LEARN NC: Search results

The White Oak River: Introduction: In A blackwater river from sea to source: The White Oak River transect, page 1; One of the interesting things to do during field study of natural areas is to follow an environmental gradient across the landscape. This is particularly rewarding if your gradient extends up a river, as the exploration takes on the aura of a classic “search...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

What makes an estuary?: In Cape Fear estuaries: From river to sea, page 2; Estuaries are defined as semi-enclosed bodies of water with intermediate salinities caused by the mixture of fresh and salt waters. That sounds simple enough, but the true qualities of estuaries are found in the interaction between the river and ocean inputs...; By Steve Keith.

On and offshore sand movement: In Hurricanes on sandy shorelines: Lessons for development, page 4; Figure 1 is a diagram from the author's book entitled The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast, published by UNC press in 1997. The figure illustrates how sand is moved on...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Piedmont sands and clays: In Clays of the Piedmont: Origins, recovery, and use, page 1; North Carolina's landmass has twice been subjected to major bouts of mountain building followed by erosion. The mountain building events have been described in another field trip in this series, the Roan Mountain Highlands. The remnants of the erosion of these...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Why does the Piedmont have so much clay and how is it used?: In Clays of the Piedmont: Origins, recovery, and use, page 2; North Carolina's Piedmont has so much clay because clay is, quite literally, “common as dirt.” Seventy-five percent of the earth's surface is composed of silica (SiO2) and aluminia (Al2O3), the primary ingredients...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

How is coastal sand formed into barrier islands?: In Small sand volume barrier islands: Environmental processes and development risks, page 2; Coastal sand is organized into barrier islands when three conditions are met: There is a supply of sand sufficient to form islands; sea level is rising; and there are winds and waves with sufficient energy to move the sand around....; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Estuaries in North Carolina: A primer: Estuaries are places near the coast where freshwater and saltwater mix. Influenced by ocean forces yet partly sheltered from them, estuaries have unique and fascinating ecologies. This article explains what estuaries are, their geology and role in the larger...; By Waverly Harrell and Jennifer Godwin-Wyer.

North Carolina's lonely mountains: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 1; One of the most striking sights on North Carolina's inner Piedmont is the solitary peaks or ridges that loom above the plateau's average elevation. Some of these are among the state's most visited parks: Hanging Rock, Pilot Mountain, Crowders Mountain, Stone...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Why does North Carolina have so many, and so many kinds of, monadnocks?: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 2; North Carolina has more than a dozen monadnocks scattered among its Blue Ridge mountains, and another ten or more on its Piedmont Plateau. These monadnocks formed during dramatic and diverse events that occurred as the state's crust formed. Most of these geologic...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Composition of Pilot Mountain: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 6; When viewed up close, the pinnacle of Pilot Mountain is seen to be made of almost horizontal layers of rock. This rock is quartzite, and the horizontal lines between the layers are bedding planes that mark the tops of the individual quartzite beds....; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Bedding planes: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 8; The quartzite layers that make up the pinnacle of Pilot Mountain also comprise the erosion-resistant cap rocks of Hanging Rock and the two ridges that separate these pinnacles. This uniformity suggests a common origin of this material, and geologists theorize...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Gorges Creek: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 9; Further evidence that supports the folding theory can be found at the base of Hanging Rock, where the conveniently located Gorges Creek creates a series of waterfalls that expose the rock surfaces.; By Dirk Frankenberg.

More folding: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 10; Close examination of the rock surfaces above Gorges Creek shows small-scale folds of exactly the type you would expect to find where flexible layers of rock were being dragged over one another during development of a large scale fold in the overlying layers,...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Stone Mountain: In Lonely mountains: The monadnocks of the inner Piedmont, page 12; Quartzite is not the only erosion-resistant rock that has formed monadnocks on North Carolina's Piedmont. Another major rock type — granite — has also been responsible for monadnock formation. Granite is a granular rock made primarily of feldspar...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Field trips in context: Opportunities abound in North Carolina for hands-on interdisciplinary learning experiences.; Format: article; By Lesley Richardson.

A case study of "A Civil Action": In Bringing current science into the classroom, page 3; This is a short, culminating activity that can be used to assess your students' understanding of the steps needed to determine if a water source is contaminated and how it got that way, and to suggest possible methods of cleanup or remediation. Students review a portion of the film "A Civil Action" and identify the problem and the people involved. Students then take the role of environmental scientist and apply their knowledge of water and hazardous waste contamination to create a plan to help lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann, try the case.; Format: (grade 9–12 Science); By Michele Kloda.

What causes the great biological diversity of the Blue Ridge?: In Elevations and forest types along the Blue Ridge Parkway, page 2; Although the distribution of forest types in the Blue Ridge is best explained by the relationship between elevation and temperature, the great diversity of these forests is not. To understand the underlying causes of this diversity requires some knowledge...; By Dirk Frankenberg.

Stratigraphy and cross-dating: In Intrigue of the Past, page 2.3; Students will use an activity sheet to interpret archaeological strata using the law of superposition and apply cross-dating to determine the age of other artifacts.; Format: lesson plan (grade 8 Science)

Shifting coastlines: In Intrigue of the Past, page 4.3; In their study of North Carolina's changing coastline during the Paleoindian and Archaic periods, students will determine the positions of the coastline at different times and decide what types of archaeological information has been lost due to rising sea levels.; Format: lesson plan (grade 4 and 8 Science and Social Studies)

Archaeology as a career: In Intrigue of the Past, page 5.2; In their study of archaeology as a career, students will read essays and complete an activity to gain an understanding of and appreciation for the career of a professional archaeologist.; Format: lesson plan (grade K–5 Guidance)

More results: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ... | next | last

LEARN NC