds full. that the clips rest on the bottom of the jar. NGSS CONNECTIONS 4 Place 2-5 drops of food coloring into each 10 Leave enough slack between the jars so • Science and Engineering Practices — ​ jar and stir. that the string sags in the middle (do not Developing and Using Models let the part of the string between the jars • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Earth’s Systems Source: National Park Service , https://nps.gov/geology. Adapted 5 Cut string to about 18 inches in length. touch anything; you might need to spread • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Systems and with permission. out the jars if the string is too long). System Models Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2

National Space Day 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Did You Know?  U.S. Astronaut Alan Shepard Becomes First American in Space, 1961 Did You Know?  Cinco De Mayo Powerful Tornado (F-5) Rips Greensburg, Kansas, 2007 National Teachers’ Day 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

May 10–15, 2020: Geoscience Event:  Intel ISEF, Society for Science & Did You Know?  the Public, Anaheim, California Lewis and Clark Expedition Across Louisiana Territory Mother’s Day Begins, 1804 Armed Forces Day 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Did You Know?  Mount St. Helens Volcano Erupts Did You Know?  South of Seattle, Washington, Chile Earthquake 1980 (Magnitude 9.5) is Largest Earthquake of 20th Century, International Museum Day 1960 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Did You Know?  Powell Expedition to Explore Grand Canyon Begins in Green River City, Wyoming, 1869 Did You Know?  Mammoth Cave National Park, Happy Birthday!  World’s Longest Cave System Happy Birthday!  Harry Hess, U.S. Geologist, With 360 Mapped Miles, Happy Birthday!  Milutin Milankovitch, Serbian Originator of Idea of Established 1926 Sally Ride, American Astronaut, Geophysicist, Best Known for Sea Floor Spreading, Physicist, and Engineer, Theory of Climate Change, Born 1906 31 Memorial Day Born 1951 Born 1879

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org May 2020 Rock layers along June 2020 the Hot Springs Trail in Big Bend National Park. LEARNING ACTIVITY: Credit: National Shoebox Geologist Park Service

GRADE LEVEL: 6–8 arth processes such as volcanic PROCEDURE 7 Cut open the sides of the box carefully. eruptions, floods, landslides, and 1 Find a detailed version of this activity, Slowly peel off the front and sides to MATERIALS Eglaciers leave behind evidence of including teacher instructions and reveal the layers. For each group of four: their passing in the form of layers known downloadable worksheets, at Mount • Computer with as deposits. By studying deposits of recent Rainier National Park online 8 Measure the thickness of each layer with a internet connection geologic events, geologists are able to better (https://www.nps.gov/teachers/ ruler and record observations on “Shoebox • Pea gravel understand older deposits and identify the classrooms/shoebox-geologist.htm). Geologist-Interpretation of Events.” • Coarse sand processes that caused them. • Fine white sand 2 Determine the type, order and thickness 9 Using the “Shoebox Geologist Recipes” • Sawdust A fundamental principle of geology is called of layers that you wish to construct in your page, identify the layers and interpret the • Potting soil the Law of Superposition, which states group’s shoebox. order of geologic events. • Cement powder that younger layers will be deposited on • Colored sand top of older layers. This law is a guiding 3 List the chosen layers in sequence from 10 Compare your group’s interpretations to • Soil principle of studying rock and soil layers oldest to youngest (bottom to top) on the the list of actual events from the group • Twigs to help determine the relative ages of “Shoebox Geologist-Sequence of Events” that constructed the model. • Human artifacts (bottle caps, Earth events. Geologists often portray student page. On the “Shoebox Geologist buttons, paper clips, etc.) these deposits in a drawing called Recipes” student page, circle the necessary 11 Discuss as a class why interpreting layers • Shoebox a stratigraphic column. ingredients, and place numbers on the is important. What are some difficulties • Spray bottles with water page margin to show the order in which in interpreting layers? Which layers FOR THE TEACHER: ingredients are added. were gradually deposited? Which were Prepare for this activity before class begins. deposited catastrophically? The shoebox layers will remain more 4 Place “oldest” layer on the bottom of the cohesive if you add powdered quick-drying shoebox and press firmly down. Mist 12 Explore. Learn. Protect. To learn more cement such as Plaster of Paris, at a ratio of lightly with water. Continue layering the about park geology, visit https://www. approximately four parts rock material to one materials, pressing firmly, and lightly nps.gov/subjects/geology/index.htm. of quick-drying cement. Note that cement misting each layer according to the is caustic and must be handled carefully to desired sequence of events. NGSS CONNECTIONS protect eyes, skin, and lungs. Minimize raising • Science and Engineering Practices — ​ dust with dry cement and skin contact with 5 Allow shoeboxes to set, or dry, for Analyzing and Interpreting Data wet cement. Consider using safety glasses, dust 2-3 days. • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Earth’s Systems masks, and rubber gloves as appropriate. • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Systems and Source: American Institute of 6 After shoeboxes dry, exchange models System Models Professional Geologists. Adapted with permission from the National with another group. Park Service. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4 5 6

