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Earthscape

If you were millions of years old, how would you look? Time would age your nose, eyes, and mouth. Your skin would become a different texture and color.

The earth is no different. Its features, called landforms, are always being shaped by time. Ice, water, and wind change the surface of the planet. The elements chip away at our rocks and soil.

Ready to explore? Watch out for some wild weather! To start, pick an activity below.

Big Chill
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Changing Earth
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Caving It
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Sand Sculpture
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Big Chill

Imagine seeing cold, white mountains creeping toward you. Sound like a horror movie? Actually, they are glaciers, which are bodies of ice that have increased over thousands (or millions) of years.

Glaciers keep on the move. When the earth's climate gets warmer, glaciers melt and retreat. When the climate is colder, glaciers collect more snow and move forward. Their heavy weight makes them advance. Sort of like a snowball that keeps getting bigger!

First Discover

Glaciers come in all shapes and sizes. In this activity, you will learn about the different types. When you get to the website:

  1. Use the scroll bar on the right of your screen to move down the page.
  2. Look for these four glaciers with pictures: ice shelf, mountain glacier, cirque glacier, and tidewater glacier.
  3. See how each glacier is different.
  4. Use the Back button on your browser to come back here.

Now visit What Types of Glaciers Are There?

Now Go To It!

Print out the Ice of All Shapes Worksheet . It's a matching game. Draw a line connecting the type of glacier with its description.

If you're up for it, answer four extra questions about glaciers on your worksheet. Can you believe ice comes in so many shapes?

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Changing Earth

It's not easy being a planet! Earth has been forced to change again and again, especially from the power of water. Earth is unusual because there is more liquid on its surface than on other planets.

First Discover

Water shapes the land by cutting away at the earth and depositing the debris elsewhere. You'll soon see what water can do. When you get to each website:

  1. Look closely at each picture to see how water shapes the land.
  2. Imagine how these places looked before they were changed.
  3. Use the Back button on your browser to return here.

Now take your tour! Visit Grand Canyon to see a narrow, deep gorge cut open by water.

See Alluvial Fan, which forms when a stream carries soil off a steep slope and deposits it onto flatter land.

Look at Valleys , which can be in different forms depending on what shaped them.

Now Go to It!

Think about a landform where you live. It could be a mountain, valley, river, or even a hill. Imagine water had somehow made the landform change. How would it be different? Print out the Landform Worksheet and get busy!

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Caving It

Can scientists find clues on extraterrestrial life and a cure for cancer in caves? Some think so!

Caves are carved out of rock (usually limestone) by the action of water and carbonic acid. Water also makes fantastic decorations from limestone deposits. Explore things rarely seen by clicking on a cave creation below. When you get there:

  1. Remember these pictures take time to download, but they're worth the wait.
  2. Use the Back button on your browser to return here.
  3. Repeat steps #1 and #2 until you have seen all the pictures.

Bottlebrushes
Death Coral
Folia
Gypsum Flowers
Rimstone

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Sand Sculpture

Wind is nature's mover and shaker! Given time, it can do amazing things. Sand dunes are some results of wind's hard work.

Sand dunes can be easily destroyed. Yet without them, harsh winds and oceans would hurt wildlife, plants, and people. They act as natural bodyguards.

Click on the pictures below to see some beautiful examples of "sandscapes.":

  1. Move down the page (using the scroll bar on your screen) to look at the picture.
  2. Look closely at the shapes and patterns wind makes.
  3. Use the Back button on your browser to return here.
  4. Repeat steps #1, #2, and #3 until you have seen all the pictures.

Sand Dune Pano
Spinifex & Sand Dune
Eucla Sand Dune

Then read Beach Net to learn why these sand wonders should be taken care of.

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