GEO Podcast

In this episode, I talk about how volcanic eruptions can affect climate - by releasing ash, gas, and aerosols.  We talk about the role of CO2 and SO2 and what effect they may have.   I talked specifically about Pinatubo, Tambora, and the Laki eruptions. I also mention an activity available for GEOetc Members called Climeworld that members can download and use in their classrooms to show students h...

In this episode, I talk about the difference between the terms focus and epicenter.  What do the terms mean and how are they used?  How is the information about an earthquake's focus used?  How about the information about the epicenter of an earthquake? Visit our GEOetc Members Section - Over 100 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Supp...

In this episode, I talk about what is causing the Pacific Ring of Fire.   Why do 75% of all active volcanoes and 90% of all earthquakes happen around the edge of the Pacific Ocean? Visit our GEOetc Members Section - Over 100 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show

In this episode, I talk about diamonds - where they form, how they are brought to the surface and even about different colors and uses. Visit our Members Section - Over 100 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show

In this episode, I talk about index fossils - what are they and what makes one fossil better than another for dating layers in a sedimentary sequence.   I aven leave you pondering what human product would make a great index fossil. Visit our GEOetc  Members Section - Over 100 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show

In this episode, we talk about the main causes of landslides and provide examples - California and Thredbo, NSW, Australia.  What is the role of water?  What about trees and deforestation?   How can earthquakes be involved etc? This is a great introduction to landslides as a natural disaster. Support the show

Rocks can contain radioactive elements that breakdown (decay) over time at a set rate.  We can use this decay to work out the age of the rocks.  In this episode, we do a brief look at the process, and how we know it works. Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show

Where did the Theory of Plate Tectonics come from? How did it evolve? What started it all off and how did new evidence change the theory? Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show

What drives the movement of the Earth's huge lithospheric tectonic plates? In this episode, we talk about mantle convection currents and slab pull - the too well-accepted theories for what is driving Plate Tectonics. Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Don't miss a thing!   Join our email list. S...

Why do we see such variation in the sand around the world - white, yellow, black and green, and more!  What can the grains of sand tell us about the age of the sand?   And how can sand on an island that contains just black rocks have white sand?    This one is for the sand collectors! Support the show

Earth scientists in the field recognize that a sequence of rocks may be missing layers of rocks that represent a period of time.  We call those unconformities.  In this episode, we discuss what an unconformity is and the four main types of unconformities - angular, paraconformity, disconformity, and nonconformity. Don't miss a thing!   Join our email list. Support what I do to help you... Sup...

How do we know about the inside of the Earth?   Using earthquake waves and visitors from out of space (meteorites), we can see the layers and work out the chemistry of the layers that make up our planet. Visit us at GEOetc.com to learn more about our amazing planet! Support the show

Trilobites are amazing fossils!  They can be used for accurate correlation between sedimentary layers because they evolved rapidly, lived in almost all marine environments, and have exoskeletons that were easy to preserve.    Here is a link to the activities mentioned in the episode: Trilobite ID Trilobite (and other fossil) models Support the show

The Earth is made up of layers - and we can define those layers in two ways  - as being chemical (crust, mantle, core) or mechanical (lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core, inner core).  This episode explains the layers and why they are important for plate tectonics and more. Teachers can download a worksheet for their students to complete based on the content of this episode right he...

What is a glacier?  How is it formed?  Where can I find them and how are they classified? Support the show

A dike is a planar igneous intrusion that cuts through the existing rocks.  They have always fascinated me - and in this episode, I talk a little about them and why I think they are awesome! Support the show

Why does the island of Iceland exist?  Learn how two major geological phenomena occur together to make this amazing and unique place on our planet.  Plate Tectonics and Mantle Plumes interact to provide us with a beautiful island. Support the show

In this episode I discous how magma chemistry and water work together to create the massive explosive eruptions of Tonga (January 15th, 2022) and  Krakatoa (1883). Support the show

Hawaii is a wonderful place to see, learn and teach about aspects of Earth Science.  In this episode I mention six reasons Hawaii is a place to visit if you love Earth science. Support the show

Reducing the risk to people of volcanic eruptions is an important job for geoscientists.  In this episode, we talk about four tools geoscientists can use including earthquakes, deformation, gases, and well water temperatures. This would make a great introduction to students before having them do the Thunder Island volcano simulation activity. Interested in joining us on a trip?    Check out our fi...

Rivers are so important as they provide water for drinking and agriculture.   They are also important as they move mountains (over time) to the ocean!   In this episode, we talk about the basic morphology of rivers - bedrock and alluvial rivers as well as the concepts of young, mature, and old rivers.  It is a very basic introduction to ways of looking at rivers.   Interested in joining us on a tr...

The formation of Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) are so important as a resource of the element iron, but also as they tell us about how our atmosphere evolved some 2,500 million years ago.  In this episode, we talk about the major theory of the formation of BIFs as well as some alternative theories, and what BIF's can tell us about how the evolution of simple blue-green algae changed our Earth...

What are the six groups of natural geological resources that humans have learned to utilize to build our society into the form that we now live within?    Humans have been using water, ores, aggregates, energy, stones, and soil to live on Earth - and understanding them is so important to be able to keep using them in a sustainable way. This is a great introduction to natural resources. Interested...

The Earth's tectonic plates are made up of the lithosphere - that outer hard rock layer of the Earth.  In this episode, we talk about the lithosphere, the underlying asthenosphere, and the moho boundary between the crust and the upper mantle portion of the lithosphere.  And all in under 9 minutes! This is essential listening for students learning about Plate Tectonics! Interested in joining u...

You can also find GEO Podcast or all the major podcast capture platforms! (Go on...subscribe and not miss the new episodes) We all live on Earth's continental crust - and so it's the part of our planet we are most familiar with.  But do you know what makes this type of crust so special?  In this episode, we talk about the continental crust, what it is made up from, how thick it is, and w...