Santiago’s geologic hazards
When living near a plate boundary, one must expect geologic hazards such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. For example, along the west coast of the U.S. a transform plate boundary (San Andreas fault) causes earthquakes throughout California. To the north, along the coast of northern California, Oregon and Washington, a convergent (subduction) plate boundary causes volcanic eruptions in the Cascade...
Back to Chile, a geologic wonderland
Chile is an amazing country. The most obvious feature is its unique pencil-like shape. North–south, Chile extends 4,270 km (2,653 mi), yet east–west it extends only 64 km–356 km (40–221 miles). Another striking feature is the Andes Mountains that extend along the length of Chile. The Andean crest forms the border with Argentina to the east. The highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere,...
The astonishing volcanic island of Santorini
Santorini is an immensely popular tourist destination, and for good reasons. One of the most powerful volcanic eruptions in recorded history created the dramatic landscapes that make this island one of the most beautiful in the world. Around 3600 years ago, during the Bronze Age (~1600 BCE) at the height of Minoan civilization, a massive eruption emitted vast quantities of...
Crete is rising during earthquakes, and rivers are cutting down
Crete is a fascinating place—it is quite mountainous and, although it's Greece's largest island, its population is only about 650,000 people. We spent most of our time there hiking along the southwest coast (see previous post: https://landscapes-revealed.net/cretes-gorgeous-gorges/). The large gorges where we hiked are evidence that rivers have been cutting downward as a result of the land rising. This post...
Cyprus: a pop-up island between converging plates
We are now in Cyprus, an island located near the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is a remnant of the long-lived Tethys Ocean that has been mostly consumed by subduction and other processes as the African and Eurasian plates converged over millions of years. Past posts have described the mountains formed by these converging plates in other...
Kamikoche—Japan’s Yosemite Valley
Kamikoche Valley is not bordered by glacially-scoured granite walls like Yosemite Valley, but it is a wildly popular site within the Chubu-sangaku National Park. As in Yosemite National Park, most visitors go to the valley, but there is also an extensive network of higher-elevation trails for hiking and backpacking. Also like Yosemite, the area has an interesting geologic history. Although...
Japan: a country full of geologic activity
Jay and I arrived in Japan on 27 August and will be traveling in the country for 6 weeks. There are many reasons to travel here. The culture and history are fascinating and—wow!—who doesn't enjoy the high quality food. For two earth scientists, learning more about the country's geologic makeup is another big draw. In Japan, no one is immune...
Evidence of coastal uplift at Brookings, Oregon
Oregon's coast is a geologic wonderland of steep cliffs, nearshore sea stacks and caves, estuaries where rivers flow from the coastal range into the sea, and a large variety of landscapes and rock types. The entire coast is adjacent to the Cascadia Subduction zone where the oceanic plate is colliding (and descending beneath) the continental plate. Because the plates are...
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...
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...
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...
How did the Himalayas get to be Earth’s highest mountain range?
In my last four posts, I described the 21-day trek we did in the Everest region in November 2021, including some of our geologic observations along the way. In this final post, I explain how these mountains evolved to achieve such immense size and beauty. Here's how Earth's continents were distributed 50 million years ago (Ma). At about 200 Ma,...
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.