It is finally crystallizing in my mind that I have elected to move from Nevada very soon. I have very mixed feelings about leaving the Nevada desert because I genuinely love working in it, but I have no reservations about leaving the 'culture' of th… — It is finally crystallizing in my mind that I have elected to move from Nevada very soon. I have very mixed feelings about leaving the Nevada desert because I genuinely love working in it, but I have no reservations about leaving the 'culture' of the state behind me. Nevada exhibits a bizarre cross-fertilization of remoteness, aridity, and erratic human behavior and social organization. I thought I would highlight some examples of these characteristics in a series of posts.
The obvious first stop is the Nevada Test Site where the desert has been bombed into submission. Most of you have probably checked this area out, but it is always good for an eye-opening exploration of human-desert interaction.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=37.146744&lon=-116.047072&z=14&r=0&src=msa

Pathological geomorphology of Nevada...someone hates these fans!

August 26, 2010 by Kyle House

Getting pretty bored in my home full of boxes and empty of family, so just had to go back to Xinjiang for a respite.
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=40.15749&lon=77.614037&z=11.2&r=0&src=msl

Explicit faulting in Xinjiang Uygur

August 25, 2010 by Kyle House

It's been kind of quiet around here lately. Maybe because it is mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere and all of my fellow geopathologists are at the beach?
Speaking of beaches, I was scoping out the Dorset coast of England looking for a famous fos… — It's been kind of quiet around here lately. Maybe because it is mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere and all of my fellow geopathologists are at the beach?

Speaking of beaches, I was scoping out the Dorset coast of England looking for a famous fossil forest locality when I spotted this beautiful example of coastal geomorphology processes. Some sort of break in the resistant coastline has allowed waves to excavate this lovely inlet called Lulworth Cove, which now sports a textbook example of wave refraction and the dispersal of wave energy that allows a beach to develop. Oh and that fossil forest? It's the Jurassic Purbeck Fossil Forest and it's in the center of the frame.

Where are we? N 50.62 W 2.24

Wave refraction and shoreline on the Dorset Coast

July 21, 2010 by Kyle House

Another braided river meets a gorge: Lamar River, Yellowstone NP

Another braided river meets a gorge: Lamar River, Yellowstone NP

June 29, 2010 by Kyle House

Like the Snake River I posted last week, today I've got another example of a river happily braiding through a wide valley (this time probably glacial, not structural) only to meet an obstacle in the form of topography. I'm looking at the Lamar River on the northeast entrance road to Yellowstone National Park. We're north of the volcanic plateau here and just west of the Absaroka Range, so I think the geology is typical Cordilleran stuff.

One of the things that fascinates me about this example is how short (and steep) the gorge section is (< 3 km, ~100 m elevation drop). Is it a relict of the glacial influence on valley formation? Or is there something structural going on (the Yellowstone geologic map indicates a fault in about the right area)? Food for thought and an excuse to do some field reconnaissance someday maybe. Or you can go there now in Flash Earth.

Images below are a mixture of Google Earth, Flash Earth, and ground photos from my personal collection.

One of the most pathological fluvial transitions must be from above ground to underground.  Here the Fell Beck in North Yorkshire, England descends into Gaping Gill. This 105m pothole in Carboniferous Limestone forms England's tallest unbroke… — One of the most pathological fluvial transitions must be from above ground to underground. Here the Fell Beck in North Yorkshire, England descends into Gaping Gill. This 105m pothole in Carboniferous Limestone forms England's tallest unbroken waterfall. The ground to the south is pockmarked with sinkholes, several of which provide access into the Gaping Gill cave system. The water emerges from Ingleborough Cave a couple of kilometres to the south.

Going down?

Fluvial Transitions : Going Underground

June 26, 2010 by Kyle House

Five-fold fluvial pathology

June 26, 2010 by Kyle House

For my last post of June and possibly for most of July (pathologically busy, I am), I present this fantastic agglomeration of pathological delta, fold-and-thrust belt, structural control, fluvial transition, and overall fluvial weirdness from Myanmar.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=20.917468&lon=92.902102&z=12.2&r=357&src=msl

A dramatic switch from a confined channel to a madly braided stream...http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.659655&lon=110.592786&z=11.2&r=93&src=msa Note: North is at right edge. — A dramatic switch from a confined channel to a madly braided stream...
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=35.659655&lon=110.592786&z=11.2&r=93&src=msa

Note: North is at right edge.

China's Yellow River goes all braided on us.

