The effect of the last Ice Age on land
In this lesson the objectives are to have students understand the effects of the ice on the land as it passed down south crushing and grinding every natural feature on its way. In the Connecticut shore, and particularly at Kelsey Island, since this is the place of our study, the last glaciation left behind the bare rock of the type of the Stony Creek Granite. The sands and the pebbles on its beaches attest to the common debris left behind by these huge bodies of ice as they moved and finally melted.
Materials
A large solid block of ice
Rope
Sand
Gravel and rocks
Procedure
Tie the rope around the block of ice. Place the block on the sand, or ground. Place some gravel and rocks in front of the block of ice and drag it for about five feet. Measure the results. Follow this procedure one more time, but this time drag it for about ten feet; then do it for twenty feet. Each time measure the results and compare and contrast.
Did you find any similarities between your results and the passage of ice south from the North Pole in the last Ice Age? Explain your results in writing and illustrations. How could you device this experiment in a better way?
