Friday, October 19, 2012

Science Salem I

What can scientist learn about weathering and climate from gravestones?

Please do some internet research to answer this question 

80 comments:

Huntsta J said...



eHow
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About the Weather
How Does Climate Affect the Rate of Weathering?

How Does Climate Affect the Rate of Weathering?
By Joan Whetzel, eHow Contributor
How Does Climate Affect the Rate of Weathering? thumbnail
Climate factors that weather rocks include the quantity of water and ice as well as temperatures.

The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.


Garrett H said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.


I got this from gizmag

Maddy C. said...

Scientists can learn a lot about weathering from gravestones. The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.

Shane.D said...

Cyclic changes in the orbit of the Earth around the sun;
The wobble of the Earth's axis ;
Sun spot cycle changes the amount of energy produced . . .

Each of those affects the amount of energy that reaches the Earth and the various combinations of the three cyclic events (plus other factors like vulcanism and oceanic flow patterns, etc.) can drastically change the climate in predictable ways . . . from yahoo

TimmyLight said...

that the grave stones are changing colors because they have been sitting for hundreds and hundreds of years so they change colors because the grave stones were mad like that so they would change color by the climate and then it changes.

cameron s said...

The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.

Read more: How Does Climate Affect the Rate of Weathering? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7358848_climate-affect-rate-weathering_.html#ixzz29kgRbx6e

Dominique G. said...

Rocks that are rich in quartz, such as granite, are highly resistant to chemical weathering. On the other hand, marble, which consists of soluble calcite, is more easily weathered by acidified precipitation. Therefore, granite tombstones would withstand weathering better than marble.It's hard to give a rate because so many factors are in play such as environment. Credit to Chacha.com

Dawson,G said...

grave stones geet like that from the wind and acid rain

Aaran H. said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.
http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

Zach S. said...

We think of a marble tombstone marking our loved ones' graves forever, but even stone can erode over time. British researcher Rob Inkpen has found that weather has eroded spots on some century-old gravestones by more than 1 inch. Over time, even if the gravestone endures, the inscriptions may fade until they're illegible.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html

Riley O said...

We think of a marble tombstone marking our loved ones' graves forever, but even stone can erode over time. British researcher Rob Inkpen has found that weather has eroded spots on some century-old gravestones by more than 1 inch. Over time, even if the gravestone endures, the inscriptions may fade until they're illegible.The effect of weathering depends on the material of the tombstone, the environment and the form the weathering process takes. Exposure to different climates or forms of pollution can cause flaking, pitting, the growth of lichen or the development of black deposits on the stones.

Read more: How Does Weathering Affect Tombstones? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html#ixzz29khTYnBq

Read more: How Does Weathering Affect Tombstones? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html#ixzz29khE9kCh

Bryn W. said...

The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.
Credit to ehow.com



In this Earth Science field investigation, students will make observations of the rock above and below the Minneopa State Park waterfalls. Students will then make observations of gravestones at Minneopa Cemetery. Through these observations students will form investigable questions about the effect of weathering on different rock types.

Learning Goals
Students will gain an understanding of chemical and mechanical forms of weathering. Students will determine a relationship between time and the degree of weathering that has occurred. Students will analyze the types of stone used for gravestones. Students will learn that there is a relationship between climate and rate of weathering. Students will review vocabulary words used in the rock cycle and will learn new vocabulary words (mechanical weathering & chemical weathering).
Context for Use
Students should have an understanding of the rock cycle, rock types and how rocks are classified before taking part in this investigation. It will serve as an introduction to our weathering and erosion unit. We will travel as a trail of 150 students to our two sites of interest. This will be a full day field investigation taking a total of 5 hours including transportation and lunch-time.

Credit to Carleton.edu

Christian T said...

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.

http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

James D said...

The eminent British scientist James Lovelock, back in the 1970s, formulated his theory of Gaia, which held that the Earth was a kind of super organism. It had a self-regulating quality that would keep everything within that narrow band that made life possible. If things got too warm or too cold—if sunlight varied, or volcanoes caused a fall in temperatures, and so forth—Gaia would eventually compensate. This was a comforting notion. It was also wrong, as Lovelock himself later concluded. "I have to tell you, as members of the Earth's family and an intimate part of it, that you and especially civilization are in grave danger," he wrote in the Independent in 2006.

