EXPLORING FOR COAL

You can try your skill at exploring for coal resources with this activity, as well as observing what happens to rock structures when they are subject to tectonic forces.

You may wish to complete EXPLORING FOR COAL from the WORKSHEET in conjunction with this activity.

You will need:

• 5 - 6 pieces of different colours of flour dough, playdoh, plasticene or similar
• a small container such as a yoghurt pottle or an icecream container
• the hollow transparent barrel of a ballpoint pen
• a blunt knife
• a thin piece of wire

Aims:

To construct a model which represents the geological formations associated with coal.
To take exploratory 'core samples'.
To determine potential coal reserves based on the 'drilling programme'.
To observe the results of tectonic forces on the model.

Method:

Layer 5 or 6 different colours of playdoh or similar into the container. The layers do not have to all be the same thickness.

Exchange containers with a partner.

Push the transparent hollow barrel of a ballpoint pen into the surface of your partner's geological model. Pull out the barrel and look at the different coloured layers. Record your findings. How 'deep' is the 'coal'? How thick is the seam?

Clean out the pen barrel with the piece of wire.

Repeat the procedure on a different 'drill site'. Record your results.

Make a decision on whether you would mine this resource based on the information you have recorded.

Remove the layers of playdoh from the container and use the blunt knife to cut the piece. First cut the piece in half lengthways, then cut the halves crossways.

Suggest ways in which you could improve the 'drilling programme'.

This activity can be made more difficult by subjecting the layers to the same forces which are at work in the earth.

What happens to the layers when you pull, push, twist, fault, fold, or shear the piece? How will this affect a 'drilling programme'?

Notes:

• If the dough is too sticky it will not clean out of the pen barrel, or the 'core sample' may smear inside the barrel and give an incorrect measurement. An alternative method is to cut a strip off the side of the yoghurt pottle which will provide a window through which to view the layers.

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