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Rocks and Minerals Interactive

Rocks and Minerals Interactive

Earth's crust is made up of many different types of rocks. Over long periods of time, many rocks change shape and types as they are transformed by wind, water, pressure and heat. All rocks contain one of more minerals.

Crystals and Gems Interactive

Crystals and Gems Interactive

Crystals are found everywhere. Most rocks are made of them, and most sandy beaches are actually billions of broken crystals of quartz.

Geology.com

Geology.com

News and Information About Geology and Earth Science

Geography4Kids

Geography4Kids

This site has an introduction to the earth sciences that includes topics on the Earth's structure, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere (for a start).

Interactives - Dynamic Earth

Interactives - Dynamic Earth

Earth’s Structure, Plate Tectonics, Plates and Boundaries, Slip, Slide and Collide.

Structure of the Earth Interactive

Structure of the Earth Interactive

The Earth is made up of many rocky layers ...

Tectonic Plates Interactive

Tectonic Plates Interactive

Earth's surface appears to be still, but it is actually constantly on the move. Its outer shell is made up of huge slabs of moving rock, called tectonic plates.

Earth in 250 Million Years

Earth in 250 Million Years

Earth's continents are constantly in motion, and by running the tape forwards and backwards we can figure out where they were in the past – and where they might go in the future.

Rock Cycle Interactive

Rock Cycle Interactive

The rock cycle is the long, slow journey of rocks down from Earth's surface and them back up again. Rocks often change during this process.

Interactives - The Rock Cycle

Interactives - The Rock Cycle

Types of Rocks, How Rocks Change and The Rock Cycle Diagram.

How to Identify the 3 Major Types...

How to Identify the 3 Major Types...

In geology, pictures of rocks can be used to help you best determine which of the three major types a particular rock belongs to: igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic. By comparing your rock sample with photographic examples, you can identify key characteristics such as how the rock was formed, what minerals and other materials it contains, and where the rock may have come from.

Rock Pictures National Geographic

Rock Pictures National Geographic

See pictures of different rock types (sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic) from National Geographic.

Oresome Resources

Oresome Resources

OresomeResources provides free educational resources and teacher professional development to assist the teaching and learning of minerals and energy.

Shaping the Earth Australian Museum

Shaping the Earth Australian Museum

What makes the Earth unique? Where does it fit in the Solar System and, ultimately, the universe? Take a look inside the Earth and find out what it is made from and how it is structured. Look at the processes that shape the Earth.

Rocks National Geographic

Rocks National Geographic

Rocks are so common that most of us take them for granted—cursing when we hit them with the garden hoe or taking advantage of them to drive in tent pegs on summer camping trips. But what exactly is a rock?

Times the Earth Tried to Swallow Us

Times the Earth Tried to Swallow Us

Sinkholes—those terrifying natural phenomena known for gulping down unsuspecting houses, bridges, or even Corvettes—have been a hot topic in the news lately. Most of these newsworthy cave-ins are of the "cover-collapse" variety, in which soil beneath the surface begins to shift downward, leaving behind an increasingly large air pocket beneath a thin bridge of soil that manages to hold together until one day it doesn't, and suddenly: sinkhole.

NASA Earth Observatory

NASA Earth Observatory

The Earth Observatory’s mission is to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and climate models.

50 Interesting Facts About The Earth

50 Interesting Facts About The Earth

Alien worlds may be all the rage, with their mystique and promise, but the orb we call home, planet Earth, has all the makings for a jaw-dropping blockbuster movie: from the drama of explosive volcanoes, past meteor crashes and catastrophic collisions between rocky plates to the seeming fantasy of the ocean's deep abysses swirling with odd life and tales of the coldest, hottest, deepest, highest and all-out extreme spots.

BBC Earth

BBC Earth

Earth comes to life with stunning clips from the BBC's television archive. There is a lot to watch: See Mount St Helens erupt, the Earth form, and glaciers shrink.

Planet Earth National Geographic

Planet Earth National Geographic

arth, our home planet, is the only planet in our solar system known to harbor life. All of the things we need to survive are provided under a thin layer of atmosphere that separates us from the uninhabitable void of space. Earth is made up of complex, interactive systems that are often unpredictable. Air, water, land, and life—including humans—combine forces to create a constantly changing world that we are striving to understand.

Geologic Time Scale

Geologic Time Scale

Take a journey back through the history of the Earth — jump to a specific time period using the time scale below and examine ancient life, climates, and geography. You might wish to start in the Cenozoic Era (65.5 million years ago to the present) and work back through time, or start with Hadean time (4.6 to 4 billion years ago) and journey forward to the present day — it's your choice.