The world has warmed since those heady days of Gaia, and scientists have grown gloomier in their assessment of the state of the world's climate. NASA climate scientist James Hanson has warned of a "Venus effect," in which runaway warming turns Earth into an uninhabitable desert, with a surface temperature high enough to melt lead, sometime in the next few centuries. Even Hanson, though, is beginning to look downright optimistic compared to a new crop of climate scientists, who fret that things could head south as quickly as a handful of years, or even months, if we're particularly unlucky. Ironically, some of them are intellectual offspring of Lovelock, the original optimist gone sour.

The true gloomsters are scientists who look at climate through the lens of "dynamical systems," a mathematics that describes things that tend to change suddenly and are difficult to predict. It is the mathematics of the tipping point—the moment at which a "system" that has been changing slowly and predictably will suddenly "flip." The colloquial example is the straw that breaks that camel's back. Or you can also think of it as a ship that is stable until it tips too far in one direction and then capsizes. In this view, Earth's climate is, or could soon be, ready to capsize, causing sudden, perhaps catastrophic, changes. And once it capsizes, it could be next to impossible to right it again.

The idea that climate behaves like a dynamical system addresses some of the key shortcomings of the conventional view of climate change—the view that looks at the planet as a whole, in terms of averages. A dynamical systems approach, by contrast, consider climate as a sum of many different parts, each with its own properties, all of them interdependent in ways that are hard to predict.

One of the most productive scientists in applying dynamical systems theory to climate is Tim Lenton at the University of East Anglia in England. Lenton is a Lovelockian two generations removed— his mentors were mentored by Lovelock. "We are looking quite hard at past data and observational data that can tell us something," says Lenton. "Classical case studies in which you've seen abrupt changes in climate data. For example, in the Greenland ice-core records, you're seeing climate jump. And the end of the Younger Dryas," about fifteen thousand years ago, "you get a striking climate change." So far, he says, nobody has found a big reason for such an abrupt change in these past events—no meteorite or volcano or other event that is an obvious cause—which suggests that perhaps something about the way these climate shifts occur simply makes them sudden.

Lenton is mainly interested in the future. He has tried to look for things that could possibly change suddenly and drastically even though nothing obvious may trigger them. He's come up with a short list of nine tipping points—nine weather systems, regional in scope, that could make a rapid transition from one state to another. from www.scientific American.com

Jordan M said...

Rocks are symbols of strength and durability. Although some types of rock are in fact strong and resistant to weathering, other types break down rather easily over time. Acid rain can make short work of a rock's structure, and even regular rainwater will deteriorate rocks over time. Rocks that weather more quickly than others have a molecular structure and mineral content that makes them more susceptible to erosion.

eHow.com

Connor.R said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

SMITTY (EVAN) said...

how the earth is changing

EmilyB said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.
http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

Anonymous said...

The eminent British scientist James Lovelock, back in the 1970s, formulated his theory of Gaia, which held that the Earth was a kind of super organism. It had a self-regulating quality that would keep everything within that narrow band that made life possible. If things got too warm or too cold—if sunlight varied, or volcanoes caused a fall in temperatures, and so forth—Gaia would eventually compensate. This was a comforting notion. It was also wrong, as Lovelock himself later concluded. "I have to tell you, as members of the Earth's family and an intimate part of it, that you and especially civilization are in grave danger," he wrote in the Independent in 2006.

The world has warmed since those heady days of Gaia, and scientists have grown gloomier in their assessment of the state of the world's climate. NASA climate scientist James Hanson has warned of a "Venus effect," in which runaway warming turns Earth into an uninhabitable desert, with a surface temperature high enough to melt lead, sometime in the next few centuries. Even Hanson, though, is beginning to look downright optimistic compared to a new crop of climate scientists, who fret that things could head south as quickly as a handful of years, or even months, if we're particularly unlucky. Ironically, some of them are intellectual offspring of Lovelock, the original optimist gone sour.

The true gloomsters are scientists who look at climate through the lens of "dynamical systems," a mathematics that describes things that tend to change suddenly and are difficult to predict. It is the mathematics of the tipping point—the moment at which a "system" that has been changing slowly and predictably will suddenly "flip." The colloquial example is the straw that breaks that camel's back. Or you can also think of it as a ship that is stable until it tips too far in one direction and then capsizes. In this view, Earth's climate is, or could soon be, ready to capsize, causing sudden, perhaps catastrophic, changes. And once it capsizes, it could be next to impossible to right it again.

The idea that climate behaves like a dynamical system addresses some of the key shortcomings of the conventional view of climate change—the view that looks at the planet as a whole, in terms of averages. A dynamical systems approach, by contrast, consider climate as a sum of many different parts, each with its own properties, all of them interdependent in ways that are hard to predict.

