Catedral de Sal—underground church in an active salt mine

My last post presented evidence that Colombia's Eastern Cordillera was covered by a shallow sea during the Cretaceous Period: https://landscapes-revealed.net/marine-fossils-in-colombias-eastern-cordillera/. This post presents more evidence for an oceanic setting—thick salt layers that were deposited in a shallow sea where high rates of evaporation caused water to evaporate and salt crystals to build up many layers over time. Zipaquirá salt mine...
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Marine fossils in Colombia’s Eastern Cordillera

Our Colombian trip ended in Bogotá, in the Eastern Cordillera. The active volcanoes associated with the offshore subduction zone are farther west, in the Central Cordillera. For maps of the plate tectonic setting, see my first Colombian post: https://landscapes-revealed.net/bienvenidos-a-colombia-welcome-to-the-northwest-corner-of-south-america. The landward position of the Eastern Cordillera, east of the active volcanoes, is a region geologists refer to as the back-arc—that...
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Trekking to Ciudad Perdida—the “lost city” of Teyuna

My last post about Colombia focused on the north-coast city of Santa Marta and adjacent Sierra Nevada: https://landscapes-revealed.net/sierra-nevada-de-santa-marta-earths-highest-coastal-mountain/. Our principal goal there was a four-day trek to Ciudad Perdida, known as Teyuna by the indigenous people. We completed an additional three-day trek in the Sierra Nevada to further explore this amazing mountainous region with its indigenous villages and rural farms....
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Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta: Earth’s highest coastal mountain

My friend Maria met me in Medellín, and from there we flew north to Santa Marta, located on the Caribbean coast. Santa Marta was founded in 1525, and is the oldest surviving Spanish settlement in Colombia. Prior to the Spanish conquest, the native Tayrona people had lived in the region for thousands of years. In a story common throughout the...
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Medellín: Colombian city with a notorious history

Medellín is the second largest city in Colombia with about 4 million people. It is situated at 1,500 m (4900 ft) elevation, which in equatorial latitudes (it's at 6°N) is the altitude for an ”eternal spring” climate. Not too hot, not too cold—it's just right! My first post explained the tectonic setting of Columbia: https://landscapes-revealed.net/bienvenidos-a-colombia-welcome-to-the-northwest-corner-of-south-america/. In this post, I'll focus...
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Bienvenidos a Colombia: welcome to the northwest corner of South America

In my continuing quest to learn more about South America’s geology, culture and history, I traveled for a month (mid February–mid March) in Colombia, located in the northwestern corner of South America. Colombia is at the northern end of the Andes, the longest mountain range on our planet. It is the only South American country with coasts on both the...
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Why are the Dolomite mountains so tall?

My first post about the Italian Dolomites described how the carbonate platforms formed from the hard parts of organisms living in shallow parts of a warm, tropical ocean (https://landscapes-revealed.net/trekking-through-an-ancient-sea-in-the-italian-dolomites/). The second post described other rock types in the Dolomites, namely igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks transported to the ocean from land (https://landscapes-revealed.net/not-all-of-the-rocks-in-the-italian-dolomites-are-dolomite/). Although created near sea level, the highest peaks...
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Not all of the rocks in the Italian Dolomites are dolomite

As explained in my last post (https://landscapes-revealed.net/trekking-through-an-ancient-sea-in-the-italian-dolomites/), the Dolomites were named after a French geologist, whose name was also given to the dolomite mineral. Indeed, the spectacular white peaks of dolomite are what catches the eye when in the Dolomite mountains. But there are other rock types with clues to the geologic history of the region, notably thick sequences of...
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Trekking through an ancient sea in the Italian Dolomites

The main purpose of our August–September trip to Italy was to explore the much-lauded Dolomite Mountains, located in northeastern Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige province) just a few hours north of Venice. The gleaming steep-sloped white mountain blocks separated by verdant valleys were just as spectacular as we had been led to believe! This view is northeastward from Piz Boe (see 3-D...
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Rock art in Ravenna, Italy

In August, on our way back north from Gubbio, we stopped at Ravenna, a small city famous for its 5–6th century Byzantine mosaics. Ravenna is just 2 hours south of Venice and is well worth a 2–3 day visit. The purpose of this post is two-fold. (1) To introduce readers to a place with incredible interior art work mostly made...
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Discovering what killed the dinosaurs in Gubbio, Italy

Our 4-week trip to Italy in August and September was mainly focused on trekking in the Dolomite Mountains—those posts to come later! During the planning process, I realized the town of Gubbio is located just 4.5 hours south of Venice, where we were flying in and out of. We had to go there! A rock outcrop just east of Gubbio...
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Iceland’s glaciers and features they create

Like other high-latitude locations on Earth, glaciers in Iceland have advanced and retreated many times during the past 2.5 million years, since we've been in a global Ice Age. The last glacial maximum was about 20,000 years ago, when ice completely covered the island and extended up to 200 km (120 miles) beyond the coastline to cover the marine shelf....
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About the Blogger

Karen (here with Mt. Shasta in background) is a geology professor emerita who aims to provide a "pocket geologist" for world travelers. Follow the blog to explore the landscapes of our planet and figure out what causes them to look the way they do.

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