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.