Earthquake Magnitude Representation

If you ever had a question of how much energy an earth quake of differing magnitudes produces this should clear that right up. This a graphical representation of how much more power each level of magnitude earth quakes can and do have. Enjoy!

Mammoth Extinction

Up until recently I had accepted as fact that mammoths had gone extinct around 10,000 years ago around the end of the last ice age. That is, until I was proven wrong. You see for the most part they all did die off from a variety of reasons such as climate change and hunting except for one population on the remote island of Wrangle Island off the coast of Russia. This is an island about the size of Delaware and so remote that it has remain uninhabited throughout its known history. As a result the last mammoth died off only 3600 years ago. To put that in perspective the Great Pyramid of Giza was built around 2560 BCE. That's about  about a thousand years earlier and as a result you can start to see how human evolution and advancement with hunting techniques could have been a large reason why mammoths died off.

Sounds to me like the mammoths just chose the wrong island to inhabit though. It was obviously too cold for them in Siberia. Here is an artists rendition of how awesome life would have been for them had they found the right island to live on.

Wind Blown?

I don't have much info on this photo other than a reddit.com post by the photographer that states it is from Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona. From what I understand this looks like windblown sedimentary rocks. According to Wikipedia this is formed from Navajo sandstone when flash flooding occured. I can't help but think wind had to have a factor in this. Beautiful isn't it?

Mckittrick Oil Seeps

I have been thinking about going out to the Mckittrick tar pits as of late to see what they are like. I expect to be underwhelmed but I plan to head out there soon. From what I understand they are pleistocene age and are of the same category as the La Brea Tar pits. I imagine much smaller scale. I will see if I can find some fossilized sand dollars a geologist was saying might be out there. I will update this post when both of these things happen. To be continued...

Edited 05/10/2014:
Here is a link to my photos I took from my trip to the tar seeps.

Geologic Map of MARS!

I did not know these existed but I found this one. I find it appropriate that Mars is theorized to have had the ability of sustaining life at one point and as such we have a geologic map of it. Now if it had oil I bet we would be there within the next couple of years. Of course life would have had to exist in some form for that to happen. I think it is entirely possible for life to have existed on Mars and other planets. I mean we can not be the only one out here in this entire universe can we? To quote Dr. Ian Malcolm, "life, uh... finds a way."

Spongebob's Goo Lagoon

Okay, so I was watching Spongebob with my daughter and Spongebob and friends were swimming in what they call Goo Lagoon. I started thinking that an underground lake sounds ridiculous  but then again it is Spongebob and I should just leave it at that. Then later on I was reading and came across a story about the Black Sea underground river. It is a river of high salinity that runs under the Black Sea.  It has all the attributes of a normal river such as banks, rapids and even water falls. There has not been a lot of exploration as of yet but I suppose while it is not a Lagoon, it is evidence that Goo Lagoon is not so ridiculous after all.

Half Dome

For this weeks post I give you the top of Half Dome! (also a ridiculous picture of me near a 4000 ft ledge that my wife nearly had a heart attack over)      

This was taken last year August 6th. I had hiked to the top via the cable route and this is over looking part of the Yosemite Valley. It was an absolute brutal 16 hour 18.5 mile round trip hike. It would have been shorter but we were all out of shape and my buddy hadn't hiked in over 2 years prior.