MARCH 2009 | VOLUME 001

The

The
2
|
MARCH
|

|
Ge
|
olo

0
gy
Tim
es

0
 If Rock Monsters Existed…. – by

9
Edward Abramskey…………………….…

…………………….….………….page 11

Rocks: A Photo Album – by Katie

Boyce………………………………….………
Volu …………………………………...page 12
me
Reviews on the Run – by Chase
001
Russell…………………………………………

…….…………………………….…page 18

Weathering – by Aaron Brown /

Letters to the Editor – by Max Tsunamis – by Teanne Clements………

Hanson……………………………………… …………………………………page 19

………………………………….……….page
1
2

Australia: A Scientific Travel Guide – Letters to the

Editor
by Celestina Tanase ………………………

……………………..………page 5
by Maxwell Richard Hanson a.k.a.
The Ring of Fire – by Ciara Javier……… Snake

…………………………………………………

……………………………….page 8

Earth’s Layers – by Eric Gauthier………

…………………………………………………

………….……….…...………page 9

Fossils: The Oldest Things in the World

Snake answers some of your FAQs
– by Joshua Lu………………………………
below.
…………………….….page 10
Q: Hey snake, I was wondering if you
could tell me if there are any big Q: Is it possible to
geysers around Vancouver. Susie Qu have a tsunami in
Vancouver, BC Vancouver? Harold Greene
Victoria, BC

A: Not really, but if you’re really

interested, Yellowstone Park has tons
A: If Vancouver were to
experience a major
of them.
earthquake we would
most likely encounter a
tsunami, so watch out!
You know, one did
Q: 2 happen in Port Alberni!
How
are Q: What in the name of my great
stalac grandmother are ice cores for? It’s
tites just water!
A: Sometimes you can tell history!
Some of the cores are ice from millions
of years ago!
(Older than your great grandmother,
possibly!)

formed? Jim Fegall Toronto, ON

A: Stalactites are formed when water

carves out a cave and big spikes are
left.

Q: What dangers does going into

mines or caves have? Melanie Benche
Calgary, Alberta

A: There are many dangers actually.

You could die of carbon monoxide
poisoning, cave-ins, even rabid
animals! You’d be best to stay away
from those suckers!

Thanks everyone for asking questions!

Keep them coming. You never know
when your question may be answered.

3

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia
Australia:
A Scientific Travel Guide
Australia is well known for its
Explore Oz and allkangaroos
its mysterious rock
and croc hunter Steve Irwin, but
formations on thiswhat
visual tour
is it that of this
makes thecountry so worth
land down under.seeing? Well, it could be anything ranging
from the famous Wave Rock to the Sydney
Opera House. Read on to learn about some
By Celestina Tanase
more great places in Australia that are visit-
worthy.
One of Australia’s most famous sites is
Wave Rock. Wave Rock is one of the biggest
and oldest rocks in Australia; it is over 2
million years old. From looking at the picture
you can tell that it is a humongous wave
made of earth waiting for that splash that will
never
come. At the top, the
wave is connected to
flat land. When people
go to see the wave they
usually walk alongside
or on the wave. At the
top people usually have a picnic after their
long walk on or alongside the wave. It is also
a very famous sight in Australia. It is located
 Purnulu is another beautiful
sight in Australia. This sight is
Planning a trip to Australia?
now a national park. Another
You might want to know what the
name given to this park is the weather’s like. Here’s a table to help you
Bungle Bungles. Scientifically, with your vacation plans.

it is a 3,000 square-kilometre Season Temperature

sandstone plateau. Purnululu Winter +10-+15°C
itself means sandstone. Spring +30-+40°C
Summer +40-+50°C
Autumn +15-+25°C
Fun Fact: When the Earth was
in Pangaea form Australia was
The Devil’s
colder thanMarbles are a lot of rocks
the Antarctic!
balancing on other rocks. What you
see in the picture is just
a few rocks out of a lot.
These boulders spread
out for miles! Some
tourists like to climb up
in the middle of the rocks and use the two
rocks to be able to balance in between. The
aboriginals believed that the rocks were eggs
laid by the rainbow serpent, a powerful
ancestor who helped create life on Earth.

5
 Find whatever you need at

6 Cadby’s caving emporium!

Where the adventure really begins…
 yourself thinking of 452 es and Indonesia

T something great to do
over your vacation,
then the Ring of Fire
volcanoe
s and is
home to
before curving back to
New
southwest
Guinea, the
Pacific
Expedition Tour is right about islands and New

h
for you. During this 75% of Zealand. It is a band of
trip you will be cruising the volcanoes and fault
to these 4 different world’s lines circling the edges
locations around the active of the pacific, and 90%

e
world: Japan, and of the world’s
Washington (state), dormant earthquake and 80%
the Philippines, and volcanoe of the world’s largest
Mexico. While you are s. The earthquake occurs
there you will be ring of along the ring of fire.

