plate tectonics – Adventures in Oceanography and Teaching

Mid-Atlantic Ridge

mglessmer — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 04:00:16 +0000

The Mid-Atlantic Ridge above sea level in Iceland. On my recent trip to Iceland, I had to seize the opportunity to take pictures of plate tectonics at work. Imagining oceanic plates drifting apart is quite difficult, and Iceland is one of the few places in the world where a mid-oceanic ridge reaches above the water […]

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Hydrothermal springs

mglessmer — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 03:55:11 +0000

Hydrothermal springs that you can visit without a deep-sea submersible. When teaching about hydrothermal springs, I usually use a video a friend of mine took of hydrothermal vents on the mid-Atlantic ridge on the WHOI submersible Alvin. But being on Iceland now, there is much better material available which students can even go and experience […]

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How mountains form

mglessmer — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:38:07 +0000

A very simple visualization of rock folding. See? When I said “very simple” I meant “very simple”. But it does help explain why sometimes rock layers are not nice and horizontal. This demo works really well with a piece of paper towel, too, especially if that is grabbed from a dispenser in the lecture theatre […]

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