Death Valley's 'sailing stones'?

Death Valley's 'sailing stones'?

Professor Ralph Lorenz, a planetary scientist, believes the rocks become encased in ice during the winter, then as the lake bed thaws and becomes muddy, the ice allows the rock to 'float' on the mud - making them easily blown around by strong desert winds.

15 Most Amazing Landscapes ...

15 Most Amazing Landscapes ...

Shaped and sculpted over millions of years, these stunning landscapes and rock formations hold invaluable clues to Earth's past and future.

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park, a World Heritage Site, encompasses 1,218,375 acres and lies on the Colorado Plateau in northwestern Arizona. The land is semi-arid and consists of raised plateaus and structural basins typical of the southwestern United States. Drainage systems have cut deeply through the rock, forming numerous steep-walled canyons. Forests are found at higher elevations while the lower elevations are comprised of a series of desert basins.

Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon

Located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona, Antelope Canyon is an incredible place where water and time have eroded the rock and turned it into a slot canyon. The result is an incredible formation of smooth, flowing rock. In 1997 the Navajo Tribe turned the area into a Navajo Tribal Park, opening up Antelope Canyon for tourism.

Antarctica With No Ice

Antarctica With No Ice

Antarctica is covered in miles of ice. But what does it look like underneath?

Inside a Volcanic Eruption

Inside a Volcanic Eruption

A volcanic eruption is the ejection of molten rock, or lava, with ash, hot water, rock fragments, gases, and cliff soil through an opening in the Earth’s surface.

Scientists Discover That Oahu Was...

Scientists Discover That Oahu Was...

Scientists Discover That Oahu Was Made Of Three, Not Two, Volcanoes - It’s not often that a new volcano is discovered, especially in the United States. But scientists from the U.S. and France published a study last month saying they’ve found an underwater volcano near the Hawaiian island of Oahu that predates the island's other two by a few million years.

Yellowstone Supervolcano

Yellowstone Supervolcano

The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Two Kyrgyzstan-based photographers, Andrew and Luda, run a joint Live Journal account where they post amazing photos of outdoor scenery, wildlife, and recently: active volcanoes. Earlier this year the duo trekked to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia where the volcano complex known as Tolbachik was in active eruption.

Spectacular Neon Blue Lava

Spectacular Neon Blue Lava

You've heard of "red hot" and "white hot" to describe searing temperatures. But what about "blue hot"? That's the surreal hue of Indonesia's Kawah Ijen Volcano, which glows with an otherworldly "blue lava" at night. The mountain contains large amounts of pure sulfur, which emits an icy violet color as it burns, turning the rocky slopes into a hot, highly toxic environment.

New Pakistan Quake Island Emits Gas

New Pakistan Quake Island Emits Gas

Barely half an hour after they were jolted by a major earthquake on Tuesday, people of the Pakistani coastal town of Gwadar had another shock when they saw a new island emerge in the sea, just over a kilometre from the shore.

Quakes - Live Earthquakes Map

Quakes - Live Earthquakes Map

Earthquake data imported from various governments.

Explaining Earthquakes

Explaining Earthquakes

An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by sudden motions along faults, or fractures in the Earth's crust. The epicenter of an earthquake is determined by triangulation.

Gravity Map of Earth's Surface

Gravity Map of Earth's Surface

This tortured globe – created using data from the Goce gravity-mapping satellite – reveals what the Earth would look like if its shape were altered to make gravity the same everywhere on its surface. Areas of strongest gravity are in yellow and weakest in blue.

$1 Billion to Reach the Mantle

$1 Billion to Reach the Mantle

Humans have reached the moon and are planning to return samples from Mars, but when it comes to exploring the land deep beneath our feet, we have only scratched the surface of our planet. This may be about to change with a $1 billion mission to drill 6 km beneath the seafloor to reach the Earth's mantle

Mineralia Tumblr

Mineralia Tumblr

A blog about minerals.

Illusion of an Underwater Waterfall

Illusion of an Underwater Waterfall

A fascinating illusion can be found at the Southwestern tip of the island of Mauritius. When seen from the air, a runoff of sand and silt deposits makes the illusion of an underwater waterfall. The visually deceiving impression is absolutely breathtaking when seen from aerial shots. In fact, the illusion can even be seen on Google Maps.

Here is Today

Here is Today

Interactive Timeline

iPad App Aus Time

iPad App Aus Time

This app provides information about the various Geological Timescale periods, including life and minerals for each, and an animated Palaeogeographic map visualising the formation of the continents. It also displays the changing sea level and Australia's climate trend up to 540 million years ago.

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