Ri checking
volcanoes/mountains
that have
out

erupted
along the ring of fire.
fire runs
along
Chile,
northwar

n
These ds along
volcanoes/mountains the
are: Mt. Fuji (Japan) Mt. South
Pinatubo (Philippines), America

g
Mt. St. Helens n coast
(Washington), and Mt. through
Paricutin (Mexico). Central
America,
Mexico,

of the west
coast ofBlood Diamond stars Leonardo
the
and the
US
Dicaprio and Djimon Honsou.

Fi
southern “Blood Diamond is one of the
part ofgreatest movies of all time!”
Alaska,
through Available on DVD and Blu-
Ring of Fire: Ray.

re
the
8 Aleutian
The ring of fire or
Islands
sometimes called the
to Japan,
“circum pacific belt”
the
B Y: is a direct result of
Philippin
C IARA Plate tectonics and
JAVIER the collision and
movement of crustal
If you
plates. It has about
find
 layer. The thinnest part of the crust is
Earth’s Layers the Ocean. The upper part of the
mantle is cooler then the
By Eric Gauthier bottom/middle. The deep mantle is
very hot because it’s on top of the
outer core. There for it makes the
mantle and crust move slowly.

93

The oldest
things in
the world
BY: JOSHUA LU

WHAT ARE
FOSSILS?
Fossils are the
remains of
plants and
animals that
lived a long
time ago. The
fossils may
look like when
the plant or
animal was
alive but now

FOSSI
have changed
to stone.
The Crust is about 5 – 30 miles thick.
The mantle is about 1800 miles thick.
The outer core is about 1300 miles
thick. The inner core is 800 miles LS:
thick. The crust is a thin rocky skin
 preserved in tells the years ago. So
permafrost. history of fossils are
changes to life very useful.
on Earth. It is
important
because it
shows what
type of
FOSSIL OF THE
animals and
TRICERATOPS
plants lived on
Earth
WHERE ARE hundreds of
HOW ARE millions of
FOSSILS
FOSSILS FOUND?
rock monsters?
FORMED?
Fossils are
Fossils can be
found 10 IF Our highly
educated teams
ROCK
rock-like casts, everywhere!
impressions, They can be of scientists are
or actual found deep trying to find
remains of
organisms
underground,
under water,
MONST out if the Lego
Miners are in
that were or as high as grave danger
covered by mountains. ERS on their journey
sediment
when they EXISTE to the core of
the Earth in
died, before able to find the
they could D... valuable
decompose. crystals hidden
BY: EDWARD
There are there.
ABRAMSKEY
several
processes that If these
$299.9
H
can create idden deep supposed rock
fossils: in the monsters did
Internment: 9! exist they
This is wouldReal need
jadeto
preservation beads, silver clasp. eat rare
by covered minerals or
with mud, soil crystals that are
and sand. FOSSILS only
Only found
at Bob’sin
Replacement: the center of
STORY
Cell walls can the earth. Many
be replaced by Fossils can tell
us a lot of scientists
minerals. Earth is the
things. For believe they
Refrigeration: Earth’s core, a
example: the would eat the
Animals and ball of fire or
fossil record many crystals
plants can be the home of evil
that are Doc, the leader crystals. temperatures.
thought to be of the team, is Sometimes, he He loves
around the determined to isn’t sure if he building stuff
Earth’s core. I find out what believes in rock and gets really
know what you lies underneath monsters at all. mad if his
might be the earth and But we’ll have things get
thinking. Is this discover all of to wait and find sabotaged. So
safe? The its secrets. He out. in other words
scientists has traveled to he loves all of
Brains, a
building their every part of his creations.
famous
vehicles and the world and
scientist who The Earth’s
equipment sure this trip will
would like to core is believed
hope so. exceed all his
know if these to be solid and
expectations.
If they were to “Rock made up of
He isn’t scared
accomplish Monsters” exist iron. “It will be
of anything (or
building a and if possible a tough cookie
so he says) and
machine that to capture one to crack,” says
will take on
could drill of these Rock top engineer
whatever that
through the Monsters to Rex. We won’t
comes his way.
Earth and examine. He is know what it’s
survive the hot Duke, a veteran fascinated by like to go
magma, they miner, has dug the Earth’s core through
would have to for gold and and everything something like
think of the other treasures about it and is that since it will
easiest way to around the ready to see it be the first time
get to the world. He’s firsthand. this will happen
mantle. Our survived floods, and a top
Rex, the main
scientists think cave-ins, and achievement
engineer for the
that the easiest other dangers for mankind.
power miners
way to get to that can
and builds his
the mantle happen in
machines to
would be mines. He’s Facts on the
withstand even
through a really an iron
volcano or man! He’s
the Earth’s Core:
hottest
through an never seen
The Earth’s core is the size of
underwater anything like
the moon and it is made of iron.
trench. the crystals
that Doc
Let’s meet the
team for this
brave and
showed him
and the tales of Rocks: A
daring
expedition.
the alleged rock
monsters that Photo Album by 11
live there Katie Boyce
guarding the
There are many different types of
rocks on the surface of the earth.
Here are just some of the rocks
that you might find.

