WOGE 323

When I saw the rugged mountains in WOGE 322 I immediately thought that they seemed "Himalayan."  (This probably indicates that I have spent too much time on Google Earth lately.)  I focused on that part of the world, and specifically on areas where reddish images met grayish ones.  I discovered that we were looking at a spectacularly beautiful portion of the Zanskar Shear Zone in Kashmir.  I envy Simon Wellings, who has visited the area in person rather than by computer.

For WOGE 323 I will offer an area that would be considerably easier to visit, if you cared to.  The oddly colored lake in the picture has both a ancient and a modern geologic story to tell.  Neither one is complicated or difficult to find (once you know the name of the lake so you can Google it :-)  However, be sure to read far enough to get the right facts.  One source contains incorrect information that is corrected a little further down the page.

For anyone new to Where on Google Earth, the winner is the first person to post a comment with the coordinates of the location shown and some information about the geology of interest.  More complete rules and hints can be found here.  No restrictions on this edition.  Have fun searching!

It has been a few days so I will provide another view.  The mystery lake is not visible in this image, but it should provide a few clues about where to look for it.

 

 

WOGE 320

Thanks to Felix Bossert for providing an easy and unrestricted WOGE 319.  I happened to log on at the right moment, and I was able to find Hiti Atoll in the South Pacific easily just by flying aimlessly over some of the areas where coral atolls are common.  Thanks to Péter Luffi also, for graciously waiting just long enough for me to post my comment first :-)

Now, what to post for WOGE 320...  Thanks to Felix again, for your suggestion!  I have seen this joked about, but I don't know if anyone has actually done it.  So here it is -- A single sand dune in the middle of a desert.

I will upload larger views if it is necessary, but I suspect this may be an easy challenge for some players.  As always, the first person to find this location with Google Earth and provide a brief description of the geology wins the privilege of providing the next challenge. I will invoke the Schott Rule this time, just because no one has used it in the last month.  If you don't know what the Schott Rule is, then check out the New Players section at Felix's blog.  Posting time is 3:05 UTC

It has been a few days, so I am providing a more standard view.  This is technically a "historical image", but the part with the sand dune is exactly the same.  When you find the location on Google Earth you might notice that something interesting happened in the ten days after this image was made.

I did not expect that this would be a difficult challenge, but now I suspect that everyone may be looking in the wrong deserts.  I would rather not give an even larger view, since it would make things too easy.  Instead, I give you a close-up view of part of the dune at top center in the second image.  I hope that a careful look at this will give someone the hint they need to find the proper desert.  If you have already spent more than fifteen or twenty minutes searching in a particular country, you are probably on the wrong track.

The second picture above is just for comparison.  It is at the same scale and was taken on the same day of the year but, obviously, in a different part of the world.  I hope it makes the hint more clear.

WOGE 311

Mathias has asked me to post his image for WOGE 311 here.  I have no idea what the location is or what the geology of interest is, but Mathias states that the location should not be too hard to find, and that nothing fancy is required for geological information.  He is not invoking the Schott rule.  I will sit out this round, so I look forward to seeing who finds this.

WOGE #310

When I saw Péter Luffi's WOGE 309 I immediately thought of some of the areas I looked at while searching for WOGE 306, which I eventually found in Greece.  I focused my search on that part of the world and after about forty minutes I found the right location just across the border in Albania.  However, finding information about the geology took much longer.  I was glad that the puzzle had not yet been solved when I finally got back to it.

In keeping with the spirit of Felix Bossert's recent encouragement for new players, I will offer a simple challenge for WOGE 310.  If you follow the suggestions he gives, you should be able to find this interesting valley rather quickly.  In addition to the location, be sure to tell us something basic about the geologic history.  Nothing fancy is required, just a simple explanation of how it was formed.  Since this is meant to be an easy WOGE, the Schott Rule is in effect.  (Go here for an explanation of WOGE rules.)

WOGE #307

I finally found it! After searching on and off for almost a month I located the snowy mountains in Christoph Grützner's WOGE #306 in sunny Greece, of all places.  Hopefully my selection for the next edition will be less challenging.  I tried to find a perfect spot for all of the geologists out there who like to take their work home with them.  As always, the first one to find the coordinates and tell us something about the geology of the area will win the privilege of hosting the next WOGE challenge.  (For a more complete explanation of the game go here.) The Schott Rule is not in effect this time.  Enjoy the search.

Now that this edition has been solved, I will add a few pictures showing why I found this area interesting. All photos are by GeoKap

Caves near Gelsunda

 

"Cave City" upriver at Vardzia

Another view of Vardzia with the Mtkvari River

WOGE 305

Since I was able to eventually locate Péter Luffi's interesting "round-ish something" in India, I get to host WOGE once again.  Since the large dimensions of the view Péter gave were very helpful in the search, I will return the favor.  None of my previous three WOGE pictures have included any real rock formations, so this time I will give you a site that is know for interesting and beautiful rock formations.  Since they are a little difficult to pick out, I have included a close-up image.

As you might guess, these rock formations are not know for their size.  However, they are quite interesting because of where they are.  Finding information about this site can be challenging, so here is a hint: once you find the location in Google Earth, pull back and do a Google search for the names of some of the towns nearby.

I will invoke the Schott rule (past winners must wait one hour for each time they have won - correct post time is 20:15 UTC) just because no one has used it in about a month.  To win the challenge you must find the location and give a basic description of what is of geologic interest here. For more complete rules of WOGE go here.

WOGE #302

After almost winning WOGE #300, I was motivated to spend way too much time trying to locate the interesting rock formations in WOGE #301.  I usually narrow my search area by looking to see what part of the world someone's previous WOGE posts were in, but Péter Luffi has won so many times that it was no help.  I just kept looking in every southern hemisphere desert I could think of, until I finally found the spot in arid western Argentina.
Below is WOGE #302.  Please note that I have used an "historic image" from Google Earth not just to make things more difficult, but because this image shows the features of geologic interest a little more clearly than the current one.

  Once you find this location, information on the geology (and lots of great pictures) will be easy to find.  I will not invoke the "Schott rule" this time.  In case anyone doesn't know what WOGE is, you can find a brief explanation (and a link for more details) in my previous post.  Have fun everyone!

Now that this edition of WOGE has been solved, I will provide some color.  Felix Bossert shares an excellent description of the geology in his comment.

WOGE #277

After spending entirely too much time looking for brown spots in the world's deserts, I was able to locate WOGE #276 by Felix Bossert.  I think this edition will be easy for at least some people, so I am invoking the Schott rule (past winners must wait one hour for each time they have won).  I have also rotated the image so that North is not up.

For anyone new to WOGE, to win you must identify the location shown (by name and/or coordinates) and offer some comment on the geology (go here for a more complete explanation of the rules).  Once you have found my location it will be easy to find out about the interesting geology that underlies the man-made features you see.  The winner gets to post the next WOGE.  If no one finds this within the next day, I will post a second picture.

Just Testing

I am new to blogging so this is just a test to see how my blog looks.