Earth Science

Links verified 3/21/2021

Astronomy | Biology | Chemistry | Earth Science | Physics | Science Fair




Dinosaurs | Earthquakes & Volcanoes | Fossils & Geologic History | Gems & Minerals
Oceanography | Plate Tectonics | Time | Weather & Climate

1. Analemma - Have you ever seen this figure-8 on a globe and wondered what it is? This set of pages will clear that up for you.
2. Clocks in the Rocks you may also find useful information on the subject by looking at Clocks in Rocks: Isotopes and Age of Earth
3. Dinosaurs
   1. Curse of T. Rex - a NOVA program
   2. Cretaceous Dinosaurs || Jurassic Dinosaurs
   3. Dino Buzz - current topics concerning dinosaurs
   4. Dinosaurs : Facts and Fiction from USGS
   5. Dinosaur Information Sheets - from ZoomDinosaurs.com
   6. Dinosaur pages on a more elementary level can be found at ZoomDinosaur.com
   7. Dinosauria: Truth is Stranger than Fiction - Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, California.
   8. Dinosaurium - links from the Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum in Canada
   9. Haddonfield, N. J. - Site of Historic 1858 Dinosaur Find
   10. Top 10 Misconceptions about Dinosaurs [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
   11. Walking with Dinosaurs from the BBC
   12. What Killed the Dinosaurs? - from PBS
4. Earth from Space : presented by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Scientific Visualization Studio - Be sure to visit the " Great Zooms, " or " Great Zooms for 17 U.S. Cities. "
5. Earth Quiz - a fun earth quiz that’s perfect for kids; learn interesting trivia and answer a range of questions on topics such as rocks, air, deserts, oceans, mountains, gas, volcanoes and mor 
6. Earth Systems on the Middle School Earth Science Explorer page. Two excellent examples of what you will find there are; plate tectonics , and geologic time .
7. Earthquakes and Volcanoes
   1. 10 Largest Earthquakes in the World : 1900 to 1994 from the National Earthquake Information Center. [This expired link is available through the Wayback Machine Internet Archive. If the page doesn't load quickly click on Impatient? at the bottom right of the page.]
   2. Big Trouble in Earthquake Country - Designed for grades 9 -12, this interactive lesson should take about 4 hours. Real-time data collection is emphasized, and teachers should be prepared to provide maps of the area. A hypothetical earthquake will occur and local consequences must be anticipated.
   3. Earth's Active Volcanoes by Geographic Region
   4. Layers of the Earth - flash animation
   5. Pillow Lava - Look below the two pictures of pillow lava. Make sure you visit the related video clips and the related virtual sites .
   6. Recent Central U.S. Earthquakes - Center for Earthquake Research and Information,.a Tennessee Board of Regents Center of Excellence at the University of Memphis devoted to understanding the causes and consequences of earthquakes and the structure and evolution of the continental lithosphere.
   7. Savage Earth from PBS
   8. Savage Earth animations - Animations include hot zones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis
   9. TCAP links at Internet4Classrooms
   10. Tsunamis - How the Asian Tsunami happened
   11. Ultimate List of Volcano Teaching Resources - a list of websites that offer information, ideas for classroom activities, printable posters and worksheets around the topic of volcanoes
   12. Volcano World - The Web's Premier Source of Volcano Info. This site is hosted by the University of North Dakota.
   13. Volcanoes: Nature's Fury - from National Geographic
   14. Volcano Hazards Program - from the USGS.
   15. Volcanoes Page from the Michigan Technological University
8. The Edwards Aquifer is a unique groundwater system and one of the most prolific artesian aquifers in the world.
9. Fossils and Geologic History
   1. The Age of the Earth
   2. Amber: Window to the Past - Click on different pieces of amber to find out what is captured inside and what clues the fossilized remains provide about ancient ecosystems.
   3. Evolution from PBS
   4. Evolution: Theory and History - including journey into the world of phylogenic systematics.
   5. Extinctions from PBS
   6. Fantastic Fossil Finds - Burgess Shale, LaBrea tar pits, Solnhofen Quarry, and Subtropical Eocene Fossil Forests of the North
   7. Fossil News - from Science Daily
   8. Geologic Time and the age of the earth.
   9. Geology and Geologic Time - General history of the science, links to each of the eras and the life in them.
   10. History of Flight - Pterosaurs, Bird Evolution, Insect Flight and Archaeopteryx
   11. Horse Evolution
   12. Human Fossil Database - browse or search the database, or use their timeline
   13. Invertebrates - Gastropoda & Cephalopoda
   14. Life Has a History - an educational module sponsored by the National Science Foundation (select level 3 for 9-12)
   15. Microscopic fossils - Foraminifera & Arcellaceans
   16. Museum of Paleontology - posted by University of California, Berkley
   17. Paleogeography Through Geologic Time
   18. Paleontology Without Walls - Introduction to the UCMP Virtual Exhibits
   19. The Pleistocene - 1.8 million to 11,000 years ago
   20. Pleistocene Animals of the Midwestern U.S.
   21. Timelines - Travel back to different time periods in the history of the earth. Vivid, fleshed-out reproductions of the extinct creatures appear in scenes depicting their environments as they might have been millions of years ago. 
   22. Trilobite : A guide to the order of Trilobites
10. Gems and Minerals
    1. Crystallography and Mineral Crystal Systems - a nine part explanation that's very complete.
    2. Gem and Mineral collection from the Smithsonian. Almost four dozen of the most beautiful naturally occurring minerals or polished gemstones from the collection.
    3. Gemstone Gallery offers good information about the mineral to accompany excellent pictures.
    4. Gemstone Index - an alphabetical listing, you can also search by color or by birthstone
    5. Mindat.org is the largest mineral database on the internet. Currently there are 11,185 different minerals, varieties and synonyms listed, and information on 159,326 mineral occurrences worldwide, from 29,868 different sites.
    6. The Mineral Gallery - A service of Amethyst Galleries,Inc., "The First Internet Rock Shop"
    7. Minerals - Mix and Match - identify, quizzes and more.
    8. TheImage.com offers their own Mineral Gallery with good information about the mineral to accompany the picture.
    9. Mineralogy Database in HTML Format. This mineral database contains more than 5,000 pages of mineral data. There are 3,968 individual mineral species descriptions with links
    10. Rocks, Minerals, and Soil - Play this game and learn about characteristics of rocks, minerals, and soil.
11. Geography4Kids - a mixture of Earth Science and Social Studies topics
12. Geologic Information from the Unites States Geological Survey (USGS)
13. Geysers and Earth's Plumbing System
14. Glaciers
    
