Video Catalog
This video reference collection was begun as part of the 2014 virtual workshop on Designing and Using Videos in Undergraduate Geoscience Education. The purpose of the catalog is to pull together links to resources from all over the web; we are not hosting videos here. If you have a favorite educational video you made or use, and you'd be willing to share the link, please tell us about it!
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Results 1 - 10 of 92 matches
Glacial Landforms
In this video we review the principal landforms created by glacial erosion (cirques, arêtes, striations, U-shaped valleys, fjords) and deposition (till, moraine, drumlins, eskers, kettle lakes, outwash plain, erratics). We discuss how a pair of glacial erosion processes - plucking, abrasion - work to break down rocks and modify the landscape. We compare and contrast glacial deposits made up of an unsorted mix of clay, sand and boulders and those that have been generated by running water. Finally, we start and finish the video by trying to figure out how a giant boulder ended up jammed in among the trees in Yellowstone National Park. The video ends with a short review quiz that asks you to identify four images of different landforms.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Metamorphic Rocks (& toast)
This video discusses the formation of metamorphic rocks, one of the three major groups of rocks on Earth and the bedrock under much of North America. We explain that toast is a metamorphic form of bread and describe the conditions necessary for metamorphism to occur (burial of rocks, proximity to magma, plate tectonic settings). You will learn about the metamorphic temperature window, how developing a foliation is similar to squeezing a marshmallow, the names of some common metamorphic rocks, and what happens when sandstone and limestone are subjected to higher temperatures and pressures.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Tectonic Plates
In this video we describe the three major compositional layers of Earth and the characteristics of a tectonic plate which is composed of lithosphere representing parts of the crust and mantle. The lithosphere is divided into pieces we call tectonic plates. Ah, you say, but can you demonstrate what you mean using an orange? Why, yes, yes we can. After the orange demo, we illustrate how to use maps of earthquake locations to draw outlines of Earth's major tectonic plates and give them names. Following the video we want you to be able to take a blank map of the world and draw a reasonable sketch of where the major plate boundaries are located.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Continental Rifting, New Oceans, and Passive Continental Margins for Beginners
This video presents some basic information about how rifts form, how they sometimes evolve to become new oceans, and how passive continental margins form as a consequence.It has been adapted from a previous video entitled "Continental Rifting, New Oceans, and Passive Continental Margins: Plate Tectonics Basics 2", which was intended for an upper division geoscience audience. This video was made for a lower division geoscience and is intended to amplify undergraduate education of plate tectonic processes.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Transform Plate Boundaries
This video discusses the characteristics of transform plate boundaries where plates slide past each other. We examine four examples of transform boundaries between plates and describe how and why short transform segments offset the oceanic ridge system throughout the world's oceans. We take a closer look at the major transform boundary in North America, the San Andreas fault system and examine what the plate boundary looks like in the Californian desert and what might happen if it were to slip like it has done in the historical past. Finally, we give you an opportunity to see if you can identify the location of a transform boundary where it cuts across part of New Zealand.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Classification of Faults
In this video we introduce viewers to two terms they will need to understand to classify faults. We define the terms strike and dip in relation of everyday inclined surfaces including sloping brick surfaces and dumpster panels. Next we introduce you to the hanging wall and footwall of faults and provide a brief assessment to allow you to practice using the terms. We apply all four of these new terms to classify dip-slip and strike-slip faults. We end by shaking up a Lego geologist during fault movement and by asking you to interpret three examples of strike-slip faults.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Plate Tectonics Basics #1 introduction
Animation introduction of plate tectonics process.
Convergent Plate Boundaries
This video describes the physical features that can be observed at three different types of convergent plate boundaries and explains the geologic processes that produce these features. We characterize the distribution of earthquakes and volcanoes associated with convergent boundaries and relate them to subduction of the cold descending plate and the addition of water to the hot overriding plate. We describe the difference between a volcanic arc and an island arc, and discuss why the crust is much thicker where to slabs of continental lithosphere collide. Finally, we use hands and oven mitts to produce simple analogs of the three convergent boundary types. Really.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
Coal, Oil and Natural Gas
This video describes how fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal are formed and where they can be found. We set up side-by-side comparisons of what these materials are made of, how they develop, and the settings where they are preserved. We discuss how US consumption and production trends for oil and coal have changed in recent years.
Duration: 6-10 minutes
The Geological History of Earth
This video discusses the major changes to the planet since its formation to the present day. We explain how Earth formed, where the Moon came from, how the atmosphere changed over time, where the water in the oceans originated, what the first life and fossils looked like, when more complex life forms began, a long period when little happened, when most of Earth became a snowball, and how extinction events allowed geologists to break down the most recent chunk of geologic time. You will learn the difference between an eon and an era, why we should be grateful for asteroid and comet impacts, and when oxygen started showing up in the atmosphere.
Duration: 6-10 minutes

