This site provides statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of minerals and materials essential to the U.S. economy and to national security. The database is searchable by commodity, country, state, or keyword. Links to a variety of related topics and publications are included. Full description.

In this activity, the Earth's crust and mantle are compared to the shell and insides of a boiled egg. A computer simulation is provided in which students can click and drag crustal "plates" to form various types of plate boundaries. Brief descriptions of the boundary types accompany the simulation. Full description.

This site presents a summary of current volcanic eruptions and images and videos of volcanoes on Earth. Discussions of the characteristics of volcanism on other worlds in our solar system are also presented and are accompanied by maps and imagery. Links to volcano observatories, parks, and monuments around the world are also included. Full description.

This page of text, from the US Geological Survey's Geology in the Parks website, discusses the difference between weathering and erosion. Full description.

Visitors to this site can access a brief description of what a well is and how it works. Topics include the basic types of wells, well construction, and tips on preventing contamination of wells. Full description.

Visitors to this site can learn about the theory of plate tectonics, the history of its development, and the mechanisms that drive the formation, movement, and destruction of continents and tectonic plates. A selection of animations depicts the movements of crustal plates and continents through time. Each animation is accompanied by an interactive time scale that provides links to descriptions of ... Full description.

This tutorial will help students learn and understand the concepts of geologic time and the age of the Earth. They will investigate the geologic time scale and learn about the use of index fossils and radiometric dating to determine the age of rock formations and fossils. Full description.

Teachers or students may access an extensive selection of hands-on activities involving a range of science topics such as chemistry, optics, sound, electricity, and flight. The activities include lists of easily available materials, instructions, and brief discussions of the concepts being demonstrated. Full description.

This site provides information on the vast collection of deep-sea core samples that are stored in Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's (LDEO) facility in Palisades, New York. Materials presented here include a summary of how cores are taken, processed, and stored, some results of examinations of cores, a searchable database of the cores themselves, and a sample history database. Full description.

During most of the last one billion years the globe had no permanent ice. However, sometimes large areas of the globe were covered with vast ice sheets. Users can read and view pictures which help explain what ice ages are, when they occurred, and why they occur. This site, sponsored by the Illinois State Museum, has links to web pages on paleontology of the midwestern United States during the last ... Full description.