The students will learn how density currents transport and deposit tremendous amounts of sediment in lakes and in the ocean. Background Density is a property of matter. It is the amount of material that fits in a given space. Denser objects are heavier than less dense ones of the same size in the same gravitational field. Liquids have density too.
Water is denser than oil, and honey is denser than water.
If two liquids of different densities come into contact, then the denser liquid sinks down below the less dense liquid and flows along the bottom. This is a density current. A density current flows because of the pull of gravity and the density difference, and it stops moving when the two fluids mix, or when the current uses up its energy. This is like what happens when you let a marble roll into a bowl. The marble rolls quickly to the bottom of the bowl, and then it rolls back and forth, gradually slowing, until it stops.