Quartz
Pyrite (a.k.a. Fool’s
Gold)
12

Quartz has many different variations

of colours. They can be purple, green,
rose, colourless and some other
colours too. They are very hard, and
have all different sizes. Because they
are so beautiful, they are very
expensive.
Jade
As you can see, pyrite looks pretty
hard. People who thought that were
right. Pyrite can sometimes be as hard
as quartz, but sometimes it is slightly
softer. Pyrite has a beautiful yellowish-
gold feature to it, which makes it as
beautiful as it is. It is also known as
“fool’s gold” because some people
mistake it for gold.

Jade is
mostly
known
to be
green,
but it Graphite
also has very different colors as well.
Jade can be smooth when found or
very rough. Most jewellers have to
deal with sanding and shaping it.
 Graphite is a rock, but
not one of the
prettiest. It is a rock
that is only black. It
does not vary. It is
pretty soft, compared
Galena
to other rocks such as
quartz and has a very nice touch to
jewelry.
Galena is gray as you can see,
and all rocks have streaks,
mostly different colors, but
galena’s streaks are gray too.
But even when people think that
makes it plain, it can still be
different shades of gray. Galena
is still very pretty, even though it is all
gray.

Halite
13

Calcite

14

Calcite is a very unique type of rock.

Look at its textures! I don’t think these
Halite can be a very pretty color of were sanded yet, and they look
rose, and can also be solid white. beautiful!
Halite isn’t one of the super hard
rocks. Sometimes when people see
Halite as rose, they will think it is a
different type of rock.
Serpentine

Biotite

Shades of green on serpentine rock

are truly different. From photos I have
seen, every serpentine rock is
different, and that is good because
people probably won’t get bored of
looking at different pictures.
Biotite is very plain. It looks like one of
the rocks you would find in gravel, but
sometimes they are expensive. Who
would’ve known that?

Feldspar Pyrrhotite

Look at this rock!

It is extraordinary!
Pyrrhotite (as you
can see) is yellow
and brown
Feldspar is one of my favorites. You looking. Pyrrhotite has very unique
might think it is ugly but this rock has designs. With streaks of black and
a really nice color. Green, gray, colors that blend together nicely,
brownish and pink sometimes! pyrrhotite is one of the prettiest rocks
out there.

Magnetite 15
Hematite
Hematite is a rock that you will
commonly see on jewellery. With its
nice smooth shape you can create, it
makes a really fancy or casual piece of
jewellery.

Magnetite has very weird shaped and

looking rocks. Sometimes a rock will
have more than one color.
16

Reviews on
the Run with Chase
Russell
 Journey to the Centre of18
the
Earth: Book vs. Movie

Rating:

• The best part is going down

the hill in the T-Rex head.
• Good sleepover movie? I
would say it is a good
sleepover movie because it is
cool to watch.
• Worthy of a sequel? You bet!
• Special Effects ? The T-
Rex/the birds/ Venus fly trap

Did you know…?

-The book was inspired by Charles's of 1863.

-Lyell's book also influenced Louis's Geological

Evidences of the Antiquity of Man 1867 second
edition of La Terre avant le déluge which
included dramatic illustrations of savage men
and women wearing animal skins and wielding
stone axes, in place of the Garden of Eden
shown in the 1863 edition.

Some parts are not as

real as they seem…
• The T- Rex has been extinct for a long time.
• The birds that glow a light blue are not even
real.
• The venus fly trap cannot even get that big in
the real world.
• The fish that fly out of the water are not alive.
• The cell phone would not work down in the
center of the earth.
WEATHERING____ TSUNAMIS_____
BY AARON BROWN BY TEANNE CLEMENTS

h
emical weathering occurs when 2001
there is a chemical reaction With
between surface
water, air or wave or
another substance and moment
the material and
rocks. A good magnitudes
example is acid rain. greater than or equal to 6.5
and
with a depth of 100 km.

2002 -This was the biggest

tsunami of the

i
ological weathering is aided by 2000nds; it killed 5000 people
living things such as plants animals and it cost
and micro organisms. An example is 3 million to repair.
plants growing out of the sidewalk
when you walk to school.

2003 - This tsunami took down

cars, houses and people.

2004 - Tsunami strikes Thailand

and kills 300 people and 80
livestock.

h
ysical weathering is caused by a
physical force such as ice, wind,
or water. In example, roads 2005
break down over
Tsunami strikes hotel in Arugam,
a period of time
Sri Lanka.
from water, ice
and snow.

2007

Tsunami hits beach side in

southern Java villages.
19