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 Kid ConnectionThe Ocean’s Sand, A Natural Resource A publication aimed at primary and middle school children addressing the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service’s role in the management of federal sand and gravel sources. Provides information and activities concerning beaches, erosion, and environmental challenges. Created and produced by the Minerals Management Service. Beach Nourishment: How Beach Nourishment Projects Work An informational brochure produced by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers addressing beaches as a resource, beach renourishment, societal issues concerning beach nourishment, engineering aspects of nourishment projects. Created and produced by The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Projects and Ideas to Get Your Kids Involved:
Plan a field trip to a nearby creek, river, or lake with public access and preferably in a park or other public land rangers, guides or volunteers available to discuss the areas where sand and gravel accumulate. Note places where the banks are eroding and places where silt, sand, and gravel are being deposited and observe where the finest-grained and coarsest-grained materials occur. Note if any effort is being made to prevent or minimize bank erosion such as placement of rip-rap (large pieces of rock) or use of special plants and grasses.
Many sand and gravel operations have tours or will accommodate school field trips. Things to observe include what kind of material is being excavated and how did it get there, how is it processed (crushed, cleaned, and sorted by grain sizes), how many different products are produced, what are they used for, and how are they transported. Make a list of things that each student has or uses each day that have any of the products produced at the pit or quarry, such as concrete, mortar, asphalt, snow and ice treatments, mineral fillers for roofing, plastics, etc. Find out how much sand, gravel, and crushed rock are produced in your county, city area, or state, and divide by the current population to find out how much material per person is consumed each year.
Purchase a large clear plastic container, such as those used to store long garments or wrapping paper and a bucket containing a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and gravel obtained from a nearby creek or river. Add several inches of water to the plastic container and prop one end up a half inch, add some of the material from the bucket to the uppermost end, and add more water to the upper end to simulate river water movement. Observe how the materials move, much like the sediment movement in a creek or river. Try raising the container another half inch and repeat adding material and water and observe how the material moves. Continue until the container is so steep that the material moved instantly to the lower end.
This experiment is as simple as it sounds.
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Minerals and MMS: Privacy | Disclaimers | Accessibility | Topic Index | FOIA Last Updated: 12/03/2008, 12:25 PM
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Take
a field trip to the shore of a nearby creek, river, or lake to observe
accumulations of sand and gravel.
