Map of the Flow Size of United States Rivers

The Pacific Institute made the below map showing the size of American rivers' flow in cubic feet per second.  Two things are clear: a) yet again the great river dividing America really should be considered the Mississippi because of both length and flow and b) the Columbia River gets too little respect for its might.

Click to enlarge.

Geography Quiz 4: Out of Place Sioux Quartzite

Sioux Quartzite is quartz-type rock formed 542 million years ago to 2,500 million years ago.  It was formed at the present-intersection of South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.  The most famous deposit of it is in Pipestone, Minnesota.  Sioux Quartzite is found in massive above and below ground formations throughout the area.

Sioux Quartzite in South Dakota.  Photo by Catholicgauze.  

However, small rocks and boulders of Sioux Quartzite can be found all along the Kansas River in northeastern Kansas over 400 miles away from Pipestone.  How is this possible?

View Larger Map

Sioux Quartzite in Kansas.  Photo by the University of Kansas.

America's Carbon Dioxide Output at Twenty Year Low Due to Natural Gas

The economic slow, conservation efforts, and most importantly cheap, domestically produced natural gas have reduced the United States' carbon dioxide (CO2) output levels to a twenty year low.  The drop is primarily due to the increase drilling and exploitation of shell gas, which has given North Dakota one of the strongest economies in the nation. 

The primary means of getting shell gas are horizontal drilling and fracking (post on this coming fairly soon).

The need for energy at a reasonable price will further drive shell natural gas drilling in the country.  Looking at a map of shell gas, it is clear there is plenty of room for gas-driven economic growth in the interior of the country.

Dark pink is areas currently being tapped while light pink are untapped basins.  Yellow is potential.  From the Energy Information Administration.  Click to enlarge.

Pumice Island Floating in the Pacific

The Pumice Island and ash shore from space.  Click to Enlarge.  Image from NASA.

The New Zealand Navy discovered a new, temporary island floating in the Pacific Ocean.  The "island" is floating because the new geographic oddity is a collection of ash and pumice rock, which floats easily due to its lightweight caused by magma quickly be cooled by water. The island span an area of 300 miles (480 km) by 30 miles (48 km).

Scientists were confused as they could not find a reason for the islands existence.  After some investigation it seems that the underwater volcano Havre Seamount erupted and belched out the rock and ash.  The island isn't solid so it should not pose trouble to ship traffic.  In fact, it is believed that pumice can aid in the replenishment of coral reefs.

Syria: The Geography Calls for Bloody War

In the reenactments, drills, and just for fun games I have participated in, some of the most violent experiences involved "clearing the bush" operations.  When one side controls the high ground, usually in the form of a redoubt, that side must make sure the immediate low area around the point of control is clear of obstructions and any possible hiding enemies.  Combat devolves into one-on-one and/or ambushes as the low ground forces know if they lose the bush they will be forced later on to attack the high ground through open, deadly territory.  Sniping, tackling, punching, and short expletives occur as units become smaller to work more effectively. 

Fights like this occur on the tactile level all the time whether it be the fight for the farm fields before Picket's charge, the effort to clear the area around Little Round Top which killed a relative of mine, or the fights around outposts in Afghanistan.  Clearing the bush operations also occur on an operational and strategic level.  Because of the need to clear the bush and physical geography, the lowlands of Syria are the new killing fields.

On 12 July somewhere between 100 and 300 people were killed in Tremseh.


View Larger Map

This massacre follows the 25 May Houla massacre


View Larger Map

And the 6 June Al-Qubeir massacre


View Larger Map

These Sunni villages are intermixed with smaller Alawite villages in the flat lands of Hama and Homs provinces.  This agricultural area is in the shadows, the bush if you will, of the An-Nusayriyah Mountains (also known as the Coastal Mountain Range; the term Nusayriyah references a derogatory term against Alawites).  The mountain range stretches from Turkey to Lebanon and separates majority Alawite Latakia and Tartus provinces from the Sunni Muslim dominated-interior.


