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Deep beneath the thick ice that covers East Antarctica, scientists are revealing new discoveries about a mystery that has been hidden beneath the continent’s frozen exterior for half a billion years. According to newly published research, clues to the formation of a mountain range the size of the Alps tucked away below Antarctic ice are being revealed, offering geologists a unique glimpse at the processes behind their formation. The Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, initially discovered by Soviet scientists during an expedition in 1958, have puzzled researchers for decades. Now, these massive features beneath Antarctica’s frozen surface, which were formed long ago...

New findings from Colorado’s rock formations provide physical evidence supporting the Snowball Earth theory, which suggests Earth was once frozen entirely, down to the equator. This study offers insights into a key phase of climate and life evolution. Credit: SciTechDaily.com Evidence from Colorado suggests glaciers once covered Earth to the equator, supporting the Snowball Earth theory. This discovery provides insight into early climate shifts and the evolution of life. Geologists have discovered compelling evidence in Colorado that hundreds of millions of years ago, enormous glaciers blanketed Earth as far as the equator, turning the planet into an icicle drifting through...

Every year, millions of people travel to Utah to take in the beautiful and peaceful scenery in Zion National Park. According to a new study, however, the geographic stunner was formed by a massive prehistoric landslide that was far from tranquil. The study, published Thursday in the Geological Society of America, said the park’s flat valley floor owes its creation to the collapse of a wall of Navajo Sandstone that was almost 900 miles high. Weak layers in the underlying Kayenta Formation sent debris shooting across the canyon at speeds that likely reached 90 miles per second. It's believed that...

Today's inspiration was easy: Colorado National Monument Click the small ones for much larger images.

If you've seen "Avatar", you know about the floating mountains. If you haven't seen it, there are floating mountains in the movie. While the physics and geology of these are, well, science-fictional, they are nonetheless impressive and picturesque in the movie. Turns out that (minus the fact that they don't float) the mountains in Hunan province in China look a lot like the floating mountains in "Avatar" -- to the point that the Chinese have renamed one of them "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain". There are lots of pictures of that one (Google it), so I Panoramio-ed all over the region and...

OK, to explain the title, I discovered that Goblin Valley State Park -- now another site on my list of "places I just found about and now I've got to visit" -- was a site for filming in GalaxyQuest, starring Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub, etc. Amazing desert scenery. Here's a couple. From www.hickerphoto.com: From photoseek.com: and from www.lookoutnow.com, below. This formation must be one of the most photographed in the park; there are a lot of images of it.

You can see why it's called "The Wave".

Mining the Natural Arch and Bridge Society site for fun found this: "Mask Rock is located in the Ouadi Archei region of Ennedi [Chad] about 39 kilometers SSE of Fada. The left opening has a span of 36 feet and a height of 57 feet. The right opening has a span of 27 feet and a height of 50 feet. Photo by Gunter Welz." Just for the heck of it, Googling on "Turkey Rock" discovered this, apparently somewhere around Aspen (Independence Pass, wherever that is): Another Web site, mostly written in Czechoslovakian, calls the images below Turkey Rock and Turkey...

Last week's search on "chasm" discovered the Amazing Link below the image. The image is also of Elves Chasm on the Colorado River. The image is from this part of the Web site (the author holds landscape photography workshops -- and he appears to be quite good) The 25-Year Dream And here is the Amazing Link. It's a full 360-degree panorama of Elves Chasm. It's one of the most remarkable images I've ever seen. BEFORE YOU CLICK: the panorama expands the browser to full screen and requires Quicktime. And it's a big image. Panorama of Elves Canyon

Link post: please post any commentaries on the thread below. The purpose of this post is to alert interested FReepers to the post in the General/Chat section. (Ping list membership available on request.) Geology Pictures of the Week, June 19-25: Spider Rock and Bicentennial Column

Variations on a theme (I like themes): Spider Rock, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona Bicentennial Column, Ogle Cave, New Mexico