Nature's Formations

The Grand Canyon in Arizona is an amazing natural feature. It is so majestic and immense, yet it was carved simply: by water. Kids will be amazed to learn that, given enough time and enough flow, water can carve deeply into the Earth. This book will look at how water erodes stone, and how different stones wear away at different rates. The results are some of nature's most beautiful landforms.

About 20,000 years ago, much of North America was covered by glaciers. As the glaciers receded, they scoured the landscape, leaving behind basins that filled with freshwater. Kids will learn about glaciation and how the basins filled. They'll be surprised to learn the Great Lakes, which were carved by glaciers, hold about twenty percent of the world's freshwater.

Like any body of water on land, rivers start with a simple drop of rain. That raindrop might fall into an already existing pond or lake, or it could seep through the ground and come up elsewhere through a spring. A river begins as a trickle that flows downhill. As it flows further, a river becomes wider and deeper. Kids will enjoy tracing the journey of rain from a stream all the way to the sea.

Mountains seem like they have been in place forever, and it can be difficult for kids to imagine how mountains were built over millions of years by processes continuing today. To make a mountain range, the Earth's tectonic plates rub against or crash into each other. Kids will be interested to learn that something as seemingly steadfast as mountains can be built, and eroded away.

When kids hear "island," they might think of a tropical destination dotted with palm trees. But there are islands worldwide and they are made in different ways. In clear and age-appropriate language, this book will focus on plate tectonics and volcanism as two main ways in which islands are created.

Kids love to explore the strange worlds of caves and their fantastical formations, but how do these caverns come to exist? This book explores the natural processes at work as acids gradually eat away limestone, hollowing out what eventually will become a cave from sheer rock.