One of the most productive scientists in applying dynamical systems theory to climate is Tim Lenton at the University of East Anglia in England. Lenton is a Lovelockian two generations removed— his mentors were mentored by Lovelock. "We are looking quite hard at past data and observational data that can tell us something," says Lenton. "Classical case studies in which you've seen abrupt changes in climate data. For example, in the Greenland ice-core records, you're seeing climate jump. And the end of the Younger Dryas," about fifteen thousand years ago, "you get a striking climate change." So far, he says, nobody has found a big reason for such an abrupt change in these past events—no meteorite or volcano or other event that is an obvious cause—which suggests that perhaps something about the way these climate shifts occur simply makes them sudden.

Lenton is mainly interested in the future. He has tried to look for things that could possibly change suddenly and drastically even though nothing obvious may trigger them. He's come up with a short list of nine tipping points—nine weather systems, regional in scope, that could make a rapid transition from one state to another. from www.scientific American.com






MorganD said...

Rocks are symbols of strength and durability. Although some types of rock are in fact strong and resistant to weathering, other types break down rather easily over time. Acid rain can make short work of a rock's structure, and even regular rainwater will deteriorate rocks over time.

AlexisD said...

Scientist can learn how much pollution is in the air. Or how long it takes for certain stone to wear away.

KatelinK said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.
http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

zack c said...

that gravestones can turn black by carbonic acid

nate.b said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jasmine B said...

what a scientist can learn about weathering and climate from gravestones is:
By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.

~http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

nate.b said...

Really????

Katie L. said...




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RESEARCH WATCH


By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.


From http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

catie.r. said...

they know about weathering and climate from gravestones because when the gravestones wear away they can test it and figure out what caused it to wear away.

Emily B. said...

Scientist can learn how climate effects gravestones. If its hot does that effect the gravestones, if its cold does it effect the gravestones,If its raining or muggy does that matter, scientist can learn how this effects gravestones and such.

Max H said...

they can learn about cmlimate becasue if theres moss then there must have been rain. they can also learn about weathering because if part of the stone is black then that means there was a type pf weathering. either by rain,wind or animals or humans or something. there was weathering

nate the plagerier said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
aa said...

because it makes chemical weathering of exposed rocks. The quantity of rain, temperature change and how long its been exposed to air.

Jada M. said...

The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.

Read more: How Does Climate Affect the Rate of Weathering? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_7358848_climate-affect-rate-weathering_.html#ixzz29krh207T

ALice M. said...

Scientist could learn a lot about weathering and climate by studying gravestones, like the amount of rain, and the chemicals in the rain that can dissolve the gravestones,or the moss and lichen that grows on them. The temperature can also effect the gravestone.

nate.b said...

don't do it

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

The scientists can learn when the person was buried who they were and what was used as gravestones and how much the world has changed.And what grows on specific types of rocks.

nate.b said...

noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
nate.b said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
joe w said...

the climate

ConnorB said...

They can learn how long different grave stones last, like how long does a granite grave stone last for.

Zachk said...



By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

Cj W. said...

They can learn how old they are and when they were buried how long people can live and what grows on that type of stone or gravel what ever hey used

Shane k said...

They can learn about what rain is capable of.

Cj W. said...

that's not all

Maddy P. said...

Scientists can learn about climate and weathering by looking gravestones because of the quality of the marble or granite. If it is all worn down, then it has been rainy or snowy, and really cold or really hot. Most likely with those results, the gravestone is really old. If the gravestone is looking new with all of the fine lines from it being new, then it was probably more recently buried.

Nathan C. said...

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Limestone

Limestone is particularly susceptible to weathering from acid rain, according to the University College of London's Department of Earth Sciences. Limestone is made up of at least 80 percent calcium carbonate, and calcium carbonate wears down in acid rain very easily. Weathering will often cause small cracks to form in limestone, and the roots of various plants, as well as vines, can then force their way through these cracks, widening them and hastening the weathering process. This is known as mechanical weathering. When acid rain and plant roots are both present in the environment around limestone, weathering will increase exponentially.
Marble

Marble is also susceptible to weathering. Marble holds up better than limestone in both acid and unpolluted rainwater, but it will show signs of weathering in time. According to the University of London, after about 10 or 21 years a marble structure, such as a headstone, will show serious signs of wearing. When this occurs you can rub a finger along the edifice and take away bits of grit. Water enters small holes in the marble at this point, worsening the weathering. This phenomenon is known as surface flaking.
Granite

Granite is composed of many minerals, including quartz, biotite, potassic feldspar and sodic plagioclase feldspar. When granite begins to weather, most of these minerals go through various changes. The exception is quartz, which has a high resistance to weathering. The two different types of feldspar undergo hydrolysis and form kaolinite (commonly known as clay). Biotite also undergoes hydrolysis to form clay. Granite is one of the stronger rock types, and for this reason is a popular building material.


