The Earth Story

The Colorado Mineral Belt The area of Colorado, running from Denver and Boulder heading southwest, is a geologic puzzle. It is loaded with economic ore deposits, and has been a key mining target for nearly 2 centuries. Why all these ore deposits sit here is something of a geologic enigma, and in fact it has even left its mark on the state's map. Denver, Colorado sits very near the northeastern end of the line of mines and the Geological Society of America (GSA) even houses its headquarters nearby in Boulder, Colorado. Why does Colorado host enough mineral mines to redraw their map? The answer is the Colorado Mineral Belt.

Kjeragbolten Kjeragbolten is a 5m3 boulder that lies at a height of 989m in Rogaland, Norway. This boulder was carried to its present location by a glacier in the last ice age. When the glacier melted sufficiently for the boulder to be too heavy to support, the boulder would have been dropped. However, in this case, the boulder has remained wedged above a 984-meter deep drop since the last glaciation period ended about 10,000 years ago. ~SA http://bit.ly/1hdeedT by larita

In 1872 there was a large (Mw estimated 7.9) earthquake on a normal fault east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. That fault scarp is still readily visible in places, so here's a tour of it.

The Way Is Shut These features, found near the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island, are known as the Putangirua Pinnacles. These piles are a fun story of sedimentary processes and of erosion.

The rock outcrop shown in the image below looks strikingly similar to a perched bird. Located in the Chiricahua National Monument of Arizona, this land of exposed boulders is often referred to as a Sky Island. Sky islands are isolated mountains that are surrounded by discernibly different lowland environments. In the case of the Chiricahua Mountains, the surrounding lowlands are basins. KKS More reading and source: http://bit.ly/1FG9HYD http://bit.ly/1Cvf3RX Photo courtesy of JoEtta Abo