17 teachers Explore Ocean Floor Core Samples at the Gulf Coast Repository
Filed under: Discovery,News & Resources,Press Releases,School of Rock,Scientific Ocean Drilling,Understanding
COLLEGE STATION, TX – Touring the 14,000 square-foot facility, refrigerated to 40° F, generated “oohs,” “aahs” and “brrrs” from the nation-wide group of middle school, high school and undergraduate educators. Seventeen educators from across the country were selected in a competitive application process to participate in “School of Rock 2007.”
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s (IODP) Gulf Coast Repository houses over 100 kilometers of seafloor cores from the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, and the Southern Ocean.
During the workshop, John Firth, the repository’s curator, wheeled racks containing several one meter-long cylinders, sliced end-to-end to show cross-sections, from the cold storage area to the laboratory, where participants assembled. As he did, the group eagerly surrounded the samples, straining for their first glimpses of geologic evidence of one notorious moment in Earth’s distant past. Several of the core samples contained sediments that built up on the seafloor before, during and after the catastrophic meteorite impact 65 million years ago, causing mass extinction – including that of the dinosaurs.
The educators discovered that, in addition to conveying information about conditions long ago, some of the core samples smell bad too.
Educators conducted research activities and experiments similar to those that take place during and after scientific ocean drilling expeditions carried out by IODP. Workshop organizers also guided educators through translating scientific findings into useful teaching resources that will benefit future generations of science students. The educators learned about historical climate change, paleoceanography, sedimentology, paleomagnetism and other topics. During a field trip to three locations around Bastrop, TX, the group also examined material related to a brief but intense episode of global warming at the Paleocene/Eocene Boundary, about 55 million years ago.
The School of Rock program, which took place this year 22-28 July, is in its third year. It began in November 2005 when the research ship JOIDES Resolution left Victoria, British Columbia and 13 science teachers from across the U.S. headed out to sea. During 16 days at sea, educators had the opportunity to work with ocean drilling scientists and technicians, to experiment on core samples in the ship’s 12 laboratories and experience life at sea on the nation’s scientific ocean drilling vessel. This year, educators joined scientists actively engaged in IODP research, IODP education staff and Gulf Coast Repository technical staff on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, TX.
