Geothermal Features in National Parks Activity Source: National Park Service Grade Levels: 4-9 Background Geothermal features are formed by heat from beneath the Earth’s surface, creating amazing sights like geysers, hot springs, volcanoes, and tar pits. Many of these features are now in protected areas designated as National Parks, allowing people to experience them in their natural state. These areas also help scientists study Earth’s processes, while conserving habitats for the unique ecosystems supported by geothermal features and promoting environmental education. [Read More]

Getting the Oil Out Activity Source: Society of Petroleum Engineers. Adapted with permission. Artificial lifting systems, or pumping units, are used to help pull oil out of reservoir rock and pump it up a well. A down hole pump in the well is connected to the pumping unit by steel rods, which are screwed together. The pump is activated from the up and down movement of the pumping unit on the surface. [Read More]

Greenhouse in a Beaker Activity Source: Adapted with permission by The NEED Project. Carbon is naturally found in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, itself is not considered a pollutant. The CO2 being released from burning fossil fuels was part of the atmosphere hundreds of millions of years ago before being captured by plants and sea organisms. Carbon atoms naturally cycle through the biosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the lithosphere in process known as the carbon cycle. [Read More]

How Natural Gas Forms Activity Source: American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Adapted with permission from American Geosciences Institute in collaboration with Project SEED. Think about the energy you use every day to cook, cool your home, or travel. For most of us, the main sources of this energy are fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. Whether used directly, as gasoline, heating oil, or natural gas, or to generate electricity (by burning coal), fossil fuels are a big part of the world’s energy picture. [Read More]

Locating Subsurface Energy Resources Activity Source: Society for Exploration Geophysicists Grade Levels: 6-12 Background Geophysical techniques are used to identify subsurface formations related to valuable energy resources, such as fossil fuels or geothermal sources, as well as rock layers that could be used for carbon sequestration. Each geophysical technique transmits a specific type of energy into the ground (e.g., electrical, magnetic, or mechanical) to create images of subsurface rock formations For example, seismic surveys send sound waves through the ground, and the reflection of these waves helps detect differences in the Earth’s subsurface (see video). [Read More]

Making Visible the Path of the Sun Activity Source: Adapted with permission by SEED. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This we know from personal observation. But have you ever thought about where the sun is in the sky at the same time each day? You might think the sun would appear at the same place at the same time each day. This would be true if Earth had no tilt and its orbit were a perfect circle. [Read More]

Mineral Electrical Conductivity Activity Source: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc. Adapted with permission. People must mine minerals to provide all kinds of materials that we depend on in our lives. For example, wires and circuit boards used in electronics are made of mined minerals. Copper, which is refined from rocks containing copper sulfide and copper oxide, is the most common mineral used in electronics because it is an excellent electrical conductor. [Read More]

Minerals’ Role in Sustainable Energy Sources Activity Source: The Mineralogical Society of America Grade Levels: 6-12 Background Certain minerals are called “Critical Materials for Energy” because they play essential roles in sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind, and in energy-storage devices, like batteries. But, how exactly do minerals help convert and store energy from the Sun and wind? Where do these minerals come from, and what is their path from the source to the final product? [Read More]

Modeling an Oil Reserve Activity Source: Adapted with permission by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists from AGI’s Earth System Science in the Community (EarthComm), 2005. Background Since 1970, oil and natural gas have provided more than half of the energy used each year in the United States to produce electricity, heat, transportation fuels, and many everyday products from balloons to vitamins. Oil and natural gas are forms of petroleum, a word that literally means “oily rock. [Read More]

Modeling Earthquake Waves Activity Source: American Geophysical Union. Adapted with permission from Investigating Earth Systems , American Geosciences Institute. An earthquake occurs when massive rock layers slide past each other. This motion makes enormous vibrations, which travel from the site of the earthquake in waves. The waves (seismic waves) travel all the way through the Earth. Seismologists can record these waves when they reach Earth’s surface using seismographs. Earthquakes generate three kinds of waves: Compressional waves (P waves) travel the fastest. [Read More]