A Highland Coo And Her Calf Wandering Down An Empty Road, Argyll And The Isles, Scotland. Credit: Andy

Not to be dramatic but seeing/coming into contact with ancient stuff is an overwhelming experience. I can’t look at a damn mummy without imaginging every facet of who they may have been in life. I was in a cave once to see a stone full of grooves where people had sharpened stone weapons thousands of years ago and I was told I could touch the grooves and my spirit left my body on contact. I fell through time and space. What the fuck

A Rose of Jericho three hours after being watered having nearly returned to is previous, alive, state!

The Rose of Jericho(Anastatica hierochuntica) is a species of resurrection plant. These plants are characterized by their ability to use Poikilohydric mechanisms which enable them to survive extreme dehydration for years at a time.

Fordite, also known as Detroit agate, is old automobile paint which has hardened sufficiently to be cut and polished. It was formed from the built up of layers of enamel paint slag on tracks and skids on which cars were hand spray-painted (a now automated process), which have been baked numerous times.

Deadvlei, the dead marsh It is amazing the effect water can have in bringing life, and then taking it from an area. Deadvlei is a white clay pan in Namibia near the Tsauchab River. During an especially heavy period of rain, the river flooded leading to a shallow surface layer of water forming over the clay pan. This water allowed Camel Thorn trees to grow and then mature. However, during a drought the water dried up, and sand dunes around the edge of the clay pan blocked the river’s flood path into the area. This drought lead to the trees dying, approximately 700 years ago. Despite the death of the trees, the skeletons remain and despite being blackened by the sun, appear structurally as they would have when they died. This lack of decomposition has occurred, again, due to lack of water as the trees cannot decompose without it. ~SA Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deadvlei_trees_dunes.JPG

¡Corre a por ella!

Deep magma reservoir below Mt Rainier

Researchers from Norway and the US have mapped an 8 by 16 km magma chamber at 8 km depth below Washington State’s Mount Rainier. The detailed map was created by measuring the variations in the magnetic and electrical fields as well as seismic imaging. Researchers suggest that this map could help us predict when volcanoes will erupt.

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What if... what if I WANT an info dump???

Then you're my favorite and I will dump SO much info on natrocarbonatite lava

No one knows for sure why or how this type of lava forms. Oldoinyo Lengai is the only volcano on earth that actively erupts it currently, and Oldoinyo Lengai hasn't been extensively studied.

The factor that causes lava to be viscous (thick, and sticky) is its silica content. Rhyolitic magmas, like those in Washington, have around 70 weight % silica. Basaltic magmas, like the volcanoes in Hawai'i, are around 45 wt% silica. Natrocarbonatite lava is less than 3% silica. Its flow rate is close to water, so it flows faster than you can outrun.

It's also a LOT less hot than other lavas. Most lavas are from 700-1200 degrees C (basaltic lavas in the higher range, rhyolitic lavas in the lower), but natrocarbonatite is around 500-600 degrees C. It's cool enough that you won't immediately die if you fall into it (you'll be hospitalized for months, as one man who fell into it was, but it's survivable). It's so cool that you can't see it glow in daylight.

It flows black and cools white! This is because of its content of the minerals nyerereite and gregoryite, which are unstable and break down quickly when exposed to humidity.

Basically it's cool as fuck literally and figuratively and I'm obsessed with it

Big Thach Nature Park, Russia by Alexander Khoroshilov

A Highland Coo and her calf wandering down an empty road, Argyll and the Isles, Scotland. Credit: Andy Maclachlan.