View Larger Map

The Weekly Standard has a good article about how the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR) seeks to control the Alawite areas (possibly to form a rump state) and that geography dictates that SAR needs to secure the areas in and around An-Nusayriyah Mountains.  Author Tony Badran compares SAR's situation to that of the Crusaders who made a series of fort to keep the Syrian coast in Christian control in order to connect the Crusader kingdoms with the Eastern Roman Empire.  The Crusaders were never able to control "the bush" around the mountains and therefore their castles were under constant siege which wore the Crusaders down.  It appears SAR is attacking Sunni villages around the mountains in order to cause Sunnis to leave the area and create a Alawite buffer around the once and possibly future Alawite State.

Geography though works against the SAR-Alawite forces.  The highland areas protect the only coastline for Syria.  A Sunni government in Damascus would most assuredly realize that in order to survive it needs the coastline for trade and oil export.  No state would give up that territory for long.  The only way an Alawite rump state would survive is with an open military presence of foreign/international troops from countries which Sunni Syria dare not challenge.  Anything less opens the Alawites up for attack.  A second scenario would be an Alawite plan to join with Lebanon, long thought of as a minority state.  This would cause a massive flux in Lebanon's careful demographic balance in favor of the Christian-Shia-Alawite axis versus the Christian-Sunni-Druze alliance.  Civil war would occur within days of an announcement a union between Lebanon and an Alawite state.  Lebanon knows this and would never allow this scenario to happen.

No one knows what will happen in Syria.  A SAR victory would cause long term Sunni resentment and lay the seeds for the next war.  A Sunni victory risks spilling over into Lebanon as the Christian-Sunni-Druze alliance would seek revenge against the pro-Syrian forces which hold the country hostage.  The sad truth is that geography calls for bloody war.

Panama: It's East and West of the Canal, Not North or South

There was once a commercial that mocked all the different types of coffee a coffeehouse forces customers to choose from.  Two of the choices listed are "Panama: north of the canal, south of the canal."

For some reason I thought of this commercial as I was going through an old atlas when I saw a map of Panama.  I wondered why and then it hit me: bad geography!

Many Americans have a poor mental map when it comes to the Americas.  Many think South America is right under North America when it fact South America is much further east (Pittsburgh in the eastern United States is almost exactly north of Quito, South America's most western capital city.

Because of this alignment Middle America is forced to stretch eastward as it extends south.


View Larger Map

This extent is to such an extreme that Panama does not run north to south but east to west.  Math proves this point and debunks the north/south myth.  Of the portion of Panama west of the canal, 15,000 square miles (39,000 square km) are south of the southern most point of the canal.  Only 7,000 square miles (18,000 square km) are south of the canal on the western half.  So if one is "south of the canal" they are more likely to be west of the canal, not east!

Note:  The Isthmus of Panama, where the canal runs through, is the thinnest point connecting the Americas and is therefore the physical geography border of North and South America.  Everything west of the canal is North America while everything east of the canal is South America.  Physical, Panama is in both continents.

All the World's Water Would Form a Sphere Only 860 Miles Wide

I really like the old post I did based off the Google Earth image below.  The picture shows the Pacific Ocean upside down.  Pondering on this image forces one to rethink their mental map and concept of the world's geography.

Now the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has given us a new geographical tidbit which forces us yet again to reexamine the world. 

The image is based off the USGS study which states that despite the fact 70 percent of the world's surface is water, all the water in the world would form a sphere stretching only 860 miles (1,385 kilometers).  The USGS states that this equals the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas.  For our European readers this is almost exactly the distance between London and Zagreb, Croatia.

Now for the truly mind blowing fact.  USGS estimates that freshwater comprises only 2.5 percent of all water, so I calculate that all the world's fresh water would form a sphere stretching only 21.5 miles (34.6 kilometers)!  That is shorter than some people's commute.

Meteorite Still Has Impact 75 Million Years Later

Seventy-five million years ago a meteorite slammed into present-day Iowa.  The rock was one and a half miles wide (2.4 km) and created a crater twenty-four miles (38.6 km) wide.  The resulting upheaval resulted in the local geology being a mixture of water, surface rock, and deep crust.

