A geoday in our town

One of the challenges we secondary school teachers face is the difficulty that younger pupils have in imagining how an outcrop or geological structure has formed or explaining why certain geological hazards occur in certain areas. On the other hand, climate change is often associated with rising temperatures, but not with how it affects geologically related aspects, such as the depletion of aquifers through massive water extraction or subsidence. Presenting a field trip as a geoday can motivate pupils to learn geology.

A geoday, as explained on their website https://geolodia.es, is an outreach event in which geological field trips are conducted guided by expert geologists, free of charge, and open to the general public. The information about the chosen site, which is of great geological interest, allows us to see and understand how the Earth works and helps us to understand the value of our geological heritage and the need to protect it. 

The Baix Empordà region, in the province of Girona, is an area where it is easy to locate rocks from different periods, as well as landforms related to orogenies and distensions. Thus, with a simple explanation of the geological history, 3D representations using QGIS software, topographic and geological maps - students will be able to locate and identify the types of materials present in the town and surrounding area. They will also identify deformations and geological structures and discover how this knowledge has been used to exploit mineral resources. For example, a small outcrop allows them to see a fold, erosion, stratigraphic discontinuity, graded stratification, and a quartz dyke. Here students can apply the concepts seen in class and learn to deduce the series of events that gave rise to this set of structures. The teacher's task will be to provide clues to arrive at a good deductive result.

Geosciences must be understood in a transversal way. Thus, the geoday will be included in a transversal project -in preparation- on the Gavarres mountain range -https://n9.cl/7vshu-, which relates knowledge about forestry or agricultural exploitation according to the type of soil and climate, historical settlement of populations in high areas due to the incidence of floods, or exploitation of mineral deposits in specific areas. Similarly, geological risks can be studied by associating the massive extraction of groundwater and subsidence that can be detected in some areas of the town using online viewers.  Students will have to discuss whether climate change, which we have been experiencing for years, will bring about any noticeable changes in the management of natural resources and risk prevention. Finally, they should think of possible actions to slow down the loss of natural resources in our area.

Subject: Biology and Geology

Grade: 11-14 years old

Duration: 4 hours

Objectives: Students will: learn to identify geological structures, rocks, explain geological history by using topographic and geological maps and 3D printed terrains, and think about climate change and natural resources.

The poster presents photos of this activity.