Think like an Earth scientist
Ready for a challenge? These questions ask you to think like an Earth scientist — reasoning about how landscapes form and how people can protect them.
Challenge questions
Q1. Some changes to Earth's surface are slow and some are fast. Sort these and explain your thinking: a river carving a valley, a landslide, a sand dune moving, a flood washing away a road.
| Slow changes | Fast changes |
|---|---|
Q2. A beach is losing its sand each winter (erosion), but gains some back each summer (deposition). Explain how the same processes can both remove and build up a beach.
Q3. Design a solution. A school field on a slope is losing its topsoil every time it rains heavily. Design a way to reduce the erosion. Explain how your idea works, using the words erosion and topsoil.
Q4. Uluṟu has stood for hundreds of millions of years while softer rock around it wore away. Explain why some rock weathers and erodes faster than other rock.
Q5. Big thinking. Aboriginal peoples have cared for Country for tens of thousands of years, including managing land and water. Suggest one way that caring for the land (for example, keeping plants growing) also helps slow down weathering and erosion.