Chris Rowan is a geologist specialising in the dark arts of paleomagnetism, and getting people to pay him to travel to exotic destinations for fieldwork. Having drilled up New Zealand during his PhD, and South Africa in his first post-doc, he now works at the University of Edinburgh.
Anne Jefferson has a love of all things water-related and blends hydrology, geomorphology, geology, and climate change in her work. She has a Ph.D. from Oregon State University and is now an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
On the 12th day of Christmas my true love sent to me: 12 folds a-plunging...
Anyone with even a hint of structural geologist in their soul loves a good fold. As well as their geometrically appealing curves, they represent a tangible, easily read footprint of the tectonic forces that have lifted up the hills and mountains around you. A fold is said to plunge if its axis of curvature has been tilted away from the horizontal, such that the landscape will cut through the fold, rather than running parallel to it.
This means that when seen from above, plunging folds look rather beautiful; the differently eroding beds form a tableau of warped ridges and valleys, all co-operating to tell their tale of orogonies past.
Australia (click images to open in Google Earth)
Algeria
Oman
Iran
Cantabrians
South Africa
Pakistan
Pakistan again
Pennsylvania
Utah
Utah again
Wyoming
For the examples above (click here to open the full set in Google Earth) I've borrowed heavily from the SERC page of Google Earth mapping locations, as well as adding a few from my own personal experience. I was hoping to include at least one from the UK, but none of the examples I know of show up well on satellite; if you know of any, in Britain or elsewhere, I'd be happy to hear of them in the comments.
...11 terranes amalgamating,
10 probes a-probing,
9 isotopes fractionating,
8 streams reversing,
7 glaciers melting,
6 fields a-flipping,
5 focal mechanisms,
4 index fossils,
3 Helmholtz coils,
2 concordant zircons,
and an APWP.
Thus ends my Christmas epic. Phew. I hope it provided some interest and enjoyment over the festive season.
Environment
Physical Science
Comments
St. Monan's in Fife comes out looking pretty well: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st.+monans+fife+uk&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=56.462693,85.693359&ie=UTF8&cd=1&hq=&hnear=Saint+Monance,+Anstruther,+Fife,+United+Kingdom&ll=56.204305,-2.762788&spn=0.002453,0.00523&t=h&z=18
Posted by: Bob Jamieson | January 5, 2010 2:09 PM
I loved this series! And you saved the best (structure!) for last! Bravo, Chris - well done!
Posted by: Callan Bentley | January 5, 2010 2:29 PM
On a small scale the beach at East Quantoxhead is good http://tinyurl.com/ydnjm75 or there are the Goyt and Roaches synclines in Staffordshire/Cheshire/Derbyshire http://tinyurl.com/y8eqb5p
Posted by: Hypocentre | January 5, 2010 4:29 PM
An interesting well-done series. I enjoyed it very much, thanks.
Posted by: david | January 5, 2010 6:40 PM
Great series, Chris. You've set a high bar for blogging here in 2010. :-)
Posted by: Anne Jefferson | January 6, 2010 10:32 AM
Like Prof Brian Greene ( "Fabric of the Cosmos") you are an EXCELLENT teacher.....thank you.
Posted by: Alan Jacobs | January 13, 2010 4:15 PM
A local favourite of mine is the Sucia Islands, here in the Pacific Northwest. The forest hides the details seen in the desert images but the ocean reveals the topography nicely. A layman such as myself might speculate that glacial action removed the softer layers.
http://maps.google.com/maps?&q=48.761944,-122.913333&spn=0.3,0.3&output=kml
Posted by: John Spraggs | February 1, 2010 4:38 AM
I enjoyed looking back at this series. As a resident of Houston, TX, I have no geology to look at except ditches in the clay. The most exciting rocks come from the local railroad, where they are starting to use pink granite as ballast.
Posted by: Matt M | February 9, 2010 3:21 PM