Did You Know?  Earthquake (Magnitude 8.4) Happy Birthday!  Occurs off the Coast of Southern James Hutton, Scottish Sumatra, Indonesia, Marks Geologist, an Early Leader in Beginning of a Period of Seismic Modern Geology, Born 1726 Activity in the Area, 2000 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

June 7–10, 2020: Did You Know?  Geoscience Event:  Big Bend National Park, AAPG Annual Meeting, American Featuring Fossilized Skeleton of Association of Petroleum Quetzalcoatlus, Largest Winged Geologists, Houston, Texas World Oceans Day Animal, Established 1944 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Did You Know?  U.S. Viking 1 Becomes First The Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo Sally Ride Becomes First Spacecraft to Land Safely on Erupts in Second-Largest American Woman in Space, Mars, 1976 Volcanic Eruption of 20th Flying Aboard Space Shuttle Flag Day Century, 1991 Challenger, 1983 Juneteenth Summer Solstice 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

Did You Know?  Earthquake (Magnitude 8.4) Happy Birthday!  Occurs at the Boundary Between Merle Anthony Tuve, American the Nazca and South American Geophysicist, Founding Director Plates, Affecting the Peruvian of Johns Hopkins University Regions of Arequipa, Moquegua Applied Physics Laboratory, Father’s Day and Tacna, 2001 1901 28 29 30

Did You Know?  U.S. Air Force Officer, Major Robert Lawrence, Became the First African-American Astronaut in the U.S. Space Program, 1967 International Asteroid Day

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org June 2020 July 2020

LEARNING ACTIVITY: The Interconnected Ancient World

GRADE LEVEL: 6–10 ven before planes, trains, and automobiles, goods and ideas traveled around the ancient world in ways that can be hard for us to imagine today. Whether it was by foot, ship, MATERIALS Eanimal caravan, or other means, people crossed rivers, deserts, mountains, jungles, and • Computer with more in pursuit of profit, resources, and adventure. internet connection A recent discovery in Dalheim, Germany, Uncovering lapis lazuli at these and other shows that over 850 years ago a female faraway archaeological sites shows us scribe (person who copies documents) that ancient traders moved materials over used ink made of crushed lapis lazuli, a rare thousands of miles. Despite the lack of metamorphic rock that is bright blue. The modern transport, people in the ancient discovery is cool on two levels. Traditionally, world were connected. medieval scribes were thought to be men, and this proves that women also were PROCEDURE involved in this activity. Additionally, the 1 Go to your local library and read about discovery shows how two faraway places lapis lazuli. You can also find resources are linked, because lapis lazuli is rare, and online at sites like geology.com. most lapis lazuli found at historic sites can be traced to mines in one region of the world: 2 Can you find five examples of how Badakhshan, in northwest Afghanistan. lapis lazuli was used in ancient times in 5 What mountain range is Badakhshan addition to the ones mentioned above? located in? Imported lapis lazuli also has been found at several important archaeological sites around 3 Find the following places using 6 What kind of geological features and the world, including: Google Maps: environments would travelers have to • Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Dating to the • Badakhshan, Afghanistan cross between these different sites? What 14th century BC, the mask that was placed • Dalheim, Germany modes of transportation might have been over the face of King Tut’s mummified • Valley of the Kings, Egypt available to them? body has lapis lazuli around the eyes and • Ur, Iraq on the beard. NGSS CONNECTIONS 4 How many miles away from Badakhshan • Science and Engineering Practices — ​ • Ur, Iraq. The Standard of Ur, made around are the sites in Germany, Egypt, and Iraq? Analyzing and Interpreting Data 2600 BC and found in the city’s Royal • Hint: Right click and select “measure • Disciplinary Core Ideas — ​Earth and Tombs, is an ornate wooden box with distance” and then “distance to here” at Human Activity Source: Archaeological Institute of America. Adapted with permission. images that are inlaid with shell, red the two locations to find distance as the • Crosscutting Concepts — ​Structure Photos are public domain images limestone, and lapis lazuli. crow flies instead of driving directions. and Function Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 2 3 4

