Recommended Website:
Geologic Virtual Tours of National Parks
At this website you can take virtual tours of the U.S. National Parks – from Arches to Zion!
The virtual tours highlight the geology and natural history of the parks, and are offered for viewing through 3-D anaglyphic images or through regular photographs.
If you don’t have 3-D glasses handy, you can enjoy the tours by just looking at the photos and reading the accompanying text.
If you want to see the 3-D images you’ll need 3-D glasses. As suggested at the website, you can do a search for 3-D glasses online and find all kinds of sources (and prices) for them. For example, I found some at this website – but I want to be certain you understand that this is for your information only. I have not purchased anything from this company, and know nothing about them. Caveat emptor.
I also located a NASA lesson plan on how to make your own 3-D glasses.
When you get to the site you’ll see a menu of National Parks. To the right of each park name, you’ll see that you can click on any of these choices:
- “3D” – To take a virtual tour of the parks by viewing 3-D images. The 3-D effect only works with 3-D glasses. Each photo is accompanied by text that explains what you are seeing.
- “Standard Images” – To take a virtual tour of the parks by looking at a series of beautiful photographs. Each photo is accompanied by text that explains what you are seeing.
- “.gov sites” – This provides a link to the website for that particular national park where you can get lots more information about it. There is educational content on some of the sites for students, and good info about park highlights and visiting hours, etc.
- “Selected Online USGS Field Guides” – More resources to further your learning about the park, and specifically about the geologic formations in it.
This is a terrific resource for budding geologists – and, considering the price of gas these days, this website offers a great way to visit our national parks without leaving home!
