A place to learn about geology for teachers, students, rock hounds, and geology enthusiasts - that comes out on Fridays!
Gary Lewis is an Australian-born geologist who loves to share his passion for all things 'geology'. In the GEO podcast, Gary takes you on a journey to learn about rocks, minerals, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers and so much more.
It does not matter if you have no experience in geology, Gary will help you to understand the fundamentals of our planet so you can have a greater understanding about when you see when visiting your backyard, your local creek, cliff or beyond.
You can also join Gary as he runs Field Adventures (specialist travel experiences) to see parts of the world through the eyes of a passionate Earth scientist. Find out more at www.geoetc.com.
In this episode, we talk about the main causes of landslides and provide examples - California and Thredbo, NSW, Australia. What is the role of water? What about trees and deforestation? How can earthquakes be involved etc? This is a great introduction to landslides as a natural disaster. Support the show
Rocks can contain radioactive elements that breakdown (decay) over time at a set rate. We can use this decay to work out the age of the rocks. In this episode, we do a brief look at the process, and how we know it works. Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show...
Where did the Theory of Plate Tectonics come from? How did it evolve? What started it all off and how did new evidence change the theory? Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Support the show
What drives the movement of the Earth's huge lithospheric tectonic plates? In this episode, we talk about mantle convection currents and slab pull - the too well-accepted theories for what is driving Plate Tectonics. Visit our Members Section - Over 90 teaching resources that are classroom-ready to help you teach Earth science. Check them out! Don't miss a thing! Join our email list. Support the show...
Why do we see such variation in the sand around the world - white, yellow, black and green, and more! What can the grains of sand tell us about the age of the sand? And how can sand on an island that contains just black rocks have white sand? This one is for the sand collectors! Support the show
Earth scientists in the field recognize that a sequence of rocks may be missing layers of rocks that represent a period of time. We call those unconformities. In this episode, we discuss what an unconformity is and the four main types of unconformities - angular, paraconformity, disconformity, and nonconformity. Don't miss a thing! Join our email list. Support what I do to help you... Support the show...
How do we know about the inside of the Earth? Using earthquake waves and visitors from out of space (meteorites), we can see the layers and work out the chemistry of the layers that make up our planet. Visit us at GEOetc.com to learn more about our amazing planet! Support the show
Trilobites are amazing fossils! They can be used for accurate correlation between sedimentary layers because they evolved rapidly, lived in almost all marine environments, and have exoskeletons that were easy to preserve. Here is a link to the activities mentioned in the episode: Trilobite ID Trilobite (and other fossil) models Support the show...
The Earth is made up of layers - and we can define those layers in two ways - as being chemical (crust, mantle, core) or mechanical (lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, outer core, inner core). This episode explains the layers and why they are important for plate tectonics and more. Teachers can download a worksheet for their students to complete based on the content of this episode right here : https://geoetc.com/earths-layers-free/ Support the show...
What is a glacier? How is it formed? Where can I find them and how are they classified? Support the show
A dike is a planar igneous intrusion that cuts through the existing rocks. They have always fascinated me - and in this episode, I talk a little about them and why I think they are awesome! Support the show
Why does the island of Iceland exist? Learn how two major geological phenomena occur together to make this amazing and unique place on our planet. Plate Tectonics and Mantle Plumes interact to provide us with a beautiful island. Support the show
In this episode I discous how magma chemistry and water work together to create the massive explosive eruptions of Tonga (January 15th, 2022) and Krakatoa (1883). Support the show
Hawaii is a wonderful place to see, learn and teach about aspects of Earth Science. In this episode I mention six reasons Hawaii is a place to visit if you love Earth science. Support the show
Reducing the risk to people of volcanic eruptions is an important job for geoscientists. In this episode, we talk about four tools geoscientists can use including earthquakes, deformation, gases, and well water temperatures. This would make a great introduction to students before having them do the Thunder Island volcano simulation activity. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Support the show...
Rivers are so important as they provide water for drinking and agriculture. They are also important as they move mountains (over time) to the ocean! In this episode, we talk about the basic morphology of rivers - bedrock and alluvial rivers as well as the concepts of young, mature, and old rivers. It is a very basic introduction to ways of looking at rivers. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Support the show...
