World's Largest Erratic is Part of Foothills Erratic Train

The Okotoks Erratic (a.k.a. Big Rock) is the world's largest known glacial erratic. This huge piece(s) of quartzite sits on the Alberta prairie about 11 miles south of Calgary.

What's more interesting is that Big Rock is part of a long line of erratics strewn from Jasper National Park into northern Montana (see map below). Geologists believe the rocks were part of a rockslide that fell onto a glacier in the Tonquin Valley of Jasper Park and were carried by ice southward along the mountains. Apparently glaciers flowing from the Canadian Rockies out onto the prairie were turned southward as they converged with the Laurentide Ice Sheet (map). The band of rocks is know as the Foothills Erratics Train. To learn more about the Okotoks Erratic and read the Blackfoot story of how it broke into two pieces, CLICK HERE.

A similar (but much smaller) line of erratics, called the Snake Butte Boulder Train (map), can be found in north-central Montana on the Ft. Belknap Reservation (photo). To view a convenient list of all the resources that have been posted on this "Earth Science Guy" blog site, CLICK HERE.

Fifty Years from Now . . . Ending Overfishing

Ending Overfishing from OCEAN2012 on Vimeo.

This video was produced by Oceans2012.

To view a convenient list of all the resources that have been posted on this "Earth Science Guy" blog site, CLICK HERE.

Rivers Like Shortcuts Too!

This Google Earth image shows several oxbow lakes near Kalispell, Montana. Watch this animation to see how a slow-moving, meandering river carves a broad valley over thousands of years. Be sure to click on the inset at the end of the animation to watch a second animation that shows how an oxbow lake forms. To learn more about the formation of oxbow lakes, CLICK HERE.

Bakken Oil Boom Visible from Space Station

To learn more about this image, CLICK HERE.

Infographic from Learnstuff.com

This infographic was created by Allison Lee.

Catchy Animated Groundwater Cartoon

I like to show this short video right at the start of our study of groundwater. The video was produced for King County (Seattle). I ask my students why a county government would fund something like this. This leads into a short discussion of conservation and the ways that governments get their citizens to conserve various natural resources (laws, incentives, education).

CLICK HERE to see a better quality version of the video.

To view a convenient list of all the resources that have been posted on this "Earth Science Guy" blog site, CLICK HERE.

Introductory Puzzle Activities (geology)

Thanks to Nancy Young for recommending these two activities, which are both provided by the American Museum of Natural History. Both are "pdf" files that might be best used before you get into the topics. One is the Plate Tectonics Puzzle and the other is called Solve a Sedimentary Layers Puzzle.

To view a convenient list of all the resources that have been posted on this "Earth Science Guy" blog site, CLICK HERE.