Resources for students of Earth Science

Compiled by Pat Pringle...updated June 9, 2013

Links to Contents of this webpage (not in order) 

If a link does not work, you can simply scroll down to find the following content items below:

                               the Big ideas of Earth science  the Earth science literacy principles. Watch the videos
                

                               
                              
Careers_in_Earth_Sciences      ==> Tools_for_writing_science_papers  ...and how to work with graphics!
                               Maps and Map related                        ==> Computer_graphics_software_and_resources
               Google Earth  

   

                                          Data_for_Natural_Sciences                                                                                 GIS_Geographic_Information_Systems

                            Earth_Science_Societies                                             Earth  Science Misc                                        

                                         Hydrologic_data                                                               Weather,_climate,_and_paleoclimate_data

                           Online_educational_resources                                                       Science software (including freeware/shareware)        

                                         Videos: Earth Sciences and related                                                        Dendrochronology resources

                             Education:_tools_and_links   Undergraduate research  
                             Earth science textbooks and related aids online   (see also “Supplies and Books” below)   Animations  

                                         Earth science lectures and powerpoints online   New stuff added periodically

                    Geologic_publications_online                                     Geologic_field_guides_online

                                         Geology_departments_Pacific_Northwest                                    Geology of the Pacific Northwest 

                    Paleontology and fossils  


                             
Reference,_conversions,_standards,_etc                                         Radiology resources

                                         Tools_for_students                                                                                           Student opportunities

                                       Supplies and books                                                                                                          Study guide (geology)                        

                                       Washington Online Writing Lab visit Centralia College's Writing Lab in Kemp 105 for info & assistance           

                                    Curious or amusing dept        Links        US Geological Survey useful links        USGS Diamonds    USGS selected hazards   USGS Afghanistan   

                                         


Centralia_College_links
Important dates and deadlines   find Final exam schedules and more here!


Careers_in_Earth_Sciences

Careers in Geosciences--Earth Science World  (leaves this page)

see also under GIS for careers, below

Geocorps 

          Resume tips:

          10 phrases that kill your resume (online resource)


Computer_graphics_software_and_resources     making animated gifs      Irfanview freeware graphics viewer    

NIH Image homepage--image analysis software and  tools     Object Image Mac program for image analysis     

download site for Adobe Acrobat Reader      http://www.snopes.com   Urban legend or not?

NASA Dapple data browser   

Also, please see Tools for editing or making graphics or figures, below

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GIS_Geographic_Information_Systems

Norm's GIS Glossary    

Washington State Geospatial database

Washington DNR geospatial data

Puget Sound Lidar Consortium

Oregon State geospatial data   

ESRI GIS software  (world’s most used!)   ESRI online resources        ArcNews online 

GIS data depot    Commercial site 

Getting a job in geography and GIS  Spring 2013 Arcnews; a piece by Doug Richardson, Exec. Dircector, American Association of Geographers ; see also AAG-careers 
New online geography and GIS resources  Winter 2013 Arcnews; another piece by Doug Richardson
Mapping prehistoric activity in Colorada—GIS and archaeology Spring 2013 Arcnews
Using GIS and social media to map a volcanic eruptions's aftermath  Spring 2013 Arcnews


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Google_Earth


Gmap4   A cool and very useful site using Google Earth
Gmap USA  A good launching spot for using Gmap to find areas of interest and helpful info like most up-to-date magnetic declinations using Gmaphttp://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=41.310824,-102.041016&z=4&t=m
Google Earth 1:100,000 scale Washington State geology data for 3D overlays  Thank you WADNR Geology Div. for this useful format!! Scroll to the bottom of the linked page for the 1:100,000 scale maps. Be sure to read the PDF file overview at the top. Technical notes: Regarding item 4 adjusting transparency of overlays: you have to select the "adjust opacity" symbol at the bottom of the "Places" TOC in left sidebar to see the transparency slider. Regarding item 6: 3D adjustments including vertical exaggeration are under adjustments in "Google Earth" menu --> preferences in standard version 7.0.3 of Google Earth.

