Global topography (world map) overall ratings 'Topography' is a detailed description of a place including its rivers, lakes and the physical shape of the land and sea. This map shows land heights and ocean depths. Clicking on a part of the map gives a close-up of that area. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Junior Rockhound (rocks and Earth sciences) overall ratings This online Canadian magazine is a good starting point for all things rocky. Learn about rocks, minerals and the history of the Earth, get tips on starting a rock collection, and find out what you need to go on a rock-collecting hunt. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No The rock cycle experiments overall ratings A diagram of the rock cycle, with simple experiments to explain each stage in the cycle. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No The essential guide to rocks overall ratings This BBC website has an animation of the Earth's history (the last 500 million years go rather fast!), an interactive timeline, and 'virtual walks' looking at rocks in different parts of the UK. There is also a Rock Primer with basic rock information. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Earth journeys (Earth sciences) overall ratings If you like the idea of world domination, or time travel, this is the site for you. You can whiz through the 4.6 billion years of Earth's history in a few minutes, or change the planet's spin or temperature and see what happens. In the Library section there are also Earth games, where you can rain fireballs on the Earth or unleash a hurricane on the Gulf of Mexico. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes This dynamic planet (plate tectonics) overall ratings This site gives a step-by-step explanation, with clear pictures, of how and why continents are not fixed but move about. There's more information here than you are likely to need for even the biggest project. There are also some interesting 'sidebars' on topics such as the strange creatures that live around deep-sea springs of hot water. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Geological time overall ratings Like 'This dynamic planet', this site gives a run-down of the Earth's 4.6-billion-year history, and explains how information from rocks has helped to build up this knowledge. Although they are not colourful, there are some good illustrations. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Paleomap project (plate tectonics) overall ratings See maps and 3-D globes showing how the Earth looked, say, 200 million years ago, when the continents were all joined in one giant landmass called Pangaea. Then watch an animation showing how today's continents formed from Pangaea. You can also find out what the climate was like at the time. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Global warming: focus on the future overall ratings Learn about how global warming is affecting the climate, and why it is a problem. The section on how the climate of North America has changed over the past 75 million years is particularly interesting. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Paleontology: the big dig (fossils) overall ratings This is a really fun site about dinosaur fossils. You can read an interview with a fossil dinosaur, go on a trip to Mongolia looking for fossils, or find out about an amazing fossil of two fighting dinosaurs. All this, and games and quizzes, too. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes Kids in the hall of planet Earth overall ratings Did you know that your kitchen is full of rocks? You can find out all about them on this site, or read an interview with a geologist, or go on an adventure looking for meteorites in the Australian desert. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Mineralogy database (minerals) overall ratings A lot of this site is too complex for most people's purposes, but there are two useful alphabetical lists. One is a list of minerals, which includes a sound file telling you how to pronounce the name. The other is a list of pictures, where you can find photos of minerals from abernathyite to zunyite. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Forces of nature (disasters) overall ratings This website looks rather boring at first sight, but it has a lot of interesting stuff. You can find information on disasters from avalanches to volcanoes. There are also real-life stories, pictures, lists of worst disasters and experiments to try. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes FEMA (disasters) overall ratings At FEMA you can learn about hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and other disasters - and how to survive them. There's plenty of interesting information, games and things to collect. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes Earth bulletins (volcanoes and earthquakes) overall ratings News of volcanoes, earthquakes and storms around the world, with an explanation of the science behind the stories. Why were there earth tremors at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, in 1999? And what causes tropical storms? Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Volcano world overall ratings This large website includes information and photos of most recent volcanoes, different types of volcano around the world, and instructions for making volcano models. Disappointingly, the children's part of the website is not very good. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Earthquakes overall ratings What causes earthquakes? How do we know about them? How do scientists measure them? In a simple, straightforward way, this site answers these and many other questions about earthquakes. There's also a good explanation of plate tectonics and you can learn how to read a seismogram. A minor niggle: it's a pity that you can't enlarge some of the pictures. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Current seismicity (earthquake map) overall ratings Every day there are 'seismic events' (earthquakes or earth tremors) around the world, and this map shows where they happen. Click on an earthquake for more detail about it; click on 'historical seismicity' and see all the earthquakes in that area since 1900. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Water science for schools overall ratings Not a very exciting title, but a good site. Follow a drip of water through the water cycle, learn about the Earth's water balancing act, or look at pictures of the biggest hydroelectric power station in the world. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Black smoker expedition (oceans) overall ratings This site is about black smokers, volcanic hot springs deep under the ocean. There is a diary of an expedition to a black smoker, pictures and information about life around black smokers, and a tricky game in which you travel down to a black smoker to collect animals. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes Glacier (Antartica) overall ratings Ever wished you could send your teacher to the Antarctic? At Glacier, you can! (Well, you can read about teachers who have gone there.) This is just one of the highlights of this excellent site. It will answer all your questions about Antarctica, and tell you lots of interesting things that you never thought of asking! Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No How weather works overall ratings Weather basics, from air pressure to winter weather, from the magazine USA Today. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No The Met Office (weather) overall ratings There's a lot of useful weather information here, if you look around. On the home page you can find out what the weather is like in Cairo, or in Sydney. Go to 'Learn about the weather', then to Weather data, and you can find weather charts and satellite pictures, plus an explanation of a weather chart and the symbols on it. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No United States Geological Survey overall ratings On the US Geological Survey site you can probably find answers to any question you might have about rocks, earthquakes, volcanoes, water or maps. It's such a huge site that you can easily get lost, so the best way to get around is to use the excellent search engine. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? No Rockwatch (geology club) overall ratings This is the website for the Rockwatch club, a UK-based club for children interested in the Earth, rocks, fossils and minerals. There is news, information about events, and games and quizzes on the website. Easy to use? Friendly language Lots of info? Good pics? Any goodies? Yes