    1. Glaciers in the News - from the USGS
    2. Illustrated Glossary of Alpine Glacial Landforms - Click on a feature to see an illustrated example of that feature 
    3. Online Glacier Photograph Database - The National Snow and Ice Data Center
    4. The Retreat of Glaciers in the Midwestern U.S. (18,000 to 8,000 Years Ago) - five maps trace the retreat of the glaciers of the last Ice Age
    5. World Glacier Inventory
15. Globes
    1. A Simple Globe - from Canon's Bubble Jet Printer Creative Park
16. Hours of Daylight - use this java applet to determine the number of hours of daylight for any location and date.
17. Lesson Plans
    1. Teacher developed earth and space science lessons and classroom activities posted by the University of California
18. National Science Digital Library - serving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education
19. Natural Hazards Support System - from USGS 
20. NOVA - an index of previous NOVA exhibits on the subject Earth
21. Oceanography
    1. Cleaner Oceans - A Secondary School Kit on the United Nations: International Maritime Organization (IMO)
    2. Geological Oceanography - pictures posted for a college course
    3. Global Sea floor Topography from Satellite Altimetry from NOAA
    4. Guide to Sea Turtle Nesting Season - free printables
    5. Killer Wave: Tsunami - from National Geographic Kids
    6. El Nino sites -
       1. El Nino Theme Page : Accessing Distributed Information Related to El Nino
       2. Tropical Atmosphere Ocean - a place where your students can gather real time data
       3. Nova On-Line Adventure featuring El Nino.
    7. Ocean Acidification is a Big Problem - here's why
    8. Ocean Floor Topography - This image is just over 500 Kb but it is worth the download time.
    9. Sea Surface Temperature - current data
    10. Sea Surface Temperature Imagery - Ocean Remote Sensing from Johns Hopkins University
22. Plate Tectonics
    1. Animations Plate Tectonics animation
    2. Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics - [20 slides] PowerPoint show
    3. This Dynamic Earth - The story of Plate Tectonics from the USGS
    4. Earth's Interior & Plate Tectonics - covers the following: The Earth's Interior, The Lithosphere & Plate Tectonics, Oceanic Lithosphere, Continental Lithosphere and Plate Tectonics.
    5. Hell's Crust: Our Ever Changing Planet - from the PBS Savage Earth series, several good animations can be found at this site.
    6. History - Plate Tectonics: The Rocky History of an Idea
    7. Major Tectonic Plates of the World - The earth's surface is broken into seven large and many small moving plates clearly labeled on this map
    8. Main Types of Plate Boundaries - good illustration from the USGS
    9. Mechanisms
    10. Moving Slabs - simple tectonic plate map from USGS
    11. Paleomap Earth History maps
    12. Paleomap VR animations
    13. Plate tectonics animations - produced for the US Geological Survey video Secrets in Stone. They have been converted to animated gifs for web display 
    14. Plate Tectonics map and a description of the three types of boundaries.
    15. Plate Tectonic Movement Visualizations - index of a large number of resources 
    16. Plate Tectonic Puzzle - lesson plan including puzzle pieces to cut out
    17. Plate Tectonics Quiz - ten multiple-choice questions from Geography4Kids
    18. Plate Tectonics Quiz - twelve multiple-choice questions, each on a separate page
    19. Plate Tectonics Quiz - press Start then click on the named part of the drawing - his is hard! or
    20. Plate Tectonics Quiz - twenty multiple-choice questions from Glencoe Science  
    21. Plate Tectonic Reconstruction Service - In this section you can calculate plate tectonic reconstructions of any age back to 150 My.
    22. Recent Earthquakes: Last 8 to 30 days - from USGS
    23. Savage Earth animations - Animations include hot zones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis
    24. Science Odyssey: You Try It: Plate Tectonics - A hands-on exercise about plate tectonics and earthquakes from PBS. (requires Shockwave plug-in) or
    25. Seismic Waves - watch an animation and then take a quiz
    26. Small Animation - single small graphic showing plate movement through time
    27. Subduction - the birth place of a volcanic mountain range [good animation]
    28. Teaching about Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics - plan for a virtual journey to the earth's center
    29. This Dynamic Earth - The story of Plate Tectonics from the USGS
23. Saving tomorrow's world - An Intermediate School Kit on the United Nations: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
