Thursday, December 14, 2017

SearchResearch Challenge (12/14/17): What are those light patches on the ground?

Flying is a curious thing to do. 

Not only is it miraculous (humans moving through the air at 10km in an aluminum tube), but it gives one a very different perspective on the land below.  When I fly, I'm constantly looking out the window at the land and sea below, usually wondering what it is that I'm seeing.  

On a recent flight back into San Francisco airport, I was traveling northward (from Los Angeles) over Monterey Bay. And just after we crossed the bay and were passing over the coastal town of Santa Cruz, I noticed several distinctly light patches on the earth below us.  Here's what I saw from my seat, with red arrows marking the light patches I could see from the plane and the yellow dotted line marking the flight path: 

One of the points of this blog is to teach us the fine art of curiosity--in some ways, I write to figure out what triggers a curious question, and then how to find the answer with clever online research methods.  

In this case, the trigger was seeing so many of these very similar light patches of earth in more-or-less a line.  When I see things like this, I get curious.  Patterns suggest that something is going on. There's no obvious reason why these patches should be here, nor why they should be in a line like this.  Is it just an accident?  Or is something else going on here? 

I really don't know either.  But let's take a look this week and see if we can't figure out what's going on.  So... 

1. What ARE those light patches on the ground? 

2.  Is there any reason that they would be in a line like this?  What's special about this particular are that would cause light patches like this? 

To get you started, the patch on the far left of the image is at:  37.029531,-122.153212 , while the patch on the far right of the image is 37.0635053,-121.9324645

Can you figure this one out?

Let us know how you found your way to the answer!  

Search on! 


  1. I believe they are limestone quarries.

    Once I looked up the image by the coordinates, I searched for the town of Bonny Doon and saw that it was a site of former limestone operations. Searching for Limestone Santa Cruz brought up numerous sites confirming this.

    One track I am following is that perhaps the limestone formed in this area in seawater and this line of quarries is where the coastline used to be.

    I have spend about a half hour on this and don't have any more time.

  2. bonny doon, felton, olives springs query quarries…
    rockin' in Santa Cruz

    Judith Koveleskie seems to have done a nice job sorting out the questions… here's my 2¢
    the premise of your observations made me wonder… do you have a specific seat preference by airframe/carrier?
    seat selection
    The worst places to sit on a plane

    …both the videos below came off a Lime Kiln Legacies site
    YT - where I found the UCSC site
    YT overview of area lime industry…
    Great source of info on lime industry, specifically the Cowell Lime Works…
    fb page

    an major use - "Macadam"
    the wiki macadam 'splaining…

    meanwhile, near Bonny Doon, a few years back… gentrifying the lime…
    Bob Mansfield  Senior Vice President of Technologies
    overseeing their car work now?

    nearby - Grey School of Wizardry
    2.3 miles from the Bonny Doon quarry
    Historic Bonny Doon ranch

    used - [formation of lime deposits santa cruz, ca]
    [limestone maine terraces santa cruz ca]
    72 valid minerals
    "BILL: You could probably walk seven miles out. Up at San Francisco Bay there was no water, you could go all the way to the Farallon Islands. But, getting back to this area, you can see that a lot more rain, and a lot lower and hillier, the water was traveling much faster and that’s what dug out all these different gulches all over San Cruz County"

  3. "Cowell had bought a 2,000-acre ranch on the Merced River. Henry and his neighbor, Daniel Ingalsbe, argued over the boundary line. Several months after Ingalsbe’s death, his son Leigh continued the argument with a revolver.
    Cowell was shot in the shoulder. The wound was called “minor” by the authorities. But Henry claimed that he never felt good after that shooting."

    Henry, not Harry, who was shot before his demise a few months later
    Cowell historical society
    a picture
    wiki on the lime works
    was scheduled for closure in 2008
    wiki on limekiln park
    2011 budget - 70 parks…

  4. I tried and found nothing yet. I need to think more about how to solve it. At the moment zero ideas.

    1. Happy Holidays Dr. Russell and everyone

      As I said, not many good results. So, I am trying and reading the comments made by Judith and Remmij.

      I noticed the photo by Dr. Russell is called : “ Quarry + map”

      Searched [37.029531,-122.153212 ]

      Found another point at 37.059987, -121.935072

      Tried then [santa cruz light patches in the ground]

      The Mystery Spot is a visual illusion–based tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, California,

      [quarry santa cruz california] (Mine and Mineral Plants (USA) )shows map of quarries.