June 26, 2010 by Kyle House

One day I will simply have to visit this amazing desert land in the Xinjiang Uygur region. This place is beset with so much pathological geomorphology that it is mind-bending. Take, for example, this transition from a huge, broad, braided desert str… — One day I will simply have to visit this amazing desert land in the Xinjiang Uygur region. This place is beset with so much pathological geomorphology that it is mind-bending. Take, for example, this transition from a huge, broad, braided desert stream to a relatively compact alluvial fan surrounded by immense sand dunes to a meandering channel. Wow. There is a cool story here.

So, this happened.

Truly pathological fluvial transition in...wait for it...the Takla Makan Desert

June 26, 2010 by Kyle House

Has been posted by Garry Hayes, AKA "Geotripper."

Another Example of Pathological Overfitness

June 23, 2010 by Kyle House

The images of the Texas Insta-Gorge bring to mind images that have the aroma of pathological overfitness (a new sub-meme for the summer...why not?). 

The failure of the Teton Dam outside of Rexburg, ID in 1976 is a classic case. Check out … — The images of the Texas Insta-Gorge bring to mind images that have the aroma of *pathological overfitness* (a new sub-meme for the summer...why not?).

The failure of the Teton Dam outside of Rexburg, ID in 1976 is a classic case. Check out the very nice powerpoint slideshow about this human-caused calamity created by Dr. J.D. Rogers at the University of Missouri-Rolla (he created the slideshow, not the calamity!):

http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/teton_dam/

Creating Pathological Overfitness

June 23, 2010 by Kyle House

Pathological Overfitness: The Texas 'Insta-Gorge' Before and After

June 23, 2010 by Kyle House

This flood is getting so much press (e.g., http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=canyon-lake-flood) that I thought that some photos were in order. It was certainly a screamer...and interesting that it spilled into what looks like a minor drainage course in a classic case of pathological overfitness. At first glance, looks like we can learn a bit more about bedrock canyon morphology, etc. Wonder if any real potholes were created in this single event? Does appear that there was some inner-gorge morphology carved out.

Pretty sweet.

Braided river meets mountain gorge: The Snake River escapes Jackson Hole

Braided river meets mountain gorge: The Snake River escapes Jackson Hole

June 22, 2010 by Kyle House

Though I don't think anything can top Kyle's pathologically misdirected RYNHO, I recently had cause to contemplate a river that everyone has heard of - the Snake River of the northwestern United States. Now, the Snake River has a famous gorge, a famous lava plain, and it's had a famously big flood or two, but the upper reaches of the Snake are pretty scenic too. The Snake originates in Yellowstone National Park and flows through Grand Teton National Park and the Jackson Hole valley. Throughout the broad, flat valley, the Snake is beautifully braided (with some gorgeous terraces too).Then it runs into some mountains - the Wyoming Range - and it runs out of room to braid, becoming constricted into a narrow mountain gorge. Interestingly, after heading south from Yellowstone and through Jackson Hole, the river turns west through the mountains and then quite abruptly turns north towards Idaho's Snake River Plain.

I'd love to know how and why the river started along this path and how intensely the river's course is geologically controlled. I think the gorge is south of the Teton block, and it's possible that it's in an narrow zone that hasn't seen as much uplift as other mountain blocks in the Basin and Range, but I'm just speculating here. If anyone has any good ideas or citations, please drop them in the comments.

The images below are from a mix of Flash Earth (permalink here) and Google Earth. The first is a large scale view of the braided-gorge transition, while the second and third are close-ups of typical braided and gorge reaches, respectively.

Pathological misdirection on the Chulym, River, Russia

June 07, 2010 by Kyle House

While checking out the Ob and Irtysh Rivers in Russia, I found the pathological planimetry on the Chulym. It certainly represents a transition of some kind...effectively a complete reversal of direction over a considerable distance. Imagine the absurdity of running a shipping lane on a river like this (not that I know there is one...actually hope there isn't).

Follow this RYHNHO (river-you-have-never-heard-of) both up and downstream and you will be amazed.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=56.072215&lon=89.599623&z=10.9&r=0&src=msl

Transitions in the Heart of Darkness...the (truly) Mighty Congo

June 07, 2010 by Kyle House

An amazing series of fluvial transitions along the Congo. One of the world's most serious rivers. So many possibilities for this month's theme. The transition into the bowl is striking...not sure what to call it. The transition from intricately braided to straight is notable, as are the transitions related to tributary confluences.

