San Andreas Fault

Coming from Poland, I have never been in an area known for earthquakes. After moving to California, I learned that there is a huge faultline here, the San Andreas Fault. It is 800 miles long, and for a fault that regularly topples buildings, rips apart bridges and kills people, the San Andreas can be surprisingly hard to see. The best place to observe the 800-mile-long fault is along the Carrizo Plain, west of Los Angeles. The land is undeveloped, dry and fairly barren, so the trenches formed by past earthquakes haven’t been worn away by erosion and plants don’t get in the way.

The San Andreas is the plane of contact between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The Pacific Plate is pushing south-southeast and the North American is pushing north-northwest, rubbing uncomfortably against each other as they travel in opposite directions. Of course this has caused massive earthquakes and lots of destruction over the years. But thats just another part of Geology!

Yellowstone Supervolcano

Recently, I’ve learned of all the geology present in Yellowstone National Park. At first I thought it was just the famous geysers that its well known for. But after doing some reading I learned that there exists a massive supervolcano beneath the park.

Beneath the park, there is a partially molten plume rising from the Earth’s mantle, fueling the park’s famous geysers and hot springs, and causing the crust above to bulge and recede in response to its forces. The plume’s high conductivity suggests it contains high levels of silicate rocks and perhaps briny water.

Researchers have been running tests and collecting data to determine the size of this volcano. Using a new technique, they have created an image of the plume beneath Yellowstone showing the cyclone shape stretching at a 40-degree angle to the west at a depth of 200 miles for 400 miles east to west! That is enormous!

The last time this volcano erupted was 640,000 years ago. That’s when it formed the Yellowstone Caldera, a 30 by 50 mile crater. When will this volcano erupt again? Nobody knows for sure, but its best to not be in the area when it happens.

Pink Lake

 

This week I stumbled upon a picture of a pink lake. After some research, I discovered this was Lake Hillier in Western Australia. It is a salt water lake. It is pink in color due to the green algae halobacterium it contains, along with its high concetration of brine prawn. The lake does not however, always appear pink.

It is also a very important place for wildlife. Many species flourish in and around the lake. I think it was quite interesting to learn that a pink lake even existed. But as in all things geological, there was a logical explanation.