      Tried searching why quarries are visible from the air. And writing the [ ] Google suggested [why quarry are visible from space]

      Huge Holes in the Earth: Open-Pit Mines Seen From Space

      10 Surprising Things You Can See From Space

      With [santa cruz california limestone quarries from air]

      Santa Cruz County Judith already mentioned a link from this website.

      [why limestone quarry brights]

      Buildings such as the National Cathedral, Biltmore Estate, Empire State Building, the Pentagon, The Crescent in Dallas, and the Hotel Pennsylvania feature Indiana limestone in their exteriors

      Limestone is a sedimentary rock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778...Bands of limestone emerge from the Earth's surface in often spectacular rocky outcrops and islands

      Also read that limestone with water creates amazing landscapes. So, [limestone quarry landscape] Such erosion landscapes are known as karsts.

  5. … not sure why I didn't see him the first time… dematerialization/rematerialization… he might have been giving Cowell advice on how to live long and prosper…?
    limestone quarry workers
    wonder if he, Sybok's ½, had a hand in this too…?
    south of Santa Cruz
    ooops – Diorite granite
    AmAReekan Scientist… probably not the "final resting place"

  6. Anne and Deb here. We started out by putting the coordinates into Google maps. By zooming in we could see that it appeared to be a quarry of some sorts. So did a search for quarry santa cruz and came to this result. Noticed one of the quarries was Bonny Doon Quarry and that was the name of the road near the site so we then did a search to find out what type of rock was quarried.
    We next did a search for rock type quarry santa cruz and found this site which shows the geologic formations in the region. Next looked up Boony Doon Quarry Santa Cruz and found that it was a limestone quarry.
    Interesting this area was the subject of some contention when an Apple executive wanted to build a 9000 square foot home in this area.
    So the patches are quarries or former quarries and they are in a line because of the rock formations of the area.

  7. My first guess was limestone quarry pits. Located in GE. Search [bonny doon felton quarries pits] finds lots of hits confirming limestone quarries. And one decomposed granite quarry.

    Nice one. jontU

  8. Forgot to add: they might appear to be lined up because the limestone is sedimentary rock laid down in flat ground seas; now raised and eroded. j

  9. Not much time to research this but as always, a knowledge of specialist terms might be of help. Some key search terms that occur to me from my studies of geology umpteen years ago might assist others: stratigraphy; stratigraphic map, orogeny, karst landscape,

  10. Replies
    1. Hi Remmij. Just checking the latest post of yours. Map with Dan's & light spots is super good. And brings more curiosity as you say. Thanks for doing it.

  11. local wiki… wasn't familiar with these
    "The lime was shipped to San Francisco in wooden barrels to fuel the rapid building of the city."
    barrels filled with lime - from the photo Ramón found…
    Cowell lime works
    Cowell cooperage - story+photos
    in his own words…
    "“The possibilities of making money in California are great,” Cowell said. “I think that Puerto Rico and Manilla will prove a good field for young men. I could have made a lot of money in Louisiana in raising sugar, but I couldn’t stand the climate. In climate, California has the advantage over other states.”" Henry Cowell
    Cowell emphasized his contribution to the Santa Cruz economy. “Why, I have paid in wages in Santa Cruz Co. more than two million dollars, which you will admit was quite a help to the place. I have also paid in taxes $120,000. If the people can afford to stand the loss which will necessarily follow the closing of the kilns, I surely can.” Evening Sentinel, Sept. 12, 1898,
    Cowell history
    Bituminous Rock
    Kalkar quarry & Snowball bricks

    the power of lime
    lime at the Supreme Court - Mather v. Rillston
    labor law - Digest of Decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States ..., Volume 2
    United States Supreme Court MATHER v. RILLSTON, (1895) No. 139 Argued: Decided: March 4, 1895

  12. SearchReSearch related topics
    First Christmas Carol and Most Popular (in Spanish)

    Moon Phases 2018 Dr. Russell shared some years ago this video for that year. This is the new, latest one.

    Finally, a friend ask me. Why Earth is called Earth if our planet is mostly water?
    HOW EARTH GOT ITS NAME? That question is something I never asked to myself.