GE user guide
GE navigating tutorials 
GE keyboard shortcuts  not an official site, but looks very useful!
GE keyboard shortcuts--windows  
GE keyboard shortcuts--mac 
I find two of the most useful keystroke shortcuts to be "u" (up or birdseye view) and "n" (orient view with north at top)

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Data_for_Natural_Sciences

    Weather_climate_and_paleoclimate_data

    Washington Climate Summaries  new site to find station data as of ~ 2012!    [Use Vancouver and Centralia precipitation "monthly" records for semhill and O'Neill natural area projects; “ANN” = annual precip]; old climate summaries site  

    WA Snowtel site 

    NOAA Paleoclimate data   [see "data search" for tree-ring, ice, fire, coral, cave, paleofire, etc]

    Hydrologic_data

    USGS Real-time water data--Washington State site  (see "Statewide Streamflow table" link)

    USGS Washington State Water Center   

    National Weather Service  

    NOAA storm predication center  

    NOAA storm prediction center, surface and upper air maps  


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Dendrochronology_resources

Lab. of Tree-ring research at Univ. AZ --education tools

Lab. of Tree-ring research at Univ. AZ --dendro resources

The Ultimate Tree-ring web pages

Searchable bibliography of dendrochronology    Check tree-ring references here! 

NOAA tree-ring paleoclimate database  

Pat's tree-ring links


Earth_science_textbooks_and_related_aids_online

Link to an online Physical Geography textbook by Michael Ritter 

Earth science lessons online      

Physical Geography net by Michael Pidwirny and Scott Jones

Link to the introductory Geoscience Virtual Textbook

Online Oceanography textbook by Robert H. Stewart

Encyclopedia of Earth                                                      Windows to the Universe (NESTA)         

Link to the companion website for AGI/NAGT Geoscience Laboratory Manual_v.8

Link to The Georoots Etymological Dictionary of Geology by Matt Horrigan

Michael Kimberley's physical geology presentations    (both as text + pictures for printing or for viewing online)

About geology.com     See about rocks    and explore links to rock types   teacher resources  

Tutorials | GeologyRocks   (You must establish a username, but this is free)

Online geological  dictionary       Other online geological dictionaries

Geology Labs On-Line  There are only a few labs here, but great potential…

Geowords-Hugh Rance's online geo site, his paleo book tocglossary of geowords by Hugh Rance

e-notes-for earth science   an assortment of Earth science vocabulary words that may be helpful

DLESE Earth science literacy maps Try out the plate tectonics map and then click on the gray text box links to learn more. 

This Dynamic Earth: the story of Plate Tectonics  A nice overview courtesy of Bob Tilling and others of the USGS



WA SBCTC Open Course Library  select "courses" in the menu bar to start or go directly to the links below

About the Open Course Library (news release)

    OCL Physical Geology  (all modules & resources)      OCL Physical Geology  "ebook" chapters   Physical Geology Info page


          

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Earth_science_lectures_and_powerpoints_online

          Physical Geology notes and powerpoints by Michael Kimberley at N. Carolina State  (two versions--one for printing, one for viewing online)        

          Mike Strickler's geomania page       Geoman's Glossary of Earth science terms (also by Mike)

          Pam Gore's geology lecture notes

          Rob Viens' powerpoint lectures for Geology of the Northwest, BCC

          Carla Whittington's powerpoint lectures for Natural Hazards, Highline CC


Videos_Earth_science_and_other_topics

       Videos: the Earth science literacy principles  

        Main Annenberg website    Great resource

        Annenberg College level/adult video series               Habitable Planet video series, guides, online textbook, and more!  

        Earth Revealed, Annenberg video series                   Mike Strickler's study guides for Earth Revealed videos     

        Annenberg Planet Earth videos series                        AGI's "Faces of the Earth" video series on youtube




       NOVA: Australia Awakening   Australia's ancient landscape 2013


       

        The Khan Academy—lots of tools and helpful videos! 