This weird geography is creating present-day problems as the 1,600-some locals of Manson, Iowa are looking for a water source to drill a well to quench their thrust for water for personal, business, and agricultural use.  Normally finding a location for a well in the Midwest would be pretty easy but no one knows where in the crater area one can find a large enough water source or milled-up rocks.

Interestingly, somewhere near the center of the crater is Iowa's only natural source of soft water.

The Growing Canary Islands

The eruption's disruption of the Atlantic Ocean is visible from space.  The new land could become a new island or an extension of El Hierro (From the BBC)

Off the cost of El Hierro Island, part of Spain's Canary Islands, a submarine volcano is erupting.  Currently the eruption is approximately 200 feet (60 meters) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.  The closeness of the eruption is causing scientists to wonder if a new Canary Island could surface soon.  No one knows for sure though because the volcano could stop erupting anytime.  One should not bet on visiting the new island too as the creation of new islands can take time: for over thirty years some people have been predicting the Loihi Seamount will become a new Hawaiian island yet the world is still waiting.

20 Cool Facts About the New Madrid Seismic Zone

I grew up learning about the New Madrid Seismic Zone and the major earthquakes of 1811 and 1812.  The earthquakes led to mass migrations outside the area, modified the borders of Missouri, caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards, and was felt as far away as Boston.

Click to Enlarge

The USGS has made a neat poster of twenty "cool" facts about the zone.  One can view the PDF version online or click on the graphic above to read it.  For those interested in historical and physical geography this is an interesting read!

Washington DC August 2011 Earthquake

So I was on the phone when I felt what seemed to be a heavy cart moving by.  The rattling was too hard so I thought it was a nearby helicopter.  However, when the person on the other end phone said there was shaking I realized it was an earthquake.

Yes, I am fine.  Yes, I know West Coast readers are laughing at those on the East Coast for the level of freak out going on.  No, nothing of mine was damaged.  No, I managed to stay off of the hellish roads as my home is in walking distance of work.  Yes, I did partake in USGS' Did You Feel It survey.  (Also, the Washington Monument does have some cracks but it is not leaning!)

The USGS has an excellent page on the 5.8 on the Richter Scale earthquake.  Their summary does a far better job than I could ever do:

The Virginia earthquake of 2011 August 23 occurred as reverse faulting on a north or northeast-striking plane within a previously recognized seismic zone, the "Central Virginia Seismic Zone." The Central Virginia Seismic Zone has produced small and moderate earthquakes since at least the 18th century. The previous largest historical shock from the Central Virginia Seismic Zone occurred in 1875. The 1875 shock occurred before the invention of effective seismographs, but the felt area of the shock suggests that it had a magnitude of about 4.8. The 1875 earthquake shook bricks from chimneys, broke plaster and windows, and overturned furniture at several locations. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on 2003, December 9, also produced minor damage.

Previous seismicity in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone has not been causally associated with mapped geologic faults. Previous, smaller, instrumentally recorded earthquakes from the Central Virginia Seismic Zone have had shallow focal depths (average depth about 8 km). They have had diverse focal mechanisms and have occurred over an area with length and width of about 120 km, rather than being aligned in a pattern that might suggest that they occurred on a single causative fault. Individual earthquakes within the Central Virginia Seismic Zone occur as the result of slip on faults that are much smaller than the overall dimensions of the zone. The dimensions of the individual fault that produced the 2011 August 23 earthquake will not be known until longer-term studies are done, but other earthquakes of similar magnitude typically involve slippage along fault segments that are 5 - 15 km long.

Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).

NASA: Expanding Earth Theory Disproved

Back before the theory of plate tectonics took hold an alternative believed by some respectable geographers was that the Earth expanded and contracted.  The theory has long been abandoned but a few holdouts still believed, which I blogged about in 2008 (no need to follow that link as I pasted the video below).

