Weather
 

George Washington Carver is most famous for his agricultural laboratory.  He was a very consistent weather watcher.  Data collected by Carver is among the earliest collected for the state.

Layers of the Atmosphere The atmosphere is divided into 4 main layers.  Some books refer to a 5th layer called the exosphere.  The Troposphere is the layer of the earth where we live and where weather occurs.  The temperature decreases in this layer as the altitude increases. The Stratosphere is the layer in which jets fly.  It is also the layer that contains the ozone layer which absorbs a lot of the radiation that comes from the sun.  Because of this, the temperature in the stratosphere rises as altitude increases. The Mesosphere is the layer in which meteors burn up.  The temperature in this layer decreases as altitude increases. The Thermosphere is the layer where auroras are found.  The atmosphere is very thin in this layer causing the temperature in this layer to be very high.

Distinguishing between Meteoroid, Meteorite and Meteor A meteoroid is a piece of rock moving through space.   A meteor, sometimes called a falling or shooting star, is a streak of light caused by a meteoroid burning up in the earths atmosphere.   A meteorite is a piece of rock that hits the earths surface.

Changing Weather
 
 

Proxy Data Proxy Data  is used to help determine what past climates were like. Some examples of proxy data are ice, ocean sediments, tree rings, written records, and pollen. The picture to the right shows a tree ring.  By examining tree rings  we can get indications about weather patters, fire, and disease.

 
 
 

Using the earth of sources of power
 
 
 

Solar and Wind  Power The harnessing of sun or wind energy for power.  Currently only 3.7 % of all power generated in Alabama comes from wind, solar and geothermal energy. How solar power works.  How tornadoes work How hurricanes work

Water Power The power of water can be manifested in many ways. The Guntersville Dam which is located northeast of Anniston has the capacity to generate 120,000 kilowatts of electricity.  In Alabama 4.7% of the power generated comes from hydropower. Water can also show its power through flooding.  The awesome power of water is a reason why fatalities due to flooding is the #1 cause of storm related deaths. Water also has amazing erosion ability.  The speed of the water in a river determines how large of particles that can be carried by the body of water.  The load of a stream describes how the material is carried in a stream.  Dissolved load describes the material in solution.  Suspended load describes fine particles such as sand, silt and clay that are carried within the water.  Bed load is the material that moved along the bottom .  Bed load can be sand, gravel or even boulder sized particles depending on the velocity of the water.

 

Plate Movement
 
 

Plate tectonics Plate tectonics refers to the movement of the lithosphere plates that ride on top of the asthenosphere.  The three types of plate boundaries are convergent, divergent and transform fault boundaries.  Alabama is not on a plate boundary but our geographic location and topography has been and will continue to be shaped by plate tectonic events.
Earthquakes Every though rocks appear unbendable, when enough stress is applied rocks can crack.  These cracks are called faults.  If a rock unit has been subjected to continued stress when the rock unit cracks it can release tremendous energy in the form of earthquakes waves. Earthquakes do occur in Alabama but they rare and not destructive.  The first picture to the right is the Jacksonville fault which is not far from Anniston.  An earthquake has never occurred at this fault. Earthquake History For Alabama
Volcanoes Volcanoes occur can occur at plate boundaries and also at hot spots.  When the eastern United States was converging volcanoes occurred along the east coast.  Evidence for these volcanoes can be found in the rock record of Alabama.  Large beds of bentonite can be found in the Ordovician aged rocks of the Chickamanga Limestone  is found in Dekalb county which is northeast of Anniston.

Rocks and Minerals
The Anniston museum has many mineral samples which are on loan from the Smithsonian Museum.
 
 

Minerals A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic, solid with a definite crystal structure and chemical composition.  A mineral can be determined by using its properties.  Some examples of mineral properties are luster, cleavage, streak, hardness, taste, magnetism, fracture and double refraction.
Minerals of Alabama Halite- Beds of halite can be found in Clarke county where a shallow body of water was cut off which allowed the water to evaporate leaving behind the salt.  Calcite- This mineral reacts violently to hydrochloric acid.  It is found in many places in Alabama Goethite- Commonly know as pig iron.  This metallic mineral is very common in central Alabama Hematite- This mineral is a red iron ore and the official mineral for the state.  It is found is central and northeastern sections of Alabama	Goethite                                                         Hematite
Rocks There are three types of rocks. Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks form from the cooling of molten material Sedimentary form from the compaction and cementation of sediments. Metamorphic form from added heat and pressure. Each rock has the possibility to turn into another rocks type if it is exposed to the right conditions.  This is called the rock cycle.

Fossils
 
 

Fossils Fossils form in sedimentary rock.  Most of the fossil remains found in Alabama are marine organisms.

Main Fossils by Time Period for Alabama Cambrian- Although the main fossil of the Cambrian Period is the trilobite, they are not very abundant in Alabama rocks with the exception of the Conasauga Formation in Cherokee County. Ordovician- the brachiopod. Silurian- brachiopod, cephalopods, eurypterid (top carnivore). Devonian -not well exposed, few animal fossils, the fossil record comtains some plants such as club mosses. Mississippian- Echinoderms and Bryozoa Pennsylvanian- Alabama was covered with coal swamped  making fossilization of animals difficult.  Main plants that for found from this time period are Calamites, Lepidodendron and fern like plants. Permian- no rocks of Permian age have been found in Alabama.  This is called an unconformity because there is a gap in time between the Pennsylvanian period and the late Triassic period.  There are no major fossil assemblages until the Cretaceous Period. Cretaceous- Alabama contains some of the worlds best fossils from this time period.  Examples of typical fossils are oysters, gastropods, sharks teeth, cephalopods, mosasaur, plesiosaur, and turtles.  Other fossils include, duck billed dinosaurs, Albertosaurus, Ichthyornis. The trees found during this time show no annual ring structure.  This suggests that there was very little variation in climate. Tertiary- Gastropods, Bivalves, and vertebrates.  The state fossils the Basilosaurus was a large primitive whale which are very common in Clarke county.

Bivalve                                  Echinoderm Cephalopod                                           Basilosaurus

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