The formation of Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) are so important as a resource of the element iron, but also as they tell us about how our atmosphere evolved some 2,500 million years ago. In this episode, we talk about the major theory of the formation of BIFs as well as some alternative theories, and what BIF's can tell us about how the evolution of simple blue-green algae changed our Earth for ever! Support the show
What are the six groups of natural geological resources that humans have learned to utilize to build our society into the form that we now live within? Humans have been using water, ores, aggregates, energy, stones, and soil to live on Earth - and understanding them is so important to be able to keep using them in a sustainable way. This is a great introduction to natural resources. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Support the show...
The Earth's tectonic plates are made up of the lithosphere - that outer hard rock layer of the Earth. In this episode, we talk about the lithosphere, the underlying asthenosphere, and the moho boundary between the crust and the upper mantle portion of the lithosphere. And all in under 9 minutes! This is essential listening for students learning about Plate Tectonics! Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Don't miss a thing! Join our email list. Support the show...
You can also find GEO Podcast or all the major podcast capture platforms! (Go on...subscribe and not miss the new episodes) We all live on Earth's continental crust - and so it's the part of our planet we are most familiar with. But do you know what makes this type of crust so special? In this episode, we talk about the continental crust, what it is made up from, how thick it is, and why it contains the oldest rocks on Earth. This is essential listening for students learning about Plate Tectonic...
Over 70% of the rocky surface of our planet (although most of this is underwater) is made up of oceanic crust. This crust, along with the upper mantle make up the oceanic tectonic plate material. Oceanic crust is unique - and this episode explains the features of this type of crust. This is essential listening for students learning about Plate Tectonics! For more GEO Podcasts and Earth science education materials, visit us at GEOetc.com Support the show...
What are metamorphic rocks and how do they form? What is contact metamorphism? What is regional metamorphism? How are they different? In this episode, I answer these questions and give classic examples of metamorphic rocks and minerals. If you want more information about rocks and minerals, come visit us at www.geoetc.com Support the show
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Chris Spencer from Travelling Geologist and Queens College about how he become involved i geology and why understanding our planet is so important. Chris is a co-leader on some of the GEOetc Field Experiences..and an amazing human. Your students will get a lot out of listening to Chris. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Support the show...
In this episode, I talk about four things a college/university student (or anyone who wants to) can do to get some field experience. With college/universities not requiring as much fieldwork - many not even running field camps or trips - these four things could help you build up your field experience and get ahead of the pack when applying for a geoscience job. Blog post on what students need to know about writing good field notes. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventur...
In this episode, I talk about the types of evidence we use to understand past climates on Earth. I talk about isotope evidence, fossils, paleomagnetism, speleothems, ice cores, tree rings, and written records. This is about the evidence we use, rather than what the evidence shows This is perfect when teaching a climate change unit. Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Don't miss a thing! Join our email list. Support the show...
In this episode, I talk about how volcanoes get different shapes due to the chemistry of the molten rock materials. We talk about the shield, composite/stratiform and caldera volcanoes...and a little about cinder cones. We mention silicate chemistry and the effect of water on shapes and eruption style. This is a great primer to volcanoes! Interested in joining us on a trip? Check out our field adventures here. Support the show...
In this episode, I talk about the geological and topographic features of transform fault boundaries between two tectonic plates. This is a great summary for students learning about Plate Tectonics. If you want a summary of the theory - you can find a podcast episode that covers the theory here. If you want a booklet covering the theory and evidence, check out this one - its great idea as a class set. And finally, if you are looking for activities for students on Plate tectonics, then see what we...
In this episode, I talk about the geological and topographic features of three types of convergent plate boundaries - subduction, collision, and island arcs. We cover earthquakes, volcanoes, deep ocean trenches, mountain building, and more. This is a great summary for students learning about Plate Tectonics. If you want a summary of the theory - you can find a podcast episode that covers the theory here. If you want a booklet covering the theory and evidence, check out this one - its great idea ...
In this episode, I talk about the geological and topographic features of divergent plate boundaries, including rift valleys, Mid Ocean Ridges (MORs), normal faults, transform faults, and the ages of rocks moving away from the boundaries. This is a great summary for students learning about Plate Tectonics. If you want a summary of the theory - you can find a podcast episode that covers the theory here. If you want a booklet covering the theory and evidence, check out this one - its great idea as ...
In less than 12 minutes, I summarize the major pieces of evidence we have for the theory of Plate tectonics. I cover shape of continents, mountain and ages of rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, trenches and mid-ocean ridges, ages of the seafloor, patterns of magnetic anomalies, apparent polar wandering curves and hot spot volcanoes. If you want a summary of the theory - you can find a podcast episode that covers the theory here . If you want a booklet covering the theory and evidence, check out this...
