Think Like a Geologist

(Abby Brown, host of FIND Iowa, is standing on some rock outcroppings at Fossil and Prairie Park Preserve in northeastern Iowa.)

[Abby Brown] Iowa is such a special place with so many unique, geological sites to visit and learn from.

(A muddy stream flows into a large cave.)

(Tallgrass sways in the breeze.)

(A forest of trees grows on a large hill.)

But long before people lived in Iowa and before Iowa even had a name, the land here was very different.

Since nobody was here to actually see what it was like or take pictures or write anything down, we study clues in the land as it is today to figure it out. That's how geologists think. And, you can think like a geologist too. Is the land in your town flat?

Are there hills, or cliffs, or fossils? What about water? Like lakes, or ponds, or rivers. What kinds of plants grow in your town? What color of rocks can you find?

(A tan, gray and brown marbled colored rock wall glistening in the sun.)

Now start asking those same questions as you have fun investigating new discoveries in Iowa.

(A young girl leads a group of people through a tallgrass prairie holding a black butterfly net on a metal pole.)

[Announcer] Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by Pella and the Gilchrist Foundation.