EARTH SCIENCE PHOTOGRAPHIC SCAVENGER HUNT

Earth Science is something best experienced in the field.  The purpose of this project is to get you outside to see first-hand many of the things that we have discussed in class this year.  You will need to find and photograph the following 10 things.   (Please note however that in order to receive credit, you must be in each photograph.  You can be standing in the background, lying on the ground….just as long as I can tell that you were at the location) You can use a conventional camera or a digital camera, and you can do the project with other people.

I WILL COUNT THIS PROJECT AS TWO TEST GRADES FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER

1-Frost Action : I would like this picture to be taken in a Cemetery (5 Corners Cemetery is great)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: Why does frost action happen?  What else can crack tombstones?

2-Oxidation: I would also like this picture to be taken in a Cemetery. Please be  careful not to confuse lichen with rust and do not take a picture of metal rusting.
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: What causes oxidation?

3-Solution: Can be seen as white streaks on the outside of brick buildings where the calcite in the limestone (the cement) has been dissolved and then left behind as the rain water drips down the building and evaporates.  It also causes the ‘stalactites’ seen on some bridge overpasses such as Southern State Parkway (Sachem South has good examples)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: Why does limestone dissolve?  What mineral is it made of?  Why do your parents have to put lime on their lawns every couple of years?

4-Glacial Erratic: I want a picture of a big one, bigger than a person (Entrance to Stony Brook College, Nicolls Road)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: What is a glacier?  How do we know that the ice age ‘just’ended?  What special features are found on glacially transported cobbles and boulders?

5-Soil Profile: Find someplace where someone has dug a deep hole or dig your own hole.  I want to see topsoil and subsoil horizons
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: Why is soil so important?  How come the topsoil is so dark?

6-Breaking Wave: Not the swash or backwash, but the actual breaking wave (Smiths Pt)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS:  Show them which way the swash and backwash are going.  If you can find something on the beach that floats, throw it in and see which way the longshore current is going.  Tell them about groins.

7-Fire Island and the Ronkonkoma Outwash Plain (Go to North Ocean Avenue and take it to the top of Bald Hill (parking lot near Vietnam Veterans Memorial).  Take a picture looking south.
TEACH YOUR PARENTS:  What formed the hill you are standing on?  Why is the North Shore rocky and the south shore sandy?

8-Harbor Hill Moraine and the Terryville Outwash Plain.  Same location as above, just facing North

9-Cumulus cloud (Find a nice big puffy one)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS:  What are the three types of clouds?  How can you used them to forecast the weather?

10- Stream (You can choose the Connetquot, Peconic, Carmans, or Nissequogue. See if you can find a meander bend to see how there is more erosion on the outside of the bend.  Look for small pebbles or grains of sand being carried along)
TEACH YOUR PARENTS: How could the Colorado River have formed the Grand Canyon?