Independence Day 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Happy Birthday!  James B. Pollack, American Astrophysicist and Senior Space Research Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, LGBT STEM Day Born 1938 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Happy Birthday!  Happy Birthday!  Florence Bascom, U.S. Geologist, John Glenn, American Astronaut, First American Female Ph.D., First American to Orbit Earth, Born 1862 Born 1921 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Did You Know?  Did You Know?  Earthquake (Magnitude 5.9) U.S. Apollo 11 Astronaut Neil Occurs in Central Peru Causing Armstrong Becomes First Human Severe Damage and Flooding, to Walk on Moon, 1969 1969 26 27 28 29 30 31

Did You Know?  Happy Birthday!  The National Aeronautics and Marie Tharp, U.S. Geologist, Space Administration was Sea Floor Cartographer, Parents’ Day founded, 1958 Born 1920

American Geosciences Institute | www.americangeosciences.org July 2020 WHAT IS EARTH SCIENCE WEEK? AGI MEMBER SOCIETIES The American Geosciences Institute has AASP - The Palynological Society Karst Waters Institute organized this annual international event since American Association of Geographers Mineralogical Society of America 1998 to help people better understand and American Association of Petroleum Geologists Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2019 appreciate the Earth sciences and to encourage American Geophysical Union National Association of Black Geoscientists responsible stewardship of the planet. Earth American Institute of Hydrology National Association of Geoscience Teachers Science Week takes place October 13-19, American Institute of Professional Geologists National Association of State Boards of Geology 2019, celebrating the theme “Geoscience Is American Meteorological Society National Cave and Karst Research Institute for Everyone.” American Rock Mechanics Association National Earth Science Teachers Association Association for the Sciences of Limnology National Ground Water Association Visit the Earth Science Week website — ​ and Oceanography National Speleological Society www.earthsciweek.org — ​to learn more about Association for Women Geoscientists Paleobotanical Section of the Botanical Society how you can become involved, events and Association of American State Geologists of America opportunities in your community, the monthly Association of Earth Science Editors Paleontological Research Institution Earth Science Week newsletter, highlights of past Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists Paleontological Society Earth Science Weeks, and how you can order an Clay Minerals Society Petroleum History Institute Earth Science Week Toolkit. Council on Undergraduate Research Seismological Society of America Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) You are invited to help keep the spirit of Earth Geochemical Society Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Science Week alive all year long by posting this Geological Association of Canada Society of Economic Geologists calendar in your classroom, office, or home. Geological Society of America Society of Exploration Geophysicists Whoever you are and wherever you go, you can Geological Society of London Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists celebrate Earth science! Geoscience Information Society Society of Mineral Museum Professionals History of Earth Sciences Society Society of Vertebrate Paleontology American Geosciences Institute american 4220 King Street International Association of Hydrogeologists/U.S. Soil Science Society of America Alexandria, VA 22302 geosciences National Chapter The Society for Organic Petrology (703) 379-2480 AGI institute International Medical Geology Association United States Permafrost Association www.americangeosciences.org connecting earth, science, and people

EARTH SCIENCE WEEK IS EARTH SCIENCE WEEK SUPPORTED BY October 13-19, 2019

FUTURE DATES October 11-17, 2020 October 10-16, 2021 October 9-15, 2022

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Calendar © 2019 American Geosciences Institute Earth Science Week staff: Edward Robeck, Geoff Camphire, Sequoyah McGee SM Cover illustration: K. Cantner PHILANTHROPIES PHILANTHROPIES Design: Brenna Tobler *Many thanks to Scott Selberg for his terrific Calendar Wizard InDesign script (©2015 Scott Selberg) Printing: Publication Printers, Colorado

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