Time Travel Via Sediment Cores
I recently had the opportunity to venture out to a few of the elementary schools within my school district and share news about the exciting adventure our 7th grade class mascot, SloMo, and I will be embarking on at the beginning of June.
We talked about how the sediment cores we will be collecting will help us learn
about the climate of the Holocene. The Law of Superposition states that older layers are deposited first and when we collect cores from the bottom of the ocean we can essentially look back in time.
Students will be able to submit their decorated styrofoam cups into a contests. The winning cups will be taken with us on the cruise and get sent to the bottom of the ocean where the water pressure will cause them to shrink and become more dense. Cups will then be returned to the students the following school year.
The Students had some great questions! Like, “How did the oceans form?” and they even learned about how sediment cores have been collected that show evidence of the mass extinction that killed off the dinosaurs.
I can’t wait to connect with these students while onboard the R/V Atlantis and again when I return home!