24. Science Education Gateway posted by the Lawrence Hall of Science has a stated goal of providing science teachers in grades 4-12 with Earth and Space Science resources and classroom activities that use the Internet.
25. Scientific Visualization Studio from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. This is their image wall page.
26. Sea & Sky: a site dedicated to the last two great frontiers
27. Search for Ice and Snow - Designed for grades 4 - 12, students will use Earth images to try to find places on Earth where there is ice and snow. Many links are provided to guide students to places where Space Shuttle images can be found. Teachers will need to provide a world map for students to mark on.
28. Seasons - find exactly when the seasons start for any year from 1902 to 2102 with this java applet
29. Seasons, the Equinox and Solistices - from the National Weather Service
30. Seasons, Equinoxes, Solstices and Climate - explanation with good diagrams
31. SETI Information posted by the SETI Institute - information on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
32. Solar Cookers
    1. Build a Solar Cooker - plans for several cookers
    2. The "Minimum" Solar Box Cooker - A great solar oven you can build quickly from two cardboard boxes
    3. How to build a solar hot dog cooker -
    4. Solar Cooking Archive
    5. Sun activities for Kids - make a hot dog cooker from an oatmeal box
33. Sundials - Make your own sundial (if you live in South Africa). Even if you can not print a template for your location, you can find some good sundial information there.
34. Sundial - from Canon's Bubble Jet Printer Creative Park
35. Then and Now - A Science Odyssey takes you on a journey through the most spectacular 100 years in the history of science and technology.
    1. Mysteries of the Universe; Physics and Astronomy
    2. Origins; Earth and Life Sciences
36. The Water Cycle - US Geological Survey's Water Cycle - one of the most complete explanation of the cycle
37. Water Cycle - Excellent resource.
38. Water Science - US Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science for Schools web site! They offer information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.
39. WaterWatch - Current water resources conditions - Map of real-time stream flow compared to historical stream flow for the day of the year (United States)
40. Weather & Climate sites
    1. Ask the Weather Dude has several quizzes for you to test your weather knowledge.
    2. Atmospheric Pressure - the force exerted by the weight of air
    3. Centre for Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Cambridge
    4. Classroom Activities which introduce a variety of fundamental topics in meteorology
    5. Climate and Weather Unit - In this lesson, students become familiar with weather terminology and different representations of data as they explore various on-line weather sites. They will be given an opportunity to practice using and interpreting data, while determining the effects of the time of day, time of year, as well as on temperature.
    6. Climographs
       1. How to Read a Climograph - Every place on Earth has weather. However, different places on Earth have different types of "typical" weather. A quick way to get an idea of the climate of a particular place is to look at a "climate-graph," or "climograph."
       2. Climographs of Selected U.S. Cities - A climograph plots monthly average temperature and precipitation for some location. It provides a quick way of characterizing the climate of a particular place. To view a climograph for one of the U.S. cities listed, click on the city name or the corresponding dot on the map.
       3. Climate Information - a source of raw data that your students might use to make their own climograph
       4. Interactive Climate Map - world climate or USA climate available at this site
       5. U.S. Climate at a Glance - from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina
       6. World Climate - What the weather is normally like for tens of thousands of places worldwide! WorldClimate.com contains over 85,000 records of world climate data (historical weather averages)
    7. Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    8. The Earth-Atmosphere-Sun System and Surface Temperature - using a global energy balance model to calculate mean global surface temperature.
    9. Earth Temperature Up or Down? - How could the globe be warming and not warming at the same time? 
    10. Hottest Temperature on Earth see also the Coldest Temperature on Earth
    11. Hurricanes
        1. Hurricane Archive - Detailed tracking charts and info for all Atlantic tropical cyclones since 1886 at Weather Underground
        2. Hurricane Center - lets you keep track of current tropical storms or get information about past storms.
           