        NOVA_PBS  

        NOVA | scienceNOW | Get Involved | PBS

            Watch NOVA online!        ...such as Iceland's doomsday volcanoes   

            Weather and climate videos for online viewing  American Meteorological Society

        weather.com video on demand (get weather, but get advertisements too!)

            "Central Rocks" with Nick Zentner—CWU geology video series

            Geology lecture series at CWU

        KOMO "What if"" video on earthquake hazards in WA State  

        Professor Andy Bunn of WWU talks about climate change   April 9, 2009 presentation at WSU Whatcom Extension on Vimeo


 

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Animations

IRIS animations   

UC Santa Barbara multimedia visualization center  

Animations at RESGI  

gobookee geology animations   


  Education:_tools_and_links 


The Next Generation Science Standards    The NGSS

Gates_Foundation_College-ready_education   

Dan's wild wild science journal    Dan on what science fundamentals American are not learning--part 1   part 2  part 3: five things we need to teach every American about science    

The Triangle Coalition for STEM education    
SERC, the Science Education Resource Center    Curriculum for the bioregion  
Old sticks in the mud  Class & lab activities teaching about the hazards of lahars at Mount Rainier by Patrick Pringle



Undergraduate research 
Council on Undergraduate Research 
National Science Foundation Research for Undergraduates     NSF REU Earth sciences   NSF REU funding 
The Univ. of Washington undergraduate research 


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Geologic_publications_online

WA Geology Division publications and maps           Search online database of geology of Washington

Oregon Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries         Oregon Geology and the Ore Bin publication

Environmental sciences
GAIA   an online journal of environmental and other science  (Western WA University)

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Maps and map related  
NSA GEOnet geographic names    WADNR Geologic Survey    USGS topo maps      USGS publications     WA soils      Mapquest     Chris Heg's WA Geology map site      Google Maps!!!   

NEW LINKs ==>
New Washington State kmz files for geology!  

One-stop pdf link to most WA Div. of Geology geologic maps  access all scales here; 1:100,000 are scans of b&w maps; also valuable here is progress map on the 1:24,000 mapping

WASHINGTON STATE GEOLOGIC INFORMATION PORTAL  


Washington Geology Library      Geologic field guides online    A list of geology field trips compiled by the Washington DNR Div. of Geology

WA DNR map of the Capitol Forest   There are also links to other WA State Forest maps etc

USGS Preliminary Atlas of shallow, active, tectonic deformation in the Puget Lowland, Washington

interactive online geologic map of Oregon      in progress!

another Oregon geologic map 



go back to the table of contents      Search the Geologic Guidebooks of North America database (GIS)  


Geologic_field_guides_online

Mount Hood field guide by Scott etal, 2003

Landslides of Seattle field trip, BCC

Archive of GSA field guides since 1999 online 

Search the Geologic Guidebooks of North America database (GIS)  


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Geology_of_the_Pacific_Northwest

Rob Viens Geology of the Pacific NW page    Check out this useful page describing Rob Viens’ summer geology class

Evolution of the Pacific Northwest by John Figge 

USGS revised geologic time scale 2007




Sedimentary rocks;

USGS Bulletin 1244 on Lincoln Creek Formation in Grays Harbor CO 

The Columbia River Basalts and Oregon High Lava Plains

Watch a short Oregon Field Guide video about research on the High Lava Plains 

Selected reports of interest
Parke Snavely's Geology and coal resources of Lewis County WA... (1958) 

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 Geology_departments_Pacific_Northwest

 Central Washington Univ. Dept. of Geological Sciences        Inquire about the program or prerequisites

Western Washington University Geology           WWU advising questions

University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences         more on undergraduate admissions to UW       about transfer requirements for UW

Washington State Univ. Earth and Environmental Sciences       


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US_Geological Survey (USGS)

USGS plate tectonics videos 

USGS This Dynamic Earth 

USGS Geologic Investigations Map I-2800, This Dynamic Planet

USGS Geology of the National Parks  and more Geology of the National Parks    USGS photo library of National Parks 

USGS Earthquake Hazards, Earthquake Glossary   strike-slip fault animation    normal fault and thrust fault animations

USGS Earthquake Hazards, For Kids, Animations for Earthquake Terms and Concepts

USGS multimedia gallery 

USGS  videos and audio interviews audio podcasts on the left; video podcasts on the right

USGS talks, video, etc    Lots of interesting lectures you can listen to!   presentations about water  more interesting lectures!

