These are some examples of possible term paper topics. Feel free to use one of these as is, with modification, or choose one of your own.

Origins
What is the evidence for the so-called Big Bang Theory?
Where do we think the moon came from?
Just how hot was the early Earth?
How do we know the true age of the Earth?

Minerals
What can diamonds tell us about the Earth's interior?
Why are Precambrian "greenstones" such valuable sources of metals?

Volcanoes
Why are all the volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands extinct except for those on the big island?
Where does all the magma that builds the Andes Mountains come from ?
Why does Old Faithful keep spouting off?

Sedimentary Rocks
Why are so many petroleum reserves associated with salt deposits?
What sedimentary rocks make the best petroleum source rocks and petroleum reservoirs?
How are sedimentary rocks used to learn about past environments?
How did the Mississippi delta form and why is it shrinking?

Metamorphic Rocks
How are metamorphic rocks useful for determining the depth of tectonic burial?

Earthquakes
The San Andreas fault: when will the next "big one" hit?
Why was damage from the 1989 San Francisco Bay area earthquake so spotty?
Why have there been so many deadly earthquakes in China, far from any plate boundary?
Can earthquakes be predicted?
Could "the big one" happen in New York?

The Earth's Interior
How did Mohorovicic discover the boundary between the crust and the mantle?
How did Gutenburg discover the boundary between the mantle and the core?
How do we know what the core of the Earth is compose of?

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics
What evidence was available early in the 20th century to support Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift?
How did paleomagnetic studies in the 1950s and 1960s support the theory of continental drift?
What observations were made in the 1960s that culminated in the plate tectonic theory and the final acceptance of drifting continents?
Why does the Earth's magnetic field reverse?
Why is magnetic north not the same as geographic north?
What are the forces that drive seafloor spreading and plate tectonics?
What was Gondwanaland and how was it discovered?

Groundwater
How do leaks of radioactive materials at Brookhaven National Labs threaten the water supply?
Why do Brooklyn and Queens longer use its groundwater resources as they once did?

Karst
How do cavern systems form and why are they predominantly found in limestone?

Streams
Why are streams steeper in the headwaters and less steep near their ends.
Flooding: should we all pay to rebuild homes destroyed on the floodplain?
Did control measures help or make matters worse in the great Mississippi flood of 1993?

Shorelines
If left alone will the coastline stay pretty much where it is?
Are coastal erosion control measures like seawalls and groins good things?
Should we pay for beach renourishment projects for resort areas?
Should we pay for homes destroyed by coastal erosion (are destructive storms "freaks of nature"?)

Glaciers
How did the last Ice Age affect the New York Metro area?

Desterts
What is causing the desertification of sub-Saharan Africa?