Tornadoes smash US

George Bush has anounced parts of Kansas a disaster area after it was pounded by a series of tornadoes. Sadly, 9 people are known to have been killed in Kansas with the search for the missing continueing. The following BBC report provides more details. The aftermath can be viewed here. The science behind tornadoes and their formation is explained here and in here in this animation.

I 've used the following film from youtube in class. This amazing footage accompanied by dramatic music captures both the devestating destructive power of tornadoes as well as the brilliant nerve of the storm chasers, who risk life and limb to witness such stunning natural phenomona.

Geography, how much do you care?

Great work here by Tony. How well do you know your Geography? Go to http://www.ggip.co.uk/ to sign the petition.

Jigsaw Brazil

brazil_map, originally uploaded by chelsie-rose.

Improve your knowledge of Brazil by clicking on the image above and completing the jigsaw. Let me know how well you learn the geography of Brazil through this activity.

Interpreting Questions

biology revision, originally uploaded by Ella88.

It's one thing preparing well for exams and knowing your stuff but unless you interpret the question right and make the correct links in your responses you will fall short of the top marks available. Thanks to NIck who has grouped his own worksheet on exam command words with Daniel Raven Ellison's video clip. Both can be seen on Nick's Brauntan Geography Blog

Earthquake in England

Believed to be 4.3 on the richter scale an earthquake hit Kent this weekend causing damage to houses and infrastructure. The epicentre of the quake was just a few kms from the the towns of Dover and Folkstone. Although earthquakes are not a frequent occurance in the UK they are reasonably active. Although most earthquakes occur at the boundaries of major crustal plates, they can occur, less frequently, within plates. The UK is on the British Eurasian plate.
Senior seismologist Dr David Booth, of the BGS, said there were lots of faults running through the British Isles. In this case, north-west pressure on the UK caused a build-up of energy in these fault systems, he said, and this energy was released - causing the earthquake.

Jigsaw France

Learn the Geogrpahy of France with this fun jigsaw of the regions of France Let me know through the comments how well you learned from it and what your fastest time was.

'green OPEC"

This is exactly how I see this site developing so thanks to Katt for sending through 'green OPEC' As she says in her comment it's ideal for the synoptic paper it shows how government decisions to move towards biofuels, whilst full of good intentions will have major impacts on the social and economic structures of societies in developing countries as well as enormous environment consequences.
There is alos an interesting article ob development and conservation concerning the paving of the B-163 in the Amazon.