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]

Know Your Energy Costs Activity Source: National Energy Education Development Project. Adapted with permission. It takes energy to run the appliances and machines we use everyday. The national average commercial cost to use this energy is $0.10/kilowatt hour. In addition to the financial cost, there is also an environmental cost in the form of carbon emissions. The general rule of thumb is that every kilowatt- hour of electricity produces 1.6 pounds of carbon dioxide. [Read More]

Map-Making Basics Activity Source: U.S. Geological Survey, 2006. Adapted with permission. Background Maps are two-dimensional ways of representing information about the natural and built world from a “top-down” perspective. You are probably familiar with road maps that show where roads go and which roads intersect with others and where. You also may have seen weather maps, which show weather patterns across a specific geographic area, or political maps, which show where borders are for countries and areas within those countries. [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]

Model of a Well Activity Source: Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network, School of Natural Resources, by Marianne Bonnemier Background Groundwater is contained in the zone of saturation below the land surface. The top of this zone is known as the water table. People can tap into this source of water by drilling wells. The depth of the well and level of the water table greatly influences the wells productivity. Objective Demonstrate the relationship of groundwater to wells. [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 Oil and Gas Reservoirs Activity Source: Adapted with permission by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists from AGI’s EarthComm, Earth’s Natural Resources, pp. R65-R66. This activity will help you to understand some of the factors that petroleum geologists need to consider when deciding where to recommend drilling for oil. Since people use petroleum products for energy and as source materials for petrochemicals, it is important as citizen scientists to understand the science and technology behind the search for oil and natural gas. [Read More]