The National Marine Sanctuary Program identifies, designates and manages areas of the marine environment of special national significance due to their conservation, recreational, ecological, historical, research, educational, or aesthetic qualities. Access information and pictures of marine sanctuaries all over the U.S. and its territories. Discover ways to get involved with the sanctuary program, ... Full description.

Classroom activities based on how scientists study active volcanoes on the deep ocean floor. Activities include: locating an earthquake epicenter, recording geological and biological information during an ocean floor traverse, creating cross-section profiles of the ocean floor, and graphing seafloor data. Resources include videos and teacher guides. Full description.

Set of six interdisciplinary lesson plans from the Smithsonian, complementing their online "Ocean Planet" exhibit. Topics include: ocean bottom features and seafloor mapping; marine habitats and biodiversity; consumer goods from the ocean; oil spills impacts and solutions; causes of marine strandings; ocean-inspired vocabulary. Units contain: background; instructions for the teacher; maps, data and ... Full description.

This site by a Norwegian researcher features descriptions of marine geological formations: pockmarks, mud volcanoes, deep-water coral reefs, and gas hydrates. Using ROV technology, he has taken photos of these deep seafloor features, and compares them to geological structures seen on land, and even on the moon. Full description.

This collaborative project uses sand to teach an earth science unit, engaging science, language arts, math and other skills. Explains sand origins and composition, provides mineralogy background and sand analysis worksheet for students. Compares sands worldwide, with sites from different countries and an extensive gallery of sand microphotography. Includes audio recordings and explanations of musical ... Full description.

Unit from Smithsonian multidisciplinary ocean curriculum. Lesson plan focuses on ocean bottom features including continental shelf, deep ocean plain, and mid-ocean ridges. Students study the discovery and mapping of seafloor features, learn to read seafloor maps, then create a map of Atlantic seafloor features. Unit includes: background essay; teacher instructions; maps and forms for student activity; ... Full description.

Waves, wind and currents shape the beach, redistributing tons of sand each day. Students measure the beach profile, from dunes to water line, using simple materials and a field method that simulates the way marine scientists and coastal geologists study beaches. Lesson plan includes background, vocabulary and definitions, procedures, data sheet with diagrams, detailed instructions and formula for ... Full description.

Using simple materials and field methods, students can measure the speed of longshore current. Includes background, vocabulary and definitions, procedures, data sheet with formula for calculating results. Extensions investigate the effect of longshore current on sand movement, and the impact of groins and seawalls on wave action and sand movement. Designed for New Jersey, applicable to any shoreline. ... Full description.

Interdisciplinary curriculum introduces the scientific process, experimental design and data analysis. Units on plate tectonics, hydrothermal vents, ridge visualization, surveying deep sea organisms. Students become the scientists, developing proposals for at-sea investigations, teacher coordinates submission to researchers studying the East Pacific Rise. Students retrieve, organize, analyze and report ... Full description.

Chronicles of an expedition to collect a black smoker sulfide chimney from the Juan de Fuca Ridge off the Washington-Oregon coast. Explains what black smokers are, where they occur, and their importance. Provides brief descriptions of vent-associated organisms and the vessels and submersibles. Includes: 3 classroom activities focused on the technology and engineering of ocean exploration; expedition ... Full description.