A+Guest+Speaker

=Plate Tectonics (And other geology)=

== Hi my name is Katyana. I go to the [|Amigos School] in Cambridge, Massachusetts and I’m here to inform you about [|plate tectonics]. Not too long ago, the seventh grade invited a geologist to come to out school and to explain to us a little bit about plate tectonics, the rock cycle, the formation of the planet and geology in general.

We were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker from M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) geologist Terry Blackburn. He explained to us the facts about plate tectonics and how they work.

Have you ever thought of how mountains are formed, why tsunami occur, or why are there earthquakes? The answer is PLATE TECTONICS! Basically it’s when oceanic or continental crusts move. There’s four different ways that could happen (boundaries): Transform boundaries, which is when two plates slip past each other. Divergent boundaries, that’s when two plates move away from each other. Convergent boundaries are when two plates crash! Now, there’s two ways that can happen. Two continental crusts (plates) crash, they just keep on getting pushed until they have nowhere else to go except up. That’s what makes mountains. Then, there’s when one continental crust and one oceanic crust converges. Since the oceanic crust is heavier than the continental crust it subducts (goes under) the continental crust and goes into the mantle. Those are basically the basic facts of plate tectonics. He also taught us about the oldest rock, the planets and how they are formed and by which rock. Also about the solar system and it’s order! That’s about most of what our guest speaker Geologist Terry Blackburn taught us during his visit.

Terry Blackburn studys geology and geochemistry. In his department they do research on atmospheric, earth and planetary sciences. You can find out more about this study [|here]. A page about the studies that are done at M.I.T. More information on [|Mr. Blackburn].

This is a picture of the students experimenting with the object that Terry Blackburn has brought in for us to have some kind of hand on way to know somewhat, what the past rocks were like. We were very lucky to not only have him in our class but also to be able to hold and feel some of what he offered us. Making it easier to understand for certain paople that might need hands on to learn and understand better.