tirsdag 5. august 2014

WoGE #452

I came back from summer vacation and found Felix' WoGE #451 relatively quickly. I was looking in the wrong hemisphere for a short while, until I managed to get all the visual clues to fit together. Then it became obvious that it had to be New Zealand. :)


This WoGE contains something geologic inside something geologic. If you find one, it should be easy to find out what the other one is, and what is so special about the smallest feature.


Desert again... ;)



I invoke the Schott Rule again for this, since one feature only occurs in a limited area.

For any new players to Where on (Google) Earth, simply post a comment with latitude and longitude and write something about the (geologic/geographic/hydrographic) feature in the picture. If you win, you get to host the next one. Previous WoGEs are collected by Felix on his blog and a KML file.

11 kommentarer:

  1. I´m betting this Cyprus-like formation isn't in Norway ... :D

    SvarSlett
  2. I've already checked for "deer hunting geology" but didn't find anything....

    SvarSlett
  3. I think I can safely say that this is not in Norway, without that counting as a hint! :D

    SvarSlett
    Svar
    1. Besides Europe (for obvious reasons) and the south hemisphere (I'm pretty sure), I've already eliminated another continent!

      Slett
  4. 30°34′43″N 34°49′4″E - Makhtesh Ramon, Negev desert, Israel.

    Thought to be a meteor impact crater, is a makhtesh, a geological landform considered unique to the Negev desert of Israel. It has steep walls of resistant rock surrounding a deep closed valley which is usually drained by a single wadi. This Makhtesh Ramon is the world's largest (40 km long, 2–10 km wide and 500 meters deep, and is shaped like an elongated heart). We can find clay, basalt, gabbro, granite, conglomerate, sandstone, limestone etc..

    There's also a large quantity of (small) spiral ammonite fossils (the larger ones are gone) and one could find pterioid bivalve (Ramonalinidae) fossils in early Middle Triassic rocks.

    Sources: Makhtesh Ramon, Makhtesh, Geological map(jpg image), Stratigraphy(jpg image).

    Note: is much closer to the above mentioned Cyprus that I would ever think! :)

    SvarSlett
  5. Good, Luis!

    So what is the dark rock thing in the middle of the picture? That's the something I was after - finding Makhtesh Ramon was the easy part. ;)

    SvarSlett
  6. According with the Geological map and stratigraphy pictures (above) this Gabbro Laccolith, is:
    - an evidence of a rapid ascent of the magmas from their mantle source with minimal residence times in the upper crust, due to the presence of lower crustal and lithospheric mantle xenoliths in these volcanics;
    - indicative of prolonged and intense magmatic and volcanic activity in this region coinciding with the deposition of the sedimentary strata;
    - one of the most promising sites for HSR sensor calibration worldwide.

    SvarSlett
  7. You got it!
    I found this location when I was reading up on Triassic paleosols - which are sometimes problematic for us in the North Sea. Then I did as I always do, I went off on a tangent. My education was in magma petrology, so it is very easy to distract me from sediments.

    One very strange thing I discovered is that the best summary of the stratigraphy and sedimentology of Israel is on a YEC site! You just have to ignore all the attempts to relate the layers to the Flood, then the summary is really very very good work.

    SvarSlett
  8. Thanks :)

    I noticed the same, but my agnosticism cleared those parts away!

    In about 24H I shall have #453 ready!

    SvarSlett
  9. Well, a little later that I predicted, but ... here it is: http://woge-luis.blogspot.pt/2014/08/453.html

    SvarSlett