Read more: Rock Types & Their Resistance to Weathering | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6698294_rock-types-resistance-weathering.html#ixzz29l9e7aEr

Kaylee C. said...

They can learn that around the earth gravestones can change do to different climates like if its hot then it might get lighter and if the climate is cold the stuff that falls onto the gravestone can freeze making it darker. And like birds can poop on them and um rain can rain on them.:P:P:P

charles w. said...

they can learn what rain is capable of.

Matt C said...

they learn how old they are and from the years on the stone.

katalinaD said...

Scientists can learn a lot about weathering from gravestones. The weathering process produces chemical or physical decay of exposed rocks on the earth's surface. The quantity of rain, degree of temperature change and length of exposure to the elements determine the rate of weathering and decay.

Journey B. said...

Scientist can learn about the rain, and acid rain. The rain can beat down on the rock, causing it to break apart. If acid rain hits it, the edges will become round and smooth. The words will become faded and hard to read over time. Wind also effects old grave stones. It hits against them and causes it to break and chip off. Old gravestones were made of marble, which crumbles and weathers faster than the new material we use: granite. Granite weathers less, and not as fast. Rain and wind have less of an effect on it. If you see an old grave stone, it is faded and chipped, unlike the new ones. Also, if your in a populated area with pollution, acid rain will be more common, and the graves in that area will be more weathered. If your in a more rural area, the graves will still be weathered, but not as much as in a city. In cold areas, there might be signs of ice wedging on the graves, which is another sign of weathering.

Kevin S said...

Climate change and pollution issues have become very important to many people. One particular issue that concerns people is the effect that acid rain is having on the environment. Over time, acid rain can slowly erode famous buildings, statues and archaeological features that are exposed to the weather. There are several ongoing projects that are using the weathering rates of gravestones to determine the extent to which acid rain has increased over the years, and there is a straightforward process for measuring this effect. meaning acid like plant acid would erode gravestoneshttp://www.ehow.com/how_7849981_measure-weathering-rates-gravestones.html

Cj W. said...

ur fail

AndrewE said...

The scientists can learn a lot about weathering and the climate. They can tell by the date on the gravestone and how weathered it is. So that way they can tell the climate and what type of weathering.

Destiney J. said...

scientists can learn from gravestones that acid rain is raining on the gravestones and if it melts that kind of material (which is the ground up rock called sediment that wears down very easily. But with the granite which we make gravestones out of today so it won't wear away so fast unlike the granite. So the experiment we did yesterday would help scientists to improve the material that we make gravestones out of. Also it can teach them new things so that they can share the things they have learned with everybody around so that other people are aware of what these thing do and how they are.

Lauren S. said...

They can tell how bad the winters and the summer how bad and how the Earth climate changed over very many many many many many years also any type of Chemical weathering can effect the gravestones.... It may also be the fact that the rocks that they used where not as strong as the granite that we now use for your grave stones I think that because between the chemical weathering and the mechanical weathering that it effected the movement of the gravestone and the rain and the snow and the sun it started to crumble and erode the grave stone I think that their are a lot of ways that it can be eroded.... But the rock erodes a lot faster then the Granite that we have now so I think That is how the scientist learn about the weathering ad the climate changes in the last past 10000 years that is how you can tell.

Alissa H said...

They can learn what the stuff around the grave stone can do to it.

Gia L said...

They can learn things like how long the grave has been there, what the climate is like there, how much the climate has changed in that area, etc.

Lauren S. said...

Good Job :0

Emily H said...

Scientists can learn about climate and weathering by looking gravestones because of the quality of the marble or granite. If it is all worn down, then it has been rainy or snowy, and really cold or really hot. Most likely with those results, the gravestone is really old. If the gravestone is looking new with all of the fine lines from it being new, then it was probably more recently buried.

chanced said...

By gathering volunteers' measurements of marble gravestones of different ages around the world, scientists hope to produce a world map of the weathering rates of those gravestones and thereby better understand how the atmosphere has been changing. The study, called EarthTrek, is developed and managed by the Geological Society of America's (GSA) Education and Outreach group in partnership with organizations around the globe.

GSA says the weathering rates of gravestones indicate changes in the acidity of rainfall between locations and over time. The acidity is affected by air pollution and other factors, and could be used as a measure of changes in climate and pollution levels.

