In the remote part of the Death Valley National Park, rocks have begun migrating across a flat expanse of desert. Hundreds of rocks appear to move as a group, as if in a choreographed desert dance. What could be provoking this strange effect on the rocks in the desert? The prevailing theory has been wind, but many scientists also advocate ice. A fringe group suggests aliens. I mean it is an isolated stretch of desert, and everyone knows that aliens love to frolic in American deserts.
(more…)Archive for the ‘Geology’ Category
Rocks Dance in the Desert
Posted in Geology on 11/16/2014| 1 Comment »
New satellite images suggest that the Earth is getting dustier. Well, not necessarily, chimed in Dan Muhs of the U.S. Geological Survey. Scientists increasingly turn to satellite images to track dust plumes in the atmosphere.
“The ability to monitor dust plumes is better now than in the past. This new information gives us a better appreciation of atmospheric dust,” said Muhs.
And it is important to study dust, because it is, in the words of Karen Kohfeld of Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Canada, the great communicator of the Earth System. “Dust links the land, air and sea system,” said Kohfeld.
What Happens When the Earth Belches?
Posted in Geology on 10/30/2009| 2 Comments »
When the Earth has indigestion, it belches massive amounts of basaltic material from its interior producing a Large Igneous Province (LIP) over a geologically short period of time. The volume of basalt produced at an LIP often exceeds the volume of basalt produced at a mid-ocean ridge system. LIPs are associated with continental breakup and regional-scale continental uplift. The oldest LIP has been dated to 2.5 billion years ago, but the most well preserved features have erupted since the breakup of the Pangean supercontinent, approximately 250 million years ago.
EarthSpin 