I am tour guiding in the far north again, and have a spare day before the ship sails. Summer seems to have ended here (though the Sun won't set for another ten days yet), and it has been bucketing snow all morning.
Recently I was in Papua New Guinea again, making more measurements of how the tectonic plates are moving.
I stayed about 4 or 5 days in each location I visited, and while the instruments were running I usually visited the local school, to explain the work. In PNG everybody knows about earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis from personal experience, and I think it's important to explain how these things are related, and why geologists think their country is so exciting and interesting.
As well as talking about my work, the teachers and students had lots of other science questions for me! World Environment Day had just happened, so we talked a lot about climate change, sea-level, pollution and sustainability. As PNG develops, it's important that the people and future leaders are well informed on these topics.
Here are some images of the trip:
The pupils of Amboin Primary School and their teacher, beside my GPS antenna. Amboin is a small village in the Sepik River region, very hot and humid.
Talking to about 300 pupils at the United Primary School in Mt Hagen. Mt Hagen is PNG's third largest city in the Highlands region, about 1700 m above sea-level, and has a very comfortable climate for me.
St Xavier's High School is on Kairuru Islands, near the town of Wewak on the north coast of PNG.
Explaining plate tectonics at St Xavier's High School. The rocks in the school grounds are 'pillow lavas', which formed at volcanoes on the bottom of the sea. This is how much of the Earth's crust is formed, but not many people have the chance to see it so easily as these students!
Bam is a small island off the north coast of PNG. It is the top of a volcano, sticking out from the sea. The island is about 3 km wide, and has one village. Here are some students of the primary school, with the island's leader, Greg Kibai.
