Activity Summary: Students will be able to analyze data from the images of cores taken from the seafloor to design a graph with a key and corresponding questions to make conclusions on what substances are found from the images of core taken from the seafloor.

This activity allows students to use images of sediment cores taken from the ocean floor to practice analyzing data and making conclusions about what substances are found under the seafloor in specific ocean regions. Students will construct a graph key for the core sample images, and then will develop questions that can be answered about their core sample images using that key. This lesson can be included in various middle school earth science units connected to oceanic exploration, plate tectonics, and volcanic formation.