SITES OF INTEREST

An interactive web-based simulation activity, Earthquake, is available at:

http://www.sciencecourseware.com/eec/Earthquake/

The inquiry-based approach is designed to introduce the concepts of how an earthquake epicenter is located and how

the Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined. The activity offers instructors a powerful tool for the

assessment of learning outcomes either for individual students or an entire class. Middle school and high school

teachers who have used this activity with their students have submitted positive feedback and consider the

interactive activity as fun and exciting.

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1) STATE OF THE WORLD'S CITIES, UN, (suggested in Scout Report, Madison, WI), the site "...is both a working tool and reference manual, as well as an interesting review of the way cities are growing in both positive and negative ways. It is illustrated by a fascinating series of essays by leading journalists, writers and experts who explain how modern urban trends affect us in every day life. Published jointly by UN-HABITAT and Earthscan, The State of the World’s Cities 2004/2005 makes for essential reading by the widest possible audience.

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2) JAPANESE LANDSLIDE VIDEO: Ebaumsworld, (suggested by John Nelson, Central Michigan University), spectacular .WMV format video of a recent landslide in Japan that destroyed a road and produced a massive hillside scar.

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3) ATMOSPHERIC OPTICS: Les Cowley, (suggested by Lou Estey, Boulder, CO), high quality imagery of such visual spectacles as rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and more. The site is comprehensive. There are, for example, 9 different types of rainbows photographed. Short descriptions accompany each image.

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5) VIEWS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM PHOTO ARCHIVES, Calvin Hamilton, (suggested by Steve Kluge, Bedford, NY) one of the premier sites for discovering information about the solar system maintains a useful photo archive. Organized by target (asteroids to Venus) and topic (art to volcano), find great imagery to introduce a lecture. Be sure to view links showing earth images and extraterrestrial volcanic plumes.

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1) ANIMATIONS:

a) TOPOGRAPHIC PROFILES, University of Arizona, (suggested by Eric Cohen, Westhampton Beach, NY) "Click the profile lines to see a quicktime movie of the topographic profile for that region.[like Greenland, Africa's Rift Valley, and Marianas Trench]. Unfortunately, two interesting profiles, western U.S. and the Atlantic Basin, have dead links. The file sizes range from 3.2MB to 5.4MB.

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b) OXBOW LAKE FORMATION, from Wycombe, this Flash slide show renders a detailed five step analysis of oxbow lake formation. Because the whole process of oxbow lake formation is spread over five steps, it is easy to see how the lake forms.

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3) NEAT PICTURES: (VM)

a) Eskers of Southwestern Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia, Canada, Department of Natural Resources, provides a virtual field trip made up of a series of three aerial photographs, a close up of cross-bedding and a diagram with a brief explanation of some glacial formations round out this virtual field trip. VA

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b) Push Moraine: National Snow and Ice Data Center, D.K. Handy photograph at the World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder, a 1914 photograph shows the results of a surge of the Columbia Glacier. There are some trees clearly toppled by the advancing glacier.

4) GOOD READ:

Highlights: Discoveries in the Earth Sciences, AGI, "includes nearly 40 stories covering a variety of disciplines in the earth sciences [Solid Earth, Resources,Life Through Time,Water and Climate, Beyond Earth ] — all aimed at giving you a snapshot of some big news and trends in the field. Some disciplines are new to the issue, some overlap with one another, and some continue from where they left off last year. An interesting thread that runs through many of the stories is the enormous impact the Mars exploration missions are having on the earth science landscape."

7) TRIVIA:

How many pounds of minerals are required by the average person in a year? over 48,000 pounds

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