Describing Cores

Developed by Danielle Bailey (2), Marilyn Petkovsek (3), and Gail Tynes (3). Revised January 2008 by Katherine Ellins(1), Hilary Olson (1). Revised January 20, 2010 by Katherine Ellins (1).

1. The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics;

2. NSF-GK-12 Fellow, The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics;

3. NSF-GK-12 Teacher, Round Rock ISD

How to cite this work: Bailey, D., Petkovsek, M., Tynes, G., Ellins, K.K., Olson, H.C., (2011). Describing Cores, TXESS Revolution, http://www.txessrevolution.org/DescribingIntro, Date Accessed.

OVERVIEW

This activity sets the stage for a series of learning activities that use authentic scientific ocean drilling data. Scientific ocean drilling is used to obtain cores of and geophysical wireline logs from holes drilled into the sediments and rock the seafloor. Scientists study the cores and logs that they collect and extract geological, geophysical, geochemical, and environmental information that provides insight into the Earth system. This knowledge enhances our ability to forecast possible future events or conditions, including global climate change.

Most scientific ocean drilling is carried out by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), an international partnership of scientists and research institutions organized to explore the evolution and the structure of Earth.

The learning activity introduces students to the purpose, history and technology of ocean drilling. Students practice describing model cores designed to simulate real cores retrieved by scientific ocean drilling. They work in teams to interpret their observations, carry out hole-to-hole correlation, develop conclusions, and present results to fellow students.  The activity was created for 8^th Grade students, but is suitable for high school level students who have little or no knowledge of scientific ocean drilling. We show the correlation to both the middle school and Earth and Space Science TEKS.

Activity rating by TXESS Revolution Teachers in PDA # 2009

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Sean Gulick, John Goff, and Lisa Gahagan for assistance with this learning activity.