Friday 23 May 2008

Quarry or not?

Obviously you've had rather more pressing things on your minds, and I am glad to hear that the exams seem to have gone pretty well...

Now is the time, however, to get your "application" in for the Quarry or Not? day at the BGS. I've had more details from them now, and it promises to be a great day... geographically, socially and UCAS-form-ly!!

Look at the previous posts for the report from last year's event and the "trailer"...

And then, either on paper to Mr Bradley or me, or by email to me... tell us - in 50 words or fewer - why you should come with us... 8 places only!!!

Sunday 11 May 2008

USA tornadoes

Lots of tornadoes in the USA in the past few days...

An In Pictures from the BBC, and a report and video footage of tornadoes that have killed at least 18 people in Oklahoma and Missouri here.

And according to this report on the Oklahoma state website, there were hailstones the size of baseballs!

Friday 9 May 2008

Today...

Podsols and brown earths
Reminder that you need to know about podsols and brown earths... You must be able to talk about the climatic conditions in which you would find each of the two types of soil, the processes that lead to the formation of the two types of soil... and be able to sketch soil profiles for them both. Don't forget to look at the Macaulay Institute posters...

BGS - Quarry or Not?
Forgot to mention to you today that I had an email about the Quarry or Not? event at the British Geological Survey. We've decided that, to make things as fair as possible, you need to "apply". It is important that the people we take with us are prepared to work hard and to participate fully in the day's events...

Check out the report from last year's event, and the "trailer", and if you are still interested, tell us - on paper, or by email to me - in 50 words or fewer, why you should come with us... before 1st June.

Exams, etc.
Tuesday p1 - H5 (unless there's a room swap)... going through some questions for GGA3 resits.
Wednesday p3 and Friday p5... come and see me if you want to go through things/revise...

I have meetings on Mondays, and GCSE stuff Tue and Thu after school, but Wed and Fri are fine, as are lunchtimes...

Email (school emails... type vel into address bar) if you need to...

Remember to use the resources on here, and on Val's HigherGeogBlog...

Don't forget what we said about the structure of the exams:
GGA1 (physical) - one hour... three questions - one on each topic, each worth 20 marks, answer all of them...
GGA2 (human) - one hour... three questions - one on each topic, each worth 20 marks, answer all of them...
Whilst it's still worth you looking at all the past papers that are available, only the 2007 papers have the same structure as the papers you will get.


Most importantly though:

GOOD LUCK!!

Tornadoes...

Forgot this before, I think!! Sorry!

Selection of links relating to the London tornado of 2006:
• 6 hurt as tornado hits London http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6217514.stm
• Tornado Families being rehoused http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6162225.stm
• Battered Homes to be demolished http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6220000.stm
• After the Dust has settled http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6161453.stm
• In Pictures: Trail of Destruction http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6217898.stm
• Claiming for the Tornado Damage http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6220380.stm
• Animated Guide - Tornadoes http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/5328524.stm
• Tornado Victim’s Future uncertain http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6220420.stm

(Thanks again to Rob Chambers for these.)

Also check out The Tornado Project Online.

And lots of others... let me know if you spot a particularly good link.

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Soil Texture Graphs...

I have misplaced the link to the soil texture graph that we looked at today... But I have found one which is better...

http://courses.soil.ncsu.edu/resources/physics/texture/soiltexture.swf

Have fun!

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Soils and Succession

The Macaulay Institute have produced an excellent set of posters looking at soils - they are pdf files, so should be ok to print out for your notes...

Soils
Brown Earths
Podzols
Soil Terminology

There are also some on succession - two on Sand Dunes here and here, and two on Moorland here and here.

(Remember that you do not need this much detail about sand dunes at AS, but it will be useful for you to have a quick look at - and save for next year!)

Palm Oil

We mentioned today - but didn't go into too much detail about - PALM OIL...

Just spotted this excellent and comprehensive post on Melanie Richards' Gorgeous Geography blog. It is aimed at her Year 8s, but there is plenty there that should be of use and interest to you as well...

Cyclone Nargis

Further to our conversations today, there is a list here of links related to Cyclone Nargis that Rob Chambers has put together:

New Articles:
Hundreds killed by Burma Cyclone (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7382298.stm Burma Cyclone death toll rises to 351 http://itn.co.uk/news/74c8a9044360daa87e25538c06fe3bdd.html Burma Cyclone kills more than 350 people (Daily Telegraph) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/1 926897/Burma-cyclone-kills-more-than-350-people.html Death toll rises in devastating Burma Cyclone (ABC News) http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/05/2234974.htm Hundreds feared dead in Myanmar Cyclone http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/04/myanmar.cyclone/?iref=hpmostpop Over 350 dead as cyclone pounds Myanmar http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSBKK1919620080504?feedType=RSS&feedName=top News Myanmar cyclone kills at least 351 http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.c3d3441dc4f2f005fe9687f85725a30b. 811.html Cyclone leaves at least 350 dead in Burma (Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/05/burma.naturaldisasters Aid effort for cyclone-hit Burma http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7383573.stm Burma cyclone damage assessed http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Burma-cyclone-damage-assessed-249930073.html Burma Cyclone - Eyewitness Reports http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7383821.stm

Images:
Nargis Cyclone http://www.flickr.com/photos/tza/2463807874/ Cyclone Nargis map http://www.flickr.com/photos/chanmyasoe/2463112092/ In Pictures: Burmese Cyclone (BBC News) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7382836.stm In Pictures: Burmese clean up http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7383733.stm

Videos:
ITN – Burma Cyclone Video http://itn.co.uk/videos/a8d2efc7f141912790b8bc7bd8b035a4.html Cyclone batters Myanmar’s main city Yangon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4NjDAKLxo4 Hundreds die in Myanmar Cyclone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUcL1mHYYMo Burma Must allow agencies in (Video from the BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7382685.stm


I've just seen on the BBC News that the death toll has now risen to more than 22,000 and that there are still more than 40,000 people missing. There are suggestions that the damage is on a similar scale to that of the 2004 tsunami.

There are also concerns that the military rulers of Burma were not prepared, initially at least, to accept international aid http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7385205.stm, although it seems that the World Food Programme have now been allowed into Burma and are distributing food.

If you are wondering about the Burma/Myanmar thing, this should clear things up http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm