For Educators

The U.S. Geological Survey provides scientific information intended to help educate the public about natural resources, natural hazards, geospatial data, and issues that affect our quality of life. The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

The materials and Web sites below represent the combined efforts of the USGS and our collaborating institutions to reach the ever growing needs of the public. The products and Web links below are to serve as a starting point for educators to see what types of materials are available to assist in lesson planning, public presentations, and increasing the scientific understanding of our dynamic planet.

Animated Diagrams: Animated plots from a USGS study of contaminated sediments in the Hudson Shelf Valley as part of a presentation: Baldwin, S.M., Mecray, E.L., Koopmans, D.J., and Buchholtz ten Brink, M.R., The distribution of sewage sludge, traced by elevated Silver and copper concentrations, along the Hudson Shelf Valley [abs.]: Geological Society of America, Northeastern and Southeastern Sections Joint Meeting, Tysons Corner, Va. , March 25-27, 2004. (Silver concentrations in sediments )(Copper concentrations in sediments )

Presentation: A presentation summarizing results of the Marine Aggregate Resources and Processes project as part of the paper: Williams, S.J., 2005, Regional-scale understanding of the geologic character and sand resources of the Atlantic inner continental shelf, Maine to Virginia, Proceedings, Second Regional Conference on Dredging, Beach Nourishment, and Bird Conservation, 25-27 Oct 2005 (presentation).

References: References on marine sand and gravel studies and resources can be found in Williams and others (2003) A bibliography of selected references to U.S. Marine Sand and Gravel Resources, USGS Open-File Report 03-300 (online) and can help provide background information on the geologic framework of continental shelf sediments and processes.

Plotting: Plotting sediment data from the usSEABED program can be done using the following Matlab plot routines: (shepard.m) and (schlee.m). These scripts were written by members of the Woods Hole Science Center staff to help visualize the compositional components of sediment samples on a ternary diagram. They are available as part of the user contributed code library on the Mathworks Web site.

Additional Resources Available Online:

USGS maintains a Web page of Educational Resources, (including A Primer On Natural Aggregate, and Schoolyard Geology).

USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program provides additional information and educational resources that are available on their Web site, searchable by the term 'Educational Materials'.

The NOAA Coastal Services Center is an office within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration devoted to serving the nation's state and local coastal resource management programs.

Minerals Management Service maintains a Kids' Pages with excellent materials on a number of scientific topics, including The Ocean's Sand, A Natural Resource (Adobe pdf format)

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has an Education Center which includes lessons and materials in navigation, sedimentation, and many other topics tied to engineering in the coastal environment.

New York State GIS Clearinghouse has an Education Outreach Web page that includes training events, a who's who contact list, and other resources.

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection GIS Website has a presentations Web page where power-point presentations can be downloaded.

To view files in PDF format, download free copy of Adobe Reader.