The Making of the Grand Canyon

Here is a short explanation by a National Park ranger on how the Grand Canyon was formed. This video clip was shown in class on Thursday.

Grand Canyon Sunrise

This music video was shown in class on Wednesday. Recorded inside the Inner Gorge of the Grand Canyon, this video features some incredible canyon acoustics and natural features.

This Week in Earth Science: March 30-April 3

• No school this week due to Spring Break! I'm looking forward to hearing about the adventures of any student who will be traveling out of the region. Hopefully those of you who are traveling will get a chance to see a geological site, visit a museum or a park, experience a natural place, find an interesting rock or shell, etc. while you are away. Share your photos, brochures, maps, specimens, etc. with us when you return and earn some bonus points. The Upper Peninsula, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois, Alaska are just some of the destinations I know of already.
• The Redoubt Volcano in Alaska has been active and erupting ash. Visit the USGS Alaska Volcano Observatory's Redoubt Volcano web page for the latest reports!

Halite Crystal Contest Results

Here are the much awaited results of our Halite Crystal Project contest. Students' crystals were inspected and weighed in this past Friday during class. The classroom champ, runner-ups and overall champ received bonus points added to their total scores. Congratulations to all of the winners.
• 1st hour - Alex P @ 87.5 grams (runners-up Alex H. @ 39 g and Jenna S. @ 28.6 g)
• 2nd hour - Chase G. @ 59.6 grams (runners-up Beth W. @ 57.2 g and Logan G. @ 51.1 g)
• 4th hour - Isaac B. @ 17.1 grams (runners-up Joe L. @ 14.7 g and Kayla C. @ 14.1 g)
• 5th hour - Torryn M. @ 24.7 grams (runners-up Austin S. @ 21.2 g and Bobby H. @ 15.6 g)
• 6th hour - Abby S. @ 20.5 grams (runners-up Brent J. @ 9.2 g and Forrester D. @ 7.0 g)
• 7th hour - Matt N. @ 36.4 grams (runners-up Mike M. @ 33.1 g and Lindsey M. @ 29.6)

The Week Ahead in Earth Science: March 23-27

• Monday will bring more of Paul Sereno's SuperCroc Video in our quest for examples of paleontological inferences.
• Tuesday class begins a ten day warm-up series of science podcasts from the NOVA website. The Index Fossil Logic Lab will complete the remainder of the hour.
• On Wednesday and Thursday will include lessons on the geology and paleontology of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, which will include demonstrations, discussions, video, music and slides. Students will complete a Grand Canyon study guide to help them prepare for a quiz on Friday.
• Friday, the last day of school before spring break, the Grand Canyon quiz will be given. The four eras of geologic time will be discussed after the quiz.

Paleo Sites to See

Visit the La Brea Tar Pits of Los Angeles, California on-line to see some awesome examples of tarred fossils like Sabertoothed Cats and Dire Wolves that became trapped in pools of liquid asphalt and preserved.

Check out SuperCroc's home on the internet and learn more about the amazing Sarcosuchus imperator fossil.

Extinct rhinos, camels, three-toed horses have been found at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Park of Nebraska. The animals were killed and buried by ash from an enormous volcanic eruption.

Don't forget to read all about Michigan's state fossil, the American Mastodon, as well as Michigan's state stone (which is a fossil too).

The Week Ahead in Earth Science: March 16-20

• Monday begins the week with the Geology Unit Test.
• On Tuesday Paleontology Vocab is due and the Geologic Time Quiz will be assigned. This self-paced quiz will help students learn the major eras and periods of geologic time. Students will have several weeks to take and retake this quiz as needed for success. Ten types of fossils will be shown and discussed during the hour as well.
• Wednesday will be the last day for the warm-up Periodic Tables. These will be collected and graded. Students will be analyzing fossils in a lab and making scientific inferences about them.
• Part I of Paul Sereno's "SuperCroc" special will be shown on Thursday. Students will be asked to identify scientific inferences that appear in the film.
• The Halite Crystal Project is due on Friday. Crystals that qualify for the bonus contest will be inspected and weighed to find the class champions and the grand champion.

The Week Ahead in Earth Science: March 9-13

• The "Michigan's Longest Cave" article is due on Monday. Time will spent on the 90% Nine Mineral Quiz in class.
• Tuesday begins "Test Fest" at BCHS. The Explore Test will be taken by 9th graders in the morning and a volleyball tournament will be held in the afternoon.
• A special Herbert Dow Halite Lab is scheduled for Wednesday.
• Geology Review Questions will be due on Thursday followed by a review session for bonus points.
• Friday will be the Geology Unit Test. It is also the due date for the 90% Nine Mineral Quiz. Paleontology Vocab will be assigned for Monday. The Halite Crystal Project is due one day from today.

Asteroid Flyby

Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 DD45 is about to fly past Earth only 73,000 km away (0.2 AU). The space rock is about 35 meters in diameter, similar in size to the Tunguska impactor of 1908. At closest approach on March 2nd, around 1400 UT (6 a.m. PST), 2009 DD45 will speed through the constellation Virgo shining as brightly as an 11th magnitude star. [This report was found on SpaceWeather.com]