Today we started on our way to Ecuador. We had to meet at school by 3:00 and we all boarded on the bus to the SpringHill Marriott Suites. Its safe to say the bus ride was rough, with LOTS of bumps and potholes along the way but we finally made it by 6:00. We all checked into our rooms and got all settled, but were super eager for the pizza to get here!! We ate our pizza and then started the night off with a presentation by Greg.
Fun in our room
"Four Girls One Shower"
Greg Fischer did his presentation on Seismic Activity. He discussed the background of geology, tectonic plates, faults, earthquakes, seismic waves, and volcanoes. I was very interested when he talked about earthquakes and the different seismic waves that occur on land due to these earthquakes. I found this topic very interesting because it is something that is common in California, which is where my brother lives. He discussed surface waves and body waves; surface waves travel along the surface of the Earth and cause the most damage. Today waves travel through the interior of the Earth and there are two types; primary waves and secondary waves. Primary waves are the extension of the ground and are able to travel through solids, liquids, and gases. Secondary waves create a sliding motion and affect the shape of an object, but are only able to go through solids. The next topic that he discussed that I was very interested in was when he discussed the different volcanoes that we would eventually get to see in person. The two volcanoes that we will possibly be seeing are Sierra Negra and Cotopaxi. Sierra Negra is an active shield volcano located on Isabela Island which last erupted in 2005. Cotopaxi is one of the world most active volcanos. Up next was Lauren Teach and I's presentation on Biodiversity in the Amazon and the Galapagos Islands. We discussed the different species biodiversity found on the different islands as well as the different biodiversity in the different habitat zones of the Galapagos. We also discussed the biodiversity in the Amazon as well as different threats in both places. After we finished our presentation we had our interactive part, we played headbands with different species in the Galapagos Islands and in the Amazon. We gave eight different people a picture that was on one of our slides and they had to ask yes or no questions to try to figure out their species. The winners of our two headbands game were Jessie and Taylor. After we finished our presentations we all went back to our rooms. We are getting prepared and ready for the adventure that we about to continue on tomorrow as we travel to Guayaquil!!