#235 What was it like to be there? – clues in sediment which bring an environment to life
Bringing a depositional environment to life using evidence from sedimentary...
Category: Earth Energy/Processes
#237 Questions for any rock face 9: metamorphic rock
What questions about metamorphism might be asked at any metamorphic rock...
#215 Karstic scenery – in 60 seconds
Modelling the chemical weathering of...
#94 Why do igneous rocks have different crystal sizes? (ELI+)
Simulating crystallisation from a melt at different rates of...
#217 What drives the plates?
Using a pupil model to demonstrate that slab pull is the main plate-driving...
#91 Wegener’s ‘Continental drift’ meets Wilson’s ‘Plate tectonics’ (ELI+)
How Wegener’s continental drift evidence matches up with evidence for plate...
#214 Weathering limestone – with my own breath!
A classroom demonstration of how limestone is...
#46 Weathering – rocks breaking up and breaking down
Matching pictures and descriptions of weathered rocks with the processes of weathering that formed...
#89 Volcano in the lab (ELI+)
Modelling igneous processes in wax and...
#145 Volcano and dykes/jelly and cream – radial dykes (ELI+)
Intruding cream radial ‘dykes’ into jelly ‘volcanoes’ until they...
#16 Valley in 30 seconds – pulling rocks apart
Investigating faulting in an empty...
#99 Unfair ‘build your own crystal’ race (ELI+)
A crystal building ‘race’ showing the greater the time available, the larger the...
#207 Teacher – ‘What’s the difference between weathering and erosion?’
Addressing common misconceptions about weathering and...
#51 Squeezed out of shape
Detecting the distortion after rocks have been affected by Earth...
#38 See how they run
Investigate why some lavas flow further and more quickly than...
#179 Sedimentary structures – sole marks
Evidence from the base of a sedimentary...
#184 Sedimentary structures – load casts
Interpreting odd bumps on the bases of...
#181 Sedimentary structures – imbrication
Which way did the river...
#177 Sedimentary structures – graded bedding
Make your own graded bed - one depositional event, but with coarse to fine...
#195 Sedimentary structures – cross-bedding and ancient currents
Using cross bedding to find the directions of ancient...
#194 Sedimentary structures – cross-bedding and ‘way-up’
Using cross bedding to determine the way-up of a bed of sedimentary...
#66 Sandcastles and slopes
What makes sandcastles and slopes...
#11 Sand ripple marks in a washbowl
How asymmetrical ripple marks form in...
#12 Sand ripple marks in a tank
How symmetrical ripple marks form in...
#29 Salt of the Earth
Who can make the biggest salt...
#230 Rolling, hopping floating and invisibly moving along
Investigating how sediment is transported by...
#21 Rock, rattle and roll
Investigating the resistance of rocks to erosion by shaking in a plastic...
#88 Plate tectonics through the window (ELI+)
What might you see through a window or porthole at an active plate...
#87 Plate riding (ELI+)
Role-play plate-surfing to ask: ‘How is the plate you live on moving...
#82 Partial melting – simple process, huge global impact (ELI+)
How partial melting, coupled with plate tectonics, has changed the chemistry of our...
#84 Model a spreading ocean floor offset by transform faults
A model of the transform fault ‘steps’ in oceanic ridges and their magnetic...
#13 Mighty river in a small gutter
Sediments on the...
#43 Metamorphism – that’s Greek for ‘change of shape’ isn’t it?
What changes can we expect when rocks are put under great pressure in the...
#121 Merry waves – all year round (ELI+)
Modelling how the energy of seismic waves is...
#118 Margarine mountain-building
Making mountains every time you make a...
#86 Mantle plume in a beaker (ELI+)
Modelling processes at a constructive (divergent) plate...
#27 Make your own rock
Investigating how loose sediment may be stuck together to form a...
#81 Magnetic stripes (ELI+)
Modelling the symmetrical magnetic pattern of the rocks of the sea...
#93 James Hutton – or ‘Mr. Rock Cycle’? (ELI+)
Thinking towards the rock cycle, the Hutton...
#206 Isostasy 2 (ELI+)
‘Bouncing back’ after the...
#205 Isostasy 1 (ELI+)
Modelling the state of ‘balance’ of the Earth’s outer...
#180 Ice power (ELI+)
Freezing water in a syringe to measure...
#208 Hotspots (ELI+)
Modelling the movement of a plate across the...
#9 Himalayas in 30 seconds!
Making a miniature fold mountain range in an empty...
#60 Grinding and gouging
How moving ice can grind away...
#122 Fluids, friction and failure
How can unseen fluids affect the movement along faults and glacier...
#210 Falling slopes
Modelling how rock cliffs and slopes can...
#104 Evidence from the deep freeze
Photographs of glacial and periglacial...
#61 Dust bowl
Investigating wind...
#117 Danger – quicksands!
Why do some rocks give way when it rains...
#47 Cracking the clues
Making your own cracking clues to the Earth’s...
#71 Cracking apart (ELI+)
Simulating the weathering or rocks in a desert...
#83 Continents in collision (ELI+)
Modelling processes at a destructive (convergent) plate...
#198 Continental split – the opening of the Atlantic Ocean
Modelling how the continents moved, from Pangaea to...
#85 Continental jigsaw puzzle (ELI+)
Can you reassemble a supercontinent from a ‘jigsaw...
#148 Collapsing volcanoes – cauldron subsidence (ELI+)
Forming circular ‘cauldron subsidence’ in jelly...
#73 Changing coastlines
Investigating how wave erosion, transportation and deposition can change the shapes of...
#126 Bubble-mania
The bubbling clues to magma viscosity and...
#100 ‘Crystallisation’ in a pudding dish
Simulating the formation and growth of crystal...
#120 Banana benders
Using a banana to simulate geological...