Still a crazy theory, now a false one as well

Today NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced the results of their study which shows Expanding Earth is false.  Using GPS, satellite orbits, satellite laser ranging, and radio astronomy, NASA is convinced there is no significant change in the Earth's width at all.  The only "change" measured equaled out to 0.004 inches (0.1 millimeters), which is well within the margin of error.  This change (or margin of error), equaling a width of a human hair, would only account for 4.1 miles (6.6 kilometers) of growth/contraction in the last 65 million years.

More than 4.1 miles is needed to change this to the Earth we know.  Image from Celestial Matters.

The Earth: From the Tallest Mountain to the Deepest Trench

Karl Tate of Our Amazing Planet has created perhaps the most epic, to scale chart of the Earth from the tallest mountain top to the deepest ocean trench.  The chart, below, describes the range of life on earth, atmospheric and aquatic pressure, heights of clouds, and gives plenty of height comparisons so one can truly comprehend the scale of the Earth.  I was shocked how much higher birds can fly beyond the "dead zone" for humans.  Truly an excellent chart.


Source OurAmazingPlanet.com, Exploring the wonder and beauty of planet Earth through exclusive news, features and images.

Large Amount of Water Estimated Within the Moon: Good for Conquering, Bad for Origin Theory

The hard science behind the news is a little hard to explain but the news is groundbreaking none the less, the upper mantle of the Moon is now believed to have the same amount of water as the upper mantle of the Earth.  The water is not in the form of giant underground oceans but vast scatterings of ice beads in the dry magma rock.

The news is the latest piece in a series of announcements in the past few years which have indicated there is indeed a supply of water on the Moon.  While not enough to support and sustain human colonization, the ever increasing amount of water that we know of can be a good start of power production (something that if we had to import water to the Moon would just be impracticable).  If the water on the Moon can support industry like mining then the incentives for Moon exploration will be worth the costs, much like gold and silver made the conquest of North America worth the effort for various European power.

The presence of water in Earth-like quantities does raise an interesting question.  The most commonly accepted theory on the Moon's origin states that the Moon is the reformed remains of a slightly larger Earth which suffered a direct impact from the planet called Theia.  Previously known amounts of water on the Moon's surface presence were explained by claiming the water came from after the Theia-impact, after the Moon was formed by Earth-formed comets formed by other impacts.  That theory works.  The theory does not explain how water could be in the mantle which formed below a hot crust which would have melted any water.  While no theory can explain the ice presence and no theory can instantly replace the Theia-hypothesis, water in the Moon's crust presents a very large question mark to how the Moon was created.

Beautiful Pictures of the Divide Between North America and Eurasia

Photo taken from the Daily Mail.  Photo is property of Dr. Alexander Mustard.

Dr. Alexander Mustard is marine biologist who also loves underwater photography.  He recently traveled to Iceland where he took photographs of fault line where the Eurasian and North American plates are slowly moving apart.  More of the photographs are available at the Daily Mail.

Sometimes it is refreshing to think about all the beautiful, fascinating places on Earth which are the results of our constantly changing, active planet.

The Underwater River Continuation of the Bosphorus

"The underwater giant: The river, shown with a 3D scan using false color, flows along the bed of the Black Sea" - The Daily Mail

Back in middle school (about sixth grade) I was involved in a school activity which looked at a computer model of a underwater river bed in the Gulf of Mexico formed by water that rushed from the Mississippi River. That was the only experience I had with underwater rivers until the latest news story about British scientists discovering an active underground river.

The river is actually the continuation of the Bosphorus Strait as it pours water from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea. The water from the Mediterranean is heavier because of its higher salt content and therefore sinks to the bottom. The force of the water digs into the soft Black Sea floor creating a river channel. The so far unnamed river is huge: up to 115 feet (35 meters) deep and half a mile (.8 kilometers) wide. This combined with the amount of water flowing through the river channel make the underwater river the sixth largest river in the world.

A neat thing to know about the underwater river is that it even has rapids and waterfalls! The ocean and seas are the world's last frontiers. Geographers who focus in oceanography are filling in the last "blank", actually blue, spots in the map. However, there is plenty of more spots to explore so if one wants to do on Earth discovers then oceanography may be up one's alley.