           
    12. The National Weather Service National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) - Graphical Forecasts - This map shows forecast temperatures for the US, normally updated every hour. This is an experimental product of the National Digital Forecast Database, produced by the National Weather Service. Play around with this site for a while, you will find a wealth of real time data here.
    13. Online Climate Data and Weather Observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). You will find access to raw data which your students could use to complete a project. Links to satellite and radar are also provided from the page.
    14. Online Meteorology Guide - a collection of web-based instructional modules
    15. Reading Weather Maps - features to look for on weather maps to make a forecasts
    16. Storm Prediction Center - timely and accurate watch and forecast products/information dealing with tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, lightning, wildfires, and winter weather for the United States to protect lives and property
    17. Temperature World - temperature news, resources, and links
    18. Tornado Project Online gathers, compiles, and makes tornado information available to tornado and severe weather enthusiasts, the meteorological community 
    19. Tornado Facts and Information - from National Geographic
    20. USA Today Weather
    21. The Weather Channel
    22. The Weather Dude provides many weather links and discussion of topics. You can even find weather songs (you will need Real Audio).
    23. What Forces Affect Out Weather? - A complete weather unit from Annenberg/CPB
    24. What's Up With the Weather? - from PBS
    25. WW2010 - the World Weather 2010 Project features online guides
    
    
    

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