USGS Water Science for Schools, Photo Gallery




3-D geology of the National Parks  You need red/blue 3_D glasses to view this.


USGS publications about diamonds:

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5256/

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3128/  

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2012/3130/

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5043/ 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5044/

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2010/5045/  

-- diamond commodity info web site:  http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/diamond/   

and yearly commodity reports: http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/mcs/  - for 2013, Diamond (Industrial) is on pages 50-51


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USGS hazards links:
USGS Earthquake Summary Posters: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/poster/

Sumatra-Andaman, 2004: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/poster/2004/20041226.php

---tsunami generation: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/sumatraEQ/

Haiti, 2010: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/poster/2010/20100112.php

Chile, 2010: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/poster/2010/20100227.php

Japan, 2011: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/poster/2011/20110311.php

USGS Water Science School, Tsunami Hazards: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/tsunamishazards.html
 
Global earthquake archive search: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/epic/ 

"Top 10" lists and maps: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/ 

To volunteer to host a seismograph, information is available at: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/monitoring/netquakes/ 
-- for example, for this last website, check out the stories under the text "NetQuakes in the News"


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USGS Projects in Afghanistan: http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/

projects listed: http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/projects 

- hyperspectral surface materials maps: http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/hyperspectral-maps  

---- press release: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3280#.UVs5zrHA8yo 

 - water: http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/water 

 products:  http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/products 

-- example, mineral reference (bibliographic) database: http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/323/ 

-- example, geospatial reference datasets: http://afghanistan.cr.usgs.gov/geospatial-reference-datasets 

--- scroll through the list to find the map coverage of interest...
o credit the U.S. Geological Survey, please refer to the following web site: http://www.usgs.gov/visual-id/credit_usgs.html 

Additional information:  http://www.usgs.gov/visual-id/image_copyright.html 


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Earth_Science_Societies

NW Geological Society/   Student memberships are $5 per year

The Geological Society of America (GSA)                    http://www.geosociety.org/

The American Geological Institute                                 http://www.agiweb.org/

The American Geophysical Union (AGU)                     http://www.agu.org/

The American Association of Engineering Geologists    http://www.aegweb.org

The Association of Women Geoscientists                      http://www.awg.org/

The Geological Society of the Oregon Country              http://www.gsoc.org/

Become a member of AGU                  Students pay only $7 per year—what a bargain! Get EOS weekly including online access to past issues!!

Become a student member of GSA       Dues are $30 per year, but benefits are huge!


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Earth_Science_Misc

About the nwearthscience listserv


Online_educational_resources

Electronic book collections via Centralia College's Kirk Library

Online periodicals via the Centralia College Kirk Library

Monterey Institute's national repository of online courses (see "view repository")     Open Educational Resources
STEM_scholarships_at_Centralia_College

SERC—The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College       SERC—The math you need, when you need it—8 great skills!
The Khan Academy—Thanks to Paul and Carol for this terrific link!


Paleontology and fossils

WA Division of Geology and Earth Resources: fossil collecting in WA   
Fossils of Washington State, Information Circular 33, 1959   This short pdf file has sketches and info on some noteworth WA fossils
Katherine Van Winkle's 1918 "Paleontology of the Oligocene of the Chehalis River Valley  a pdf paper
Washington State fossils   I found this site online, sponsored by "World of Watches". Use caution when interpreting the data, you might buy a watch!

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Reference_conversions_standards_etc

online conversions

Tera, giga, mega, kilo,hecto, deka, ---, deci, centi, milli, micro, nano       Make sense of why Ma is short for mega annum (a million years), etc

Convert degrees-minutes-seconds of latitude/longitude into decimal degrees  



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Science_software  

  Oxcal radiocarbon calibration software

     CALIB radiocarbon calibration software



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Student_opportunities

Subsurface Biosphere Initiate at Oregon State University        Summer internships. Deadline is 4/15 for 2006, but they may be flexible!

