Bonnie Magura, Jackson Middle School, developed this classroom activity to help students understand how sediment cores collected from the ocean floor can be used to decipher geologic history. In TOTLE, we use this activity to help students understand how turbidite layers in ocean sediments record past great Cascadia subduction zone earthquakes. However, this activity is important in a general way to students understanding of how core sampling allows geologists to determine near-surface and sometimes deeper geologic layers. An example would be drill core samples used to develop models of oil field geology.
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