After a few rather difficult (for me) challenges, I was relieved to see that
WOGE 344 was something I could find easily. Felix chose to show us the Vistula Spit, a beautiful stretch of shoreline near the southern end of the Baltic Sea. The most important clue for me was the vegetation: it appeared to be a temperate forest rather than a tropical one, so the number of coastlines I needed to check was greatly reduced.
I had a great location in mind for my next WOGE win, but I have decided to put it on hold. Instead, I will offer anyone who was busy searching for gracefully curved beaches the chance to continue doing so. As always, be the first person to post a comment with the coordinates of the image and a basic description of the geology, and you win the privilege of hosting the next WOGE. (See complete rules and search hints
here.) Since Felix did not mention the Schott rule last time, I will not invoke it here either. Have fun searching!
I welcome any feedback my fellow WOGE players would like to give on whether this almost identical search is a good idea or not. If this edition is not solved in a few days I will give a slightly adjusted view so that the game can move on quickly to something else.
It has been a few days, so here is a larger view.
If anyone has become tired of searching the world's seashores for this location, then I suggest you try a fresh approach.
ReplyDeleteNot very easy your picture. Somehow it's not where it should be, after the first view. The shoreline looks kind of quiet. I would think there should be more sand or other sediments on display. Maybe it's a lake or a quiet corner of the sea...
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't easy to find: Lake Khanka at the boarder of Russia and China, N 45°19', E 132°32'. The image shows a spit at the northern shore of north-east Asia's largest freshwater body. The lake is extremely shallow (~5 m on average, ~11 m max) and characterized by strong seasonal and annual fluctuations in size (+/-500 km²). Wide-spread swamps can be found. Khanka belongs to the Amur river system and has a drainage area of ~17,000 km². It is situated in a tectonic depression with ongoing subsidence. The lake is famous for its biodiversity and strongly influenced by flood events. There's a discussion on its age which may be as old as Miocene for the Khanka basin sediments (most studies estimate Neogene-Quaternary for the lake). Research on the lake is mainly focussed on palaeoclimate studies. A nearby Cambrian Khanka Ophiolite provides insights into the geotectonic framework of easdtern Asia.
ReplyDeleteA summary:
Xiangcan & Xia, 2007: Lake Xingkai/Khanka. Experience and Lessons Learned Brief for Lake Xingkai/Khanka. Materials of the international conference Moscow, MNR of Russia, September 27-28, 2007, 81-108.
Congratulations to Christoph. As Felix suggests, the perfectly curved shoreline does not seem like it should be there, but you tracked it down anyway. Thanks for mentioning some details about the geology and history of Lake Xingkai/Khanka. We look forward to seeing what you have chosen for the next WOGE.
ReplyDeleteYee-haw! Matthew, it really took me a while to leave the oceans and to search lakes (first I started surfing the Caspian Sea and Black Sea...). Great spot!
ReplyDeleteWoGE 346 will soon appear at http://www.paleoseismicity.org. I'll drop a note here.
WoGE #346 is at http://www.paleoseismicity.org/blog/2012/05/15/where-on-googleearth-woge-346/
ReplyDelete