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=-4.215053&lon=15.401254&z=11.2&r=356&src=msa

http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=-1.860702&lon=16.672846&z=9.1&r=356&src=msa

This particular area doesn't have the best resolution image data but you can see it well enough I think. This is the Rio de las Chinas in Chilean Patagonia (just east of Torres del Paine National Park). I did field work in several mountains surround… — This particular area doesn't have the best resolution image data but you can see it well enough I think. This is the **Rio de las Chinas** in Chilean Patagonia (just east of Torres del Paine National Park). I did field work in several mountains surrounding the course of this river and always liked admiring it while eating lunch on a ledge (or, more typically, cowering in the fetal position while the wind beat the life out of me.)
Flow is from left to right. Note the change from braided (or maybe anabranching?) morphology with multiple channels separated by bars to the beautiful meandering morphology, including some oxbows. Here's a photograph I took from above the meandering section.
FlashEarth link: http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=-51.0062&lon=-72.579491&z=12.9&r=313&src=msa

Fluvial transition in foothills of the Patagonian Andes

June 03, 2010 by Kyle House

June is fluvial transitions month. This is the transition from meander to braided form of the River Irt in Cumbria, northwest England. I've included this image as a small tribute to all those who lost their lives in the tragedy in Cumbria yesterday,… — June is fluvial transitions month. This is the transition from meander to braided form of the River Irt in Cumbria, northwest England.
I've included this image as a small tribute to all those who lost their lives in the tragedy in Cumbria yesterday, as it comes from the region where the gunman ran amok (he drove down the road in the left of the image after killing 12 people and shooting another 25). I lived and worked here very briefly and it is all very shocking.
Visit the Irt.

Meander to Braided Transition : The Irt

June 03, 2010 by Kyle House

Fluvial Transitions...the June Meme

May 31, 2010 by Kyle House

As a predominantly fluvial geomorphologist, I am particularly intrigued by channel patterns. So for this month, I propose that we focus on finding areas that reveal notably pathological examples of transitions between archetypes of alluvial channel patterns...meandering, braided, and straight.

This is a famous topic in fluvial studies, and was one that was dear to the heart and mind of the late Reds Wolman (see for example USGS professional Paper 282-b). When an alluvial channel adopts a particular planform character, it is an indication of a fundamental change in its discharge, gradient, sediment load, substrate, tectonic environment...or, of cousre, some pathological combination of any of them.

I will start with an amazing and pathological array of channel pattern transitions all crammed into one corner of Tajikistan (note that it is an area draining the edge of a fold and thrust belt). Seriously, this spot is completely wild.

Ahh, right....Tajikistan
Cheers to all geomorphic transitions, fluvial or otherwise.

Baluchistan, Pakistan ((fold-and-thrust belt, structure, mountains))

Baluchistan, Pakistan ((fold-and-thrust belt, structure, mountains))

May 31, 2010 by Kyle House

Baluchistan, Pakistan ((fold-and-thrust belt, structure, mountains))

One final fold-and-thrust belt, for the last day of May. Since no one had yet tackled the Himalayas, I went scooting over there and found this arcuate series of ranges to the west of the main Himalayan front, in the Baluchistan region of northern Pakistan. Apparently, it's called the Sulaiman Range, according to Flash Earth. Lovely differential weathering of folded strata...

Flash Earth link:
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=30.317029&lon=68.721704&z=8.7&r=0&src=msa

What's June's theme?

Southern Bolivia, eastern Andean fold and thrust belt

Southern Bolivia, eastern Andean fold and thrust belt

May 21, 2010 by Kyle House

In the southern part of Bolivia and extreme northern part of Argentina, there is a fold and thrust belt that has developed along the eastern edge of the Andean Orogen. Check out the Chuquisaca and Tarija provinces of Bolivia, or the northern portion of Argentina's Salta province. There you will find a series of N- to NW-trending ridges and valleys, much like the Disturbed Belt in western Montana (which was featured earlier this month on Pathological Geomorphology in the Sun River Canyon area). If you rotated these images a bit to the right, I'll bet I could convince you it's western Virginia or central Pennsylvania. Uniformitarianism, hey?

I know much less about the central Andes than either the Appalachians or the Rockies, but in poking around here you can see these are definitely stratified rock layers which bear folds and in places sport lovely sets of hogbacks. From the facing direction of these hogbacks, you can locally work out the younging direction of the strata and determine whether you're looking at anticlines or synclines. Enjoy the exploration.

¡Vámonos al sur de Bolivia!
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=-20.484624&lon=-64.111851&z=9&r=0&src=msa

Más "hogbacks," por favor:
http://www.earthscienceworld.org/images/search/results.html?Keyword=Hogbacks