In 2009 I blogged about the below video in which the importance of oceanography and ocean exploration is discussed

Map of What the World Would Like If the Globe Slowed then Stopped Spinning

The oceans of the world would migrate to the pole because of the relatively heaver gravity

ESRI produced a series of maps of what the world would look like if the globe stop spinning. The key paragraphs are

If the earth's gravity alone was responsible for creating a new geography, the huge bulge of oceanic water—which is now about 8 km high at the equator—would migrate to where a stationary earth's gravity would be the strongest. This bulge is attributed to the centrifugal effect of earth's spinning with a linear speed of 1,667 km/hour at the equator. The existing equatorial water bulge also inflates the ellipsoidal shape of the globe itself.

and

If the earth stood still, the oceans would gradually migrate toward the poles and cause land in the equatorial region to emerge. This would eventually result in a huge equatorial megacontinent and two large polar oceans. The line that delineates the areas that hydrologically contribute to one or the other ocean would follow the equator if the earth was a perfect ellipsoid. However, due to the significant relief of both the continents and the ocean floor, the hypothetical global divide between the areas that hydrologically contribute to one or another ocean deviates from the equator significantly. Analogous to the well-known U.S. Continental Divide, this would be the border separating two giant hemispherical watersheds of the new circumpolar oceans.

Rogue Waves Explained

Rogue waves a very large waves that can form in any weather. Strangely they do not form in groups. Therefore they almost stealth like in their approach. The combination of a massive, moving wall of water and the stealthy approach can lead to disaster on the sea.

A new study has discovered the probable cause of rogue waves. According to ScienceShot:

In a new paper to be published in Physical Review Letters, researchers use a computer model to simulate a rogue wave's birth and propagation. Two or more small waves, driven forward by strong currents, and at the same time resisted by powerful headwinds, suddenly combine and amplify their height into a single, giant wave. Once formed, the wave structure stabilizes itself and concentrates its energy in one direction. That enables it to travel many kilometers before breaking up, typically when either the driving currents or headwinds subside. Along the way, anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting in the wave's path is bound to remember the experience.

Research into rogue waves may help one day predict where these real life monsters of the sea can strike next. With prediction knowledge disasters like the March 2010 cruse ship strike may be avoided in the future.

South Pacific Coral Islands Growing

A study of twenty-seven islands in the Pacific Ocean has shown that twenty-three of the islands have grown in size or stayed the same in the last sixty years. This is despite sea levels rising nearly five (4.7) inches (120 millimeters).

The key part of the study is below:

[Arthur] Webb [of the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission in Fiji] says the trend is explained by the islands' composition. Unlike the sandbars of the eastern US coast, low-lying Pacific islands are made of coral debris. This is eroded from the reefs that typically circle the islands and pushed up onto the islands by winds, waves and currents. Because the corals are alive, they provide a continuous supply of material. "Atolls are composed of once-living material," says Webb, "so you have a continual growth." Causeways and other structures linking islands can boost growth by trapping sediment that would otherwise get lost to the ocean.

All this means the islands respond to changing weather and climate. For instance, when hurricane Bebe hit Tuvalu in 1972 it deposited 140 hectares of sedimentary debris onto the eastern reef, increasing the area of the main island by 10 per cent.

The study was done by looking at areal imagery of the islands from the past sixty years. The study shows that at least some Pacific islands have an active growth cycle which can protect them from sea level rise. However, not all the islands have this mechanism. So threat of submersion for other, non-coral Pacific islands still exists.

Eyjafjallajökull Ash Cloud Map Roundups

First a time lapse of what is coming out of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland



The Map Room Blog uploaded the Norwegian Meteorological Office's map of the ash cloud's spread across Europe.



Google Maps Mania and Mapperz linked to RadarVirtuel which is mapping the ash clouds and any flights over Europe.



Google Maps Mania also linked to the British Met Office maps of the ash cloud and its level over the United Kingdom.

The Map Room Blog also linked to NASA's updating page of satellite imagery and maps of the ash cloud.