Prologue: My original blog about geophysics is in German. (If you whish that page translated in English, click here- the Google translator is doing quite a good job these days). This site right here is a video aggregator project that I once started that hasn't really been kicking off so far.
Peter and me somewhat simultaneously solved the last WoGE, a stunning shot of an accretionary prism in SW Pakistan.
Here's how the game works: (taken from Ron's page)
"For those of you who may be unfamiliar with WoGE (who dat?), the object is to search Google Earth until you find the tract of land pictured below. Once you’ve found it, identify its latitude and longitude in the comments to this post and do what you can to describe the geological significance of this area or the landform in question. The winner (first person to post the correct location and geology) will have the honor of hosting the next WoGE competition on their own Geoblog. If you haven’t won (recently) or have just been thinking about starting your own geology blog it’s a great chance to win a little exposure among your colleagues and the bragging rights that go with that. If you’re getting bogged down or just want to take a break from searching, consider taking a tour of past WoGE localities – the list is getting quite impressive. And if you’re still looking for more of this Google Earth geo-goodness have a look at the new Pathological Geomorphology blog which was inspired by WoGE."
Plus, if you don't have your own geoblog, no problem- just ask a geoblogger to kindly host it for you.
No Schott rule this time. Maybe I shouldn't give hints, but I just can't help myself... It's all about the bluish spot in the middle.
Update: A few pictures from the ground of this gateway to hell:
40.234722 N,58.434906 W.
ReplyDeleteThis is an area near the city of Darvaza in the KaraKum desert of Turkmenistan.
The 'claim to fame' of this area is probably the drilling and collapse of a natural gas well that eventually ignited. This is visible near the centre of the image (the tiny dot in the blue-ish area),
Landscape-wise, the more striking features resemble some fluvial features from outburst areas and even Mars. In any case the bear the signature of erosion by a fluid. In this case they are most likely yardangs (streamlined and anabranching remnant surfaces in bedrock or cemented sediments) created by longitudinal vortices in the air flow. Winds carrying sand particles abrade the forms over time and a nice positive feedback loops develops to further enhance the yardang by forcing flow separation around the upstanding form, furthering their erosion.
Jerome
Good job! You're next then.
ReplyDeleteHy guys, any update on the next WoGE?
ReplyDeleteNew Woge is up on Ron's blog
ReplyDeletehttp://ron.outcrop.org/blog/?p=735
WoGE #196 is posted: http://ron.outcrop.org/blog/?p=735
ReplyDelete