29 May, 2011

Accretionary Wedge #34: Weird Geology

It seems to me that there would be no such science as geology if dear old planet Earth wasn't really damned weird.

Image Credit: Chris Rowan
People had been running into seashells on mountaintops for years.  Seashells.  On mountaintops.  "That's weird," they said, and eventually, some clever types not content with "Funny old world, innit?" and "God must've done it" arguments said, "That's really weird.  How'd they get up there?  How, in fact, did mountains get there?"  And then you had Hutton sailing people around to Siccar Point and pointing out the rather dramatic angular unconformity there.  Now, that was weird.  So weird he took twenty-five years and a very verbose book to explain it.

Now, of course, we don't think it's all that weird.  But that's only because it's familiar.  It's like your Great Aunt Vanessa, whose personal quirks like dressing every square inch of exposed furniture surface in doilies and pontificating on the personalities of her plants strikes first-time visitors as mightily strange, but after you've got used to her and had the origins of those oddities explained away, just seems charmingly eccentric.

I mean, the very idea that these big ol' solid continents go rafting round the world was so laughably ridiculous on its face that nearly everybody laughed at poor old Alfie Wegener when he floated the idea.  Sure, everybody'd looked at a map of the world at some point and went, "Hmm, Africa and South America are a perfect fit.  Well, that's weird," but not as weird as Wegener's idea - until the evidence piled up, and everything fell into place, and the mountains made sense, and now everybody who knows anything about geology doesn't think plate tectonics is all that weird at all.  But it is.  Really, really weird.  Just because something makes perfect sense and can be proven scientifically doesn't mean it's not strange.

It's hard to remember how weird all this stuff really is.  Which is why I invited all you all to hop in the wayback machine or scurry out to the field in search of bizarre, befuddling, or simply baffling bits of geology.  What follows is a carnival sideshow of Weird Geology.  Step right this way, ladies and gentlemen, and feast your eyes on mind-boggling minerals, eccentric erratics, and a veritable smorgasbord of delightfully strange stones!

Image Credit: NIH

Roll up and see the famous Siamese Twins, Evelyn of Georneys and Michael of Through the Sandglass, conjoined at the posts Geology Word of the Week: Y is for Yardang and Yardangs: an Accretionary Wedge Weirdness Cross-post!  Feel the stare of the yardang!  Marvel at its perfect form and conformation!

Step right this way, ladies and gentlemen!  Hear Metageologist at Earth Science Erratics announce, "Chalk is weird."  Surely not chalk, you say!  But surely yes!  This dull, dry, bland-tasting (admit it, you had a nibble, perfectly normal for a geologist even though you weren't technically a geologist at that age) and indeed chalky rock is indubitably weird, and, dare we say, even strange.  See chalk as you've never seen it before!

And speaking of seeing, don't believe your eyes!  Geology is a master of illusion.  Venture into Magma Cum Laude's tempting tent, and Jessica shall show you illusions that will leave your brain befuddled and your senses insensible!  It's all here in Weird Geology: Accretionary Wedge #34, wherein it is proved that seeing should not always be believing.

Image Credit: kh1234567890
Weird Geology?  Holy Haleakala, what's weirder than molten rock? Let Matt at Research at a Snail's Pace show you there's nothing ordinary about rocks melting deep in the earth!

And then, ladies and gentlemen, come this way and walk on land - moving land, that is!  That's right, Rachael at 4.5 Billion Years of Wonder has a Slow Motion Landslide that must be trod upon to be believed!  It will give a whole new meaning to "the earth moved."  Guaranteed!

But that's not all!  No, simple moving earth is not all landslides have to offer!  Let David at History of Geology show you The landslide of Köfels: Geology between Pseudoscience and Pseudotachylite, where you will find pumice created by the friction of a landslide!  That's truly weird!  Weirder, even, than The toad in the hole...

Watch your step, folks, watch your step!  That may be Quicksand you're headed for!  At Ron Schott's Geology Home Companion Blog, it is proved "that not all terra is firma," a lesson you won't soon forget!

Image Credit: The Church of Man-Love

Hoodoo?  Voodoo?  Erosiondoo!  Phillip at Geology Blues knows that Goblin Valley is Weird!  Take an eerie journey through the hoodoos, at night, on Halloween - the only way to see your truly weird geology!

Oh, but ladies and gentlemen, Malcom at Pawn of the Pumice Castle has landforms that are not only weird, but unsolvedAccretionary Wedge #34: That is Weird will introduce you to the great and terrible mystery of Mima Mounds.  Prepare to be amazed!

And, speaking of mounds, go Geocaching and discover Quellschwemmkegel - mounds created by springs.  No mystery how these formed, but plenty weird, as Ole well knows!

Image Credit: Visboo
Ladies and gentlemen, you've seen breccia, but never like this!  You will marvel, you will ponder, Silver Fox of Looking for Detachment will prompt Some Thoughts on Weirdness, and A Picture (or Two) (or Three) - and what magnificent pictures they are!  How big can breccia be?  Come this way and find out!

Rocks can be magical, and what could be more magical than a crystal-filled rock appearing where no rock has ever been before?  Special to AW-34 Weird Geology, a blast from the past, Ann at Ann's Musing on Geology and Other Things has the story of a stone rafted on ice, buried, and brought to the surface by frost. Marvelous!

Continue your tour of  Accretionary Wedge 34: Weird geology at Hypo-theses, where Doctor Ian will show you rocks that will make you gasp, yes, gasp in shock and delight!

And you know that Accretionary Wedge #34 - Weird Geology would not be complete without a very weird wave-cut bench, which On-The-Rocks at Geosciblog provides for your entertainment and edification.

Now see, right here at ETEV, captured in stone, frozen forever, phenomena that will make you wonder about Permanent Impermanence: or, How the Fuck Did That Fossilize? 

And speaking of fossils, ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be amazed, astonished, and astounded at fossil rocks.  Step Outside the Interzone, where Lockwood hosts Weird Geology: Name That Rock Type!  What's in a name?  Much more than you realize!

Ladies and gentlemen, the carnival is over, but the Weird Geology is still out there, awaiting discovery.  Take up your rock hammers, your beer, and your hand lens, don your boots, and go, intrepid explorers, to reveal the weird and the wonderful, the bizarre and the beautiful, the anomalous and the alluring bones of this good planet Earth.

Image Credit: IGN


Lyle said...

Not having a blog, let me nominate the remnants of the Missoula floods in eastern Washington state and into Montana. 20 meter high ripple marks, a water fall 3.5 miles long, 400 foot high that carries 10x the water of all the other rivers in the world (the uber waterfall to end all uber waterfalls). Further water 6 to 8 feed deep in the Columbia gorge, backing up to 400 feet over Portand. Water flowing 65 mph.
Or as an alternative again in the northwest the whole flood basalt issue, lava flowing 100s of miles being thousands of feet deep (all be it there are other places on earth with similar features).

Lockwood said...

Great topic idea, fun and fascinating AW! Thanks for hosting!

Cujo359 said...

It may not be weird, but this place certainly isn't run of the mill.

Thanks for an interesting list.

Garry Hayes said...

Thanks for hosting! I was very late to the game, but here is just one more...http://geotripper.blogspot.com/2011/05/weird-geology-accretionary-wedge-34our.html

OrchidGrowinMan said...

Well, I'm a bit late, but I've been wondering about this curiously-symmetrical feature ever since I flew over it:
Of course, there are some weird-looking volcanics across the border to the south, so maybe it's one too....