This project has been divided into two levels of data collection. The first is the Graveyard Data level (the location of graveyards) and requires volunteers to log GPS coordinates. The second level - Gravestone Data level (the measurement of the weathering of marble gravestones) also requires a micrometer.

Volunteers are asked to complete the first or both tasks, but GSA advises that before you purchase a micrometer (available through the EarthTrek online store, at hardware and some hobby stores) that you make sure that you can locate the right type of gravestone - marble.

Collecting the location data of the graveyards is also an important part of this project, even those that do not contain marble gravestones.
http://www.gizmag.com/gravestones-provide-climate-history-clues/13569/

Aidan R said...

We think of a marble tombstone marking our loved ones' graves forever, but even stone can erode over time. British researcher Rob Inkpen has found that weather has eroded spots on some century-old gravestones by more than 1 inch. Over time, even if the gravestone endures, the inscriptions may fade until they're illegible.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html

Mara C. said...

Scientists can learn when the gravestones were put there, what the air and climate, and around the areas what the weather/ climate was.

adam p said...

They can tell how bad the winters and the summer how bad and how the Earth climate changed over very many many many many many years also any type of Chemical weathering can effect the gravestones.... It may also be the fact that the rocks that they used where not as strong as the granite that we now use for your grave stones I think that because between the chemical weathering and the mechanical weathering that it effected the movement of the gravestone and the rain and the snow and the sun it started to crumble and erode the grave stone I think that their are a lot of ways that it can be eroded.... But the rock erodes a lot faster then the Granite that we have now so I think That is how the scientist learn about the weathering ad the climate changes in the last past 10000 years that is how you can tell.

Mia W said...
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Whitney R said...

Rocks are symbols of strength and durability. Although some types of rock are in fact strong and resistant to weathering, other types break down rather easily over time. Acid rain can make short work of a rock's structure, and even regular rainwater will deteriorate rocks over time.

bruceb said...

Scientist can learn about the rain, and acid rain. The rain can beat down on the rock, causing it to break apart. If acid rain hits it, the edges will become round and smooth. The words will become faded and hard to read over time. Wind also effects old grave stones. It hits against them and causes it to break and chip off. Old gravestones were made of marble, which crumbles and weathers faster than the new material we use: granite. Granite weathers less, and not as fast. Rain and wind have less of an effect on it. If you see an old grave stone, it is faded and chipped, unlike the new ones. Also, if your in a populated area with pollution, acid rain will be more common, and the graves in that area will be more weathered. If your in a more rural area, the graves will still be weathered, but not as much as in a city. In cold areas, there might be signs of ice wedging on the graves, which is another sign of weathering.

jenn w said...

they can tell how long they were there, what name was one it if it was scrap off by chemical weathering and mechanical weathering.

Jacob G said...

They can learn how long the graves have been there. And they can find out what the climate is there

morgan s said...

How long they have been around for. Also how they can affect the weathering that goes on. Then they will change the status on the death that has happened in that certain place. Also the death rate at that certain time. then we can also know from the fact of the time and date. Water doesn't change much. But for sure plants and their roots do.

david vincent said...

They could learn difference between the effects of weathering on certain types of rock,and they could learn how fast each type of weathering takes to weather a gravestone.

Skyler D. said...

Scientist can learn different facts about weathering by the way the gravestone looks or what has in graved itself into it, or how the stone has either faded or has detererated into a small stump.

hayley g said...

To a geologist, a gravestone can offer information other rocks can't. One project is using gravestones to better understand how the elements, particularly acid rain, are weathering rocks around the world, and how that's changed over time.

jenny c said...

The effect of weathering depends on the material of the tombstone, the environment and the form the weathering process takes. Exposure to different climates or forms of pollution can cause flaking, pitting, the growth of lichen or the development of black deposits on the stones.

Zoe D said...

Scientists can learn about weathering and climate by looking at gravestones with chemical weathering and mechanical weathering along with the quality of the marble, granite, or slate. If it is worn down or has cracks with chunks of the stone missing and the carving is faded you can guess how old it is with the facts.

jenny c said...

my sorce was www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html

Sheila A said...

The effect of weathering depends on the material of the tombstone, the environment, and the form the weathering process takes. Exposure to different climates or forms of pollution can cause flaking, weathers faster in acid rain. Sandstone and quartz are more durable than marble, but Inkpen says sandstone is likely to shed flakes as it weathers.
http://www.ehow.com/about_6068260_weathering-affect-tombstones_.html

DARREN P. said...

the more a gravestone has been there the more weathering and the older the stone is. and when you get hung you get chocked and your spine brakes so they can't pull them self up and then they die.