2007 Essay Contest Finalist

Entry by Cody Byrd

Have you ever wondered what Tulsa and the surrounding area is doing to advance the field of Earth Science? You probably have not until now, right? Well, I’ll tell you; in Tulsa we have the Air and Space Museum, which has many planes and a few helicopters. It has a planetarium that is advanced for a planetarium. We have a zoo which has the Tulsa Zoo Conservation Program which is a group of Zoo staff, volunteers, and Zoo Friends members dedicated to advancing the ideals of reuse and recycling, resource and wildlife conservation, and conservation education. They are one of the leading conservation organizations in Oklahoma, and their efforts include conserving electricity, funding the transfer of endangered animals to insure species survival. We are the headquarters for The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and their Geoscience Center that has lots of historic geologic instruments such as barometers, gravity meters, magnetometers, and seismographs. The U.S. Geological Survey has made a series of detailed maps that could indicate that new sources of natural gas can be recovered economically from deep reservoirs, adding to America’s energy reserves. The Oklahoma Geological Survey Observatory which is in Tulsa County, south of Leonard is a geophysical observatory which finds, identifies, and records 30 to 167 earthquakes in Oklahoma each year, most of which cannot be felt by us. They also record about seven worldwide earthquakes per day. The more we study the earth the more that we can learn about our world. We can learn things about what has happened in the past and we can try to predict what will happen in the future. To better understand the importance of studying earth we can stay informed on what some people are doing in the field of Earth Science that is helping to change the world. So, did I leave anything out?