Friday, February 25, 2011

Batholith


A batholith  is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the earth's crust. Batholiths are almost always made mostly of felsic or intermediate rock-types, such as granite, quartz monzonite, or diorite.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Strata vs Shield Volcanoes

 A stratovolcanois also known as a composite volcano, it is a tall conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, explosive eruptions is was causes them to build up. The lava that flows from typically cools and hardens before spreading far. The magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica with lesser amounts of less viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as alomst 9 and a half mils still that big a small town could bw distored.

Friday, February 11, 2011

GULF STREAM

The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Plate Tectonics


The story of Plate Tectonics is a fascinating story of continents drifting majestically from place to place breaking apart, colliding, and grinding against each other; of terrestrial mountain ranges rising up like rumples in rugs being pushed together; of oceans opening and closing and undersea mountain chains girdling the planet like seams on a baseball; of violent earthquakes and fiery volcanoes. Plate Tectonics describes the intricate design of a complex, living planet in a state of dynamic flux.