FREE ESSAY ON VISIT TO EARTH OBSERVATORY

VISIT TO EARTH OBSERVATORY

Every year the Lamont - Doherty Earth Observatory holds an open house in which scientists
share their studies and really let the public see what and how they do what they do.
Scientists at this research center are working together studying different fields of the
Geologic sciences ranging from Oceanography, Geochemistry, Seismology, and even Marine
Biology share their findings with the public. This year like every other year, they set
up deferent exhibits and share the current research, studies and illustrations of the
different Geologic processes along with their findings with anybody who is interested.
For this assignment, we were asked to describe five of the exhibits from the LDEO open
house. The five exhibits that called my attention the most were the Seismology,
Geochemistry, Oceanography, Demonstration of Hard and Soft behavior of the surface of
our, and the "Water Current Exhibit".
1- Seismology in simple terms is the study of earthquakes; it involves observations of
natural ground vibrations and artificial vibrations. In this exhibit, the scientists were
explaining how and earthquake forms and how it can be detected even hundreds of miles
away via a Seismograph. Someone asked the question what is an earthquake. And the
response was "well, it's a trembling or shaking of the ground causes by a sudden release
of energy, energy that is stored in the rocks beneath the surface". I thought that was
great so then, I asked how is this energy stored? And his explanation was very well
illustrated by a simple demonstration. There sere two bricks joined together by a rubber
band, at the end of the first brick there was a nylon thread which was being pulled
slowly. He said imagine these two bricks are two plates floating on the mantle, as one
moves slowly, it is "pulling" the rubber band that is attached to the other brick and
tension is building over time then very sudden and quickly the rubber band pulls the
brick behind it, and this is how the energy builds up and then it is released quickly.
(Drawing of bricks)
Then he had a Seismograph, a device that measures seismic waves on a table and he was
explaining how to read the intensity of the vibrations. He had first one kid jumping in
front of he seismograph, then two, then three, then four and so one and one could see the
intensity of the vibrations being recorded by the seismograph. He also talked about the
use of seismic stations all over to monitors earthquakes and artificial vibrations like
explosions, etc. The Seismology department at LDEO monitors seismic activity in the
Northeast region of the US; here is a map of the location of those seismographic
stations.
2- Geochemistry is the applications of chemical principles and techniques to geologic
studies to help us understand how chemical elements are distributed in the crust mantle
and core of the earth. Geologists have many ways of gathering data for this kind of
study, one of them is of course by taking samples and analyzing them, but in one of the
labs at LDEO I saw something I thought was very interesting. Scientists want to know 
how a mineral of a given chemical composition behaves under extreme heat and pressure
such as those found deep within the earth, but because they can not drill that deep to
take samples, they came up with the idea of building a press that could replicate
specific pressures and temperatures pretty much like those found deep within the earth.
The press is relatively simple; it uses hydraulic power to generate the pressure and a
special heater to generate tremendous amounts of heat, as much as 3000 degrees
centigrade. This press uses anvels that press the sample from eight different directions
thus increasing and redirecting the pressure exherted by the hydraulic press. By heating
and pressuring the samples, they are able to study the chemical and crystal structure of
different samples. 
The demonstration he gave was with a brass ball which he put inside the press, put the
amvels on top and then pressured it just for a brief moment and the result was a ball
with eight flat surfaces. I thought this was so interesting that I had to have the brass
ball.
3- Deep Sea Sample Repository. The LDEO has an archive of sediment and rock from the
beneath the ocean floor. This material is used for studies in oceanography, and marine
geology. Most of the core samples are from the Atlantic Ocean, and during the open house,
scientists took the time to show us how they collect the samples and how they store them.
The only ways to get core samples from the Ocean floor is by going on a ship and
physically drill the ocean floor and collect the samples.
Deep-sea cores are long cylinders of sediment taken from beneath the ocean floor, they
contain microscopic fossils of marine animals, volcanic glass, sands originally from land
(terrigenous sediments), cosmic material, and other unusual materials only found in a
marine environment which are very sensitive to temperature changes and chemical changes
in the environment and are therefore used as environmental indicators for research;
Volcanic glass is an important time marker and records geological events. Sands can
indicate oceanic currents, etc. The deep-sea samples hold a permanent record of magnetic
history letting us know about the magnetic orientation of the poles as we studied in
class.
At the Repository scientists showed us how they drill and I was able to see and touch the
actual drill bits that they use to drill the Ocean floor. In addition, we were taken to
four cold rooms were they store the core samples, they were very big and very cold, the
reason the samples are kept in a cold environment is to prevent dryness and decay from
bacteria. Here is a map with all the locations were cores have been taken for research,
notice the high concentration of locations found in the Atlantic Ocean.
(Map of locations)
4- "Hard and Soft Surface". The fourth exhibit that called my attention was the
demonstration of the sometimes hard and sometimes plastic "soft" surface of our planet.
As we studied in class, the surface of the earth is hard and plates move through it over
time, this is the basic principle of the Plate Tectonics Theory. In order for movement of
the plates to occur there has to be an underlying plastic "soft" layer (asthenosphere)
that allows the plates to move through it over time. 
In this exhibit the scientist took a very simple approach to illustrate this. He took a
bathtub, two hundred pounds of cornstarch and mixed them together to form this plastic
hard and yet soft solution that resembles the surface of our planet. I never thought this
solution was so hard, it feels just like plastic and if you try to break it, it breaks
and it feels brittle. I hit it, touched it and I asked the person if one could stand on
it and he said of course, its so hard that it can hold your weight, but if you apply
force slowly and gradually, just like the stress affects the rocks you can sink and move
through it.
This is a great experiment to try and he even gave out sheets with the recipe on how to
make this solution at home. This was a lot of fun especially for the kids.
5- "Water Currents". The fifth exhibit that I was interested in was the water convection
model. Moreover, how it illustrates ocean currents. This was a very simple model, it
consisted of a fish tank, a light bulb as a source of heat, a block of ice as a source of
cold, and some kind of die to show the water moving. 
The tank was about half way full, the light bulb was at one side of the tank pointing
down at the water, the ice was at the opposite side floating in the water, and the die
was in the middle of the tank in the bottom. I could really see the ink moving to the hot
spot and then rising again as it became less dense and then sinking again as it cooled
and became more dense. This I think was a very realistic and vivid illustration of what
really happens the oceans of our planet. As we saw in class, ocean currents are
responsible for many geological structures and erosion and this model can help us how
some currents form and how they affect the ocean floor in terms of the transportation of
sediments, etc.
(Drawing of tank)
In conclusion, this was a very positive experience that gave a broader understanding of
geology and helped me with the terms and ideas that we discuss in class. This really
helps to visualize some of the concepts like earthquakes, the surface of the earth, and
the ocean currents. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to better understand the
planet I live in.