The Earth Story

Snaking through the sky 

This panoramic photograph of the Milky Way was taken in Serpentine National Park. The falls are formed where water tumbles over the Darling Scarp, a major fault near the coast in Western Australia that separates ancient, Precambrian aged crust from younger rocks in the Perth Basin to the west.

Snaking through the sky This panoramic photograph of the Milky Way was taken in Serpentine National Park. The falls are formed where water tumbles over the Darling Scarp, a major fault near the coast in Western Australia that separates ancient, Precambrian aged crust from younger rocks in the Perth Basin to the west.

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Whoa

10secondtimelapseLet the century pass me by

Sunset over Perth

airvuz Drone captures the power of water 🌊🌊

THROMBOLITES AT LAKE CLIFTON Steve Brooks of Steve Brooks Photography captured this amazing array of Thrombolites in Lake Clifton on the morning of 25 January, 2014. Lake Clifton is about 115km south of Perth, Western Australia. Thrombolites are microbial rock-like formations; when the microbes photosynthesise they precipitate calcium carbonate, which forms the dome-like thrombolites. Thrombolites are very similar to stromatolites, which are the earliest fossils and were formed by microbes around 3.5 billion years ago. Stromatolites and thrombolites differ in their formation: stromatolites form in layers built up on top of each other while thrombolites form by a clotting process, spread unevenly over time. Brooks used a Canon 6D with a 24-105mm lens; ISO 100, f/10 and 20 second exposure. -TEL https://www.facebook.com/brooksmediaimages http://pwl.fotomerchant.com/ http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3514631?uid=4&sid=21103342858927

Sun setting viewed from Perth, Western Australia, over the Indian Ocean.

Canal Rocks, Yallingup. The image below is of a stunning granite outcrop, "Canal Rocks" located in the Maragret River region of WA. Located around 3 hours south of Perth, it forms part of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. The rocks extend out into the ocean, and the force of the waves have hollowed out a natural canal. A bridge has been constructed across the the smallest part, allowing visitors to gain the best view of the rocks. -LL Image: Frances Andrijich

Good morning blog readers

The last living Jacobites, or, when the English steal your hedge trimmer...

For half a kilometer along the busy Perth-to-Blairgowrie road, the light is blotted out by a dense screen of beech trees. At 30 m high, this is the tallest hedge in the world.

The Meikleour (MEEK-loor) beech hedge was planted in 1745, when tensions between England and Scotland were at their height. The unpopular Act of Union was barely 40 years old, and many Scots viewed the exiled heirs to the Stuart dynasty as rightful kings whose place had been usurped. These tensions came to a head in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 (‘the Forty-Five’), in which the Jacobite army advanced to within a few days of London before the commanders’ courage failed and they made the mistaken decision to retreat. Five months later the rising was crushed completely at Culloden.

It is widely believed that the trees of the hedge were planted by men who then left to fight in the rebellion. They never returned, and the hedge they had started was allowed to grow tall in their memory.

Today the hedge is trimmed every ten years, an operation that takes four men six weeks to complete. Its edible nuts provide food for small animals in winter, and as beech trees commonly retain some of their leaves it also offers shelter to birds.

Since beeches can live for hundreds of years, it is likely that the Jacobites’ memorial will be standing for some time yet to come.

Image credits: Sandy Stevenson https://flic.kr/p/aWkMQp

Sources: http://bit.ly/1U0aD3u http://bit.ly/1U8vIYa Beech trees: http://bit.ly/1R1evL4 Jacobite rebellion: http://www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/PPF/

Snaking through the sky

This panoramic photograph of the Milky Way was taken in Serpentine National Park. The falls are formed where water tumbles over the Darling Scarp, a major fault near the coast in Western Australia that separates ancient, Precambrian aged crust from younger rocks in the Perth Basin to the west.

This park is only a half hour of travel from Perth, an urban area with over 2 million people, yet this location is free enough from light pollution that it could be an official Dark Sky park if Australia were to create such preserves.

-JBB

Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/xQH9ZR

Ref: http://www.gsa.org.au/resources/guidebook10.pdf