Pennsylvania Projects - Pennsylvania Geology - Dig into it

Geology of Pennsylvania, on the DCNR web site, is a good resource for this activity.

1. Describe the landforms of the physiographic province of your county.

2. Name two common fossils found in Pennsylvania.

What is the state fossil?

During a walk in a field, you discover a fossil. It looks like the shells of the clams you eat at a summer picinc.
What does this tell you about the geologic history of the area?

3. Name a mineral found in Pennsylvania, that is important to the Commonwealth's economy.

Name three of the eight minerals that were found in Pennsylvania before they were found anyplace else.

Where must you travel to add a specimun of one of them to your collection.

Examine the Geologic Map of Pennsylvania. (Just after page 14)
What kind of rocks will you find in your county?

4. What is sedementary rock?

How is conglomerate formed?

5. Coal is an important mineral in Pennsylvania's history. (page 21)

When was this coal formed?

What are the two kinds of Pennsylvania coal called? Describe each.

Where are the major deposits of each found?

5. How are sinkholes formed in Pennsylvania?

6. Glacial Geology in Pennsylvania

Write four facts about glaciers and the Ice age in Pennsyvlania.

What evidence would you look for to see if the glaceris had been in your community?

What impact does local geology have in a community?

7. List the fossil fuels found in Pennsylvania.

8. When you buy or sell a home in Pennsylvania, you must have a radon test done. Why?

9. Describe the processes that formed a Pennsylvania geologic structure or resource. (Examples: mountains, glacial formations, water gaps, ridges, oil, gas, coal)

10. Select a soil type. (i.e., humus, topsoil, subsoil, loam, loess, and parent material).
Describe its characteristics (i.e., particle size, porosity, permeability) and where it would be found in biomes and in Pennsylvania. Explain how it was formed.

11. Your mom read in the newspaper that people are buying gas well drilling rights from people in Pennsylvania. She wonders if there could be natural gas under your family's land. Check out the approrpriate GIS map to decide.

12. Geologists can work in many different carreer paths. Name three. Describe their role in one of them.

Extras:

Explore the Geologic features of Pennsylvania | Earth Layers Internet activity | Crude Oil more than gas | Gems and Minerals

Bedrock geology digital data - GIS | Rock box info - Pa. Geological Survey | Rock & Mineral hunt | Rock Cycle | Virtual Dating

Watersheds | Map PA Waters | Lentic or Lotic Activity | Fresh Water in Pennsylvania | Colored map of Earth's topography

Posted 1/2007 by Cynthia J. O'Hora This work is released to the public domain

Save a tree use a digital answer format - Highlight the text. Copy it. Paste it in a word processing document. Save the document in your folder. Answer on the wp document in a contrasting color or font. Please do not put them on the web because they will show up in a search engine making them like the odd question answers in the back of the math text.. Or perhaps you have the resources to record verbal answers. If you do, be sure to first read / record the question. Then record the answer immediately after it.

Aligned with the following Pa Academic Standards - Reading, Writing Speaking, History, Civics and Government, Science and Technology, Career Education and Work.