Investigating the Wenas Creek Mammoth--summer field school CWU 2006


Tech_tips
10 time-saving tech tips with David Pogue  These are great--all in a six-minute TED talk

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Tools_for_students

Student Services at Centralia College

Student web access at Centralia College       (this is the old student kiosk)

NOTE: For most students your email address will be your firstname.lastname@student.centralia.edu

i.e. john.doe@student.centralia.edu  NOTE: If you have trouble doing this, please go the computer lab on the second floor of WAH to get help! It takes but a minute or two.


Supplies_and_Books

www.maketextbooksaffordable.org –

Free graph paper on the web

Places to buy field gear: Forestry Suppliers    Ben Meadows


Tools_for_writing_science_papers  

Most important to read! (Please find info on how to do graphics below)

Geodude's tips for a better field report/science paper  Includes important guidelines; this is a MUST READ***
Field trip report tips   (geological field trip oriented--read this to see overall field trip report format, and then look at Sean Student and Fake field trip report below for ideas)
Example lab report     (Mainly this one applies to tree-ring or weather and climate field lab)
Sean Student's field trip report (hypothetical)  **This is an example of a student's report on a geology field trip (pictures did not import, and he had no references however) 
Fake field trip report outline (example)   **A hypothetical example of the format of a geology field trip report        

Rubric for grading of field reports  This is a rough guide as to how I allocate the points when grading a field trip report   
Rubric for reports--general version   Want to find out what makes and A paper different from a C paper? Check our this rubric and the one that follows
Detailed rubric for grading of papers and reports     
*

Geology info and pubs on reserve in Kirk Library Put more information into your field trip report and cite a reference!!

Want help with format and grammer? See the Writing Center info below

More info  

Writing guidelines for science and engineering students    Micheal Alley has put his whole book and more online.

40 tips to improve grammar and punctuation from the DLM site     spend a little time here and improve your grades!!!

Style guide for geology papers      This is heavy duty, because it's the official style guide for submission of papers to the Geological Society of America

US Geological Survey "Suggestions to Authors" (a classic)

 

Grammatical and usage tidbits

i.e vs e.g. Which to use?  

ALSO, PLEASE USE THE CENTRALIA COLLEGE WRITING CENTER IN KEMP 105 OR USE THE ONLINE WRITING LAB TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE WRITING CENTER VIA EMAIL!!!



Reference sites for checking on geographic or geologic names, DOI numbers, etc  

US Geologic Survey Board of Geographic Names   Check to see if a landform or place has been recognized as a Geographic Name, and if you need to capitalize it. 

GEOLEX Check geologic names, lithologic or geochronologic  

Proofreaders marks   How to figure out what that teacher or reviewer meant by all those marks and squiggles they put on the paper you wrote!

What is DOI?   While researching you may see a "digital object identifier" at the end of a reference, like this: "doi 10.1130/B25899.1"  You can go to the DOI website and type the number (not "doi") into the "RESOLVE a doi name" query box at the bottom of the DOI website to find the reference in question.


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Tools for editing or making graphics or figures  

Making graphics for field trip reports  [succinct version for people who know how to cook]  Edit digital pictures [“cookbook” version]    

How to make perspective drawings         

A cool site with info on editing the levels histogram of an image in Photoshop

See also Google Earth and Maps section above       IrfanView is a great free image viewer and editor      Irfanview on a Mac with Wine

Download Jing, a free screen capture app        gimp is a free image manipulation/editing program   Graphicconverter for Mac (not free anymore)

ImageJ Image analysis software

SERC: Analyzing change over time using ImageJ  



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Links

Pat's weather and climate links


Curious_or_amusing_dept 

Let the Jive Aces cheer you up   ...if the weather is getting you down

The Pringle Surface   Geodude suggests you check this out!

Science tatoo emporium  from Carl Zimmer's The Loom science blog

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Please direct communications about this page to ppringle    ‘at’ centralia.edu