July Cub Scout Roundtable Issue

Volume 6, Issue 11

Sea To Shining Sea (Webelos Aquanaut & Geologist)

WEBELOS

Geologist is another easy badge if you work only on the minimum requirements. It provides an opportunity to bring in an expert. The expert can be a person or a video. For this badge use illustrations. Use paper to show mountains uplifting or baking soda and vinegar to make a volcano. This is one of the badges that seems to be oriented toward increasing the boys’ awareness of the outdoors. While working on this badge, the boys will learn how the earth is formed, how rocks and minerals are used and how a geologist works. The Webelos Scout book contains information on volcanoes, geysers and the formation of mountains so that the boys will acquire a fairly good knowledge with only a little assistance. To most ten-year-old boys, the study of geology will not sound too exciting. Rocks, for most boys of this age, are for throwing. But the fact is, geology can be fun. Most boys have a rock collection. This natural curiosity about rocks can make this a natural starting point for the Geologist activity badge. If you can locate a rock hound in your pack or community, he can help the boys with some of the technical aspects of geology and study of rocks and minerals.

1. Take a treasure hunt for rocks and minerals.

2. Start a collection of geologic materials used in home construction. Make a display for pack meeting.

3. Visit a geology exhibit, department, museum or collection.

4. Tour a quarry, mine or gravel pit. Look for fossils.

Do NOT go alone to any of these places. Get permission from the owner. Try to get someone who is familiar with the quarry, mine, or gravel pit to take you. Be sure to follow safety precautions.

5. Visit an industry that uses geological materials.

6. Visit and watch the seismograph for earthquake activities.

7. Make a mineral hardness kit.

8. Have a demonstration of a rock tumbler.

9. Make a buckskin nugget pouch to carry rocks. This will complete a Craftsman requirement.

10.Have a contractor come to talk to boys about minerals used in home building such as slate, limestone, brick marble, cement, and gypsum.

11.Visit a jeweler’s shop.

True or False

1. The principal ore of the metal lead is galena. (T)

2. Overflowing lava always makes mountains. (F)

3. Petrified wood is an unusual type of fossil. (T)

4. A knife blade can easily scratch feldspar. (F)

5. Sandstone is igneous rock made of cold magma. (F)

6. Scientists record earthquakes on a quakograph. (F)

This is played as regular tag, except that the players must be touching an object made from minerals to be safe.

How many minerals or rocks can be made from letters in Baden-Powell’s name.

Before going on your field trip, be sure and turn in your tour permit and get permission slips from the parents. You will need to be aware of the clothing you wear. You will need to bring lunch, water, collecting bag, notebook labels, tools, goggles and face shields and a FIRST AID KIT.

Clothes: Wear old comfortable clothes you would wear hiking. Ankle high hiking shoes will help prevent bruises from contact with sharp stones. Collecting bag: A knapsack type collecting bag is ideal. Use one with pockets to hold maps, notebooks, small tools and labels. Use lunch-size brown bags to hold specimens. Take along newspaper to wrap the rocks in first.

As you collect each specimen, give it a number. Put the labels on the rock before you wrap it up. In a small pocket notebook list the following information:

Name:

Location:

Date:

Collector:

Later at home you can enter the information in your permanent record.

Tools:

1. Hammers: A geologist hammer weighing 1-2 pounds is a practical hammer to take along on your expedition.

2. Chisels: 1 or more steel chisels are essential collecting tools. Do NOT use wood working chisels, at they become dull and nicked quickly.

3. Magnifiers: A good hand lens or pocket magnifier will help you identify many characteristics of rocks.

4. Compass: A good compass is an invaluable tool. Learn how to use one to keep from getting lost.

5. Goggles & Face Shields:

These are important pieces of safety equipment to use while hammering. Your eyes will thank you.

First Aid Kit:

Any trip away from home requires a first aid kit. Keep one handy.

1. Ask for permission before going on private property.

2. Don’t meddle with tools, machinery or animals.

3. Leave gates as you found them.

4. Stay on roads, don’t walk or drive over growing crops.

5. Take only what you will use for yourself, leave something for others after you. Be courteous and considerate of the rights of others, and leave things as you found them as much as possible.

Stalagmites are mineral formations on the floor of a cave.
2 cups water, 1/2 cup Epsom salts, heavy cord, tray or board

Directions:
Into a cup of water stir 1/2 cup of Epsom salts.

1. After all of the salt is dissolved, pour 1/2 of the solution into a second cup.

2. Set the 2 cups about 4-5 inches apart on a tray or a board.

3. Attach a piece of heavy cord into the solution in one cup. (Be sure this is cord that will absorb liquid. A piece of cloth twisted until it is rope -like will also work.)
Attach the other end into the second cup. Let the cord loop slightly in the middle. In a short time the liquid should begin to drip. Be sure that it drips very slowly. Soon you should see a stalagmite.

To make your own fossils,

Small cardboard box, clay, plaster, and a shell.

1. Cover the bottom of the cardboard box with modeling clay to a depth of several inches. The clay represents the soft mud found on the ancient sea floor.

2. Press the shell firmly into the clay.

3. Lift out the shell carefully so a clear imprint remains. You have now produced a mold.

4. Mix a small amount of plaster with cold water in a paper cup. Stir with a wood stick or spoon.

5. When plaster is consistency of thick cream, fill the mold.

6. After the plaster is thoroughly hardened, carefully remove it from the mold. You now have a cast of the original shell.

Now compare the original shell with the plaster cast. Notice that even some of the more delicate markings on the shell have been preserved in the plaster. The paleontologists use this same technique in reconstructing the shells of long dead animals. In addition, casts are useful in working with fossil footprints. When a track is filled with plaster, the resulting case will usually show clearly the size and shape of the foot of the animal, which made the track. From this information the paleontologist can often tell what animal left the footprint.

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