WMU Department of Geosciences MGRRE (Michigan Geological Respository for Research and Education) is a subsurface rock core repository, a research laboratory and an educational resource. CoreKids K-12 Earth Science Outreach Program visits with thousands of students and teachers in southwest Michigan each year to excite them about Michigan geology, natural resources and other topics.
A giant incomplete bulls-eye is centered on the state of Michigan. Extending into Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ontario, this annular pattern outlines the Michigan Basin, a bowl-shaped structure of uncertain origin that contains over 4 km of inward-dipping Paleozoic strata and a veneer of Jurassic sedimentary rocks. This mysterious basin is located in the tectonically less active interior of the continent, between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains. It subsided rapidly from Cambrian to Silurian time as it filled with shallow-water marine sediments, some of which host deposits of petroleum, coal, and salt.
Higher level learning:
One hour lecture about the Michigan Basin, by a geological expert, Jim Wood:
This lecture will help you understand the bullseye and the basin! Get popcorn and enjoy?
Downloads
Porosity/Permeability Graphing
Misconceptions:
1.Fossil fuels are found in underground lakes and pools
2.Fossil fuels originate from dinosaurs
3.Energy is a fuel
4.There is nothing we can do to reduce the effects of natural hazards
5.If we run out of oil and gas we will just find more
6.Even though most coal found in nature is the altered remains of prehistoric vegetation that originally accumulated in swamps and peat bogs, mankind can make coal so we will never run out
7.Earth’s resources are not finite- there is an endless supply of water, petroleum, and mineral resources. All we have to do is explore to find them
8.A substance that undergoes combustion ceases to exists, having been converted into heat and energy (students may classify heat as a unique entity).
9.The Earth can absorb and neutralize any amount of waste and pollution over time.
Visiting Experts:
Read Chapters 4 & 10
