Glaciers Activities

1. Discussion with some of your school friends who are not taking Earth science reveals that they cannot imagine a 2 kilometer-thick sheet of ice, nor do they see evidence that such ice sheets covered the northern Northeast. The school newspaper editor suggests you write a persuasion piece, showing the evidence for glaciation. You bring this topic up with your teacher, who explains that Louis Agassiz, a Harvard professor originally from Europe, had to undertake a similar challenge in the mid-19th century when he suggested that features left behind by glaciers he'd seen in Europe caused features he saw in New York State.

   Compile evidence for glaciation in the Northeastern United States. How do glacial features vary from place to place? Suggest a travel route for interested individuals to see glacial features in the northeast. 

2. Someone from the local newspaper, seeing your article, was sufficiently intrigued to suggest that you write an article for their newspaper. He suggested that you focus your article on features that can be seen relatively locally, within about an hour's drive of your home. 

   Write another article, this time to the local newspaper referring to specific local evidence. 

3. USA Today, taking note of your fine article, asks that you write an article with national appeal. They suggest you contrast three areas of the northeast: northern areas that have been "flattened" by lake sediments, features along the margin of the glacier, and areas south of the glacier.

   Choose three localities and write an article describing what is going on in each of the three localities through time, starting with: 

   1. the maximum extent of the last glaciation,
   2. the receding of the glacier and what it leaves behind, and
   3. what influences we see at the surface today (especially as they relate to the settlement and economy of people living there.)