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Tamu Massif
Tamu Massif is a seamount in the northwest Pacific Ocean, sitting atop a triple junction of mid-ocean ridges. Tamu Massif is located in the Shatsky Rise about east of Japan. The massif covers an area of about . Its summit is about below the surface of the ocean, and its base extends to about deep. It is about tall. William Sager, a marine geophysicist from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston, began studying Tamu Massif around 1993 at the Texas A&M College of Geosciences. In September 2013, Sager and his team concluded that Tamu Massif is "the biggest single shield volcano ever discovered on Earth". Other igneous features on the planet are larger, such as the Ontong Java Plateau, but it has not yet been determined if they are indeed just one volcano or rather complexes of several volcanoes. Etymology The name ''Tamu'' is taken from the initials of Texas A&M University. William Sager, a geology professor and one of the lead scien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bathymetry
Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors ('' seabed topography''), river floors, or lake floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of water depth measurements are from Ancient Egypt over 3000 years ago. Bathymetry has various uses including the production of bathymetric charts to guide vessels and identify underwater hazards, the study of marine life near the floor of water bodies, coastline analysis and ocean dynamics, including predicting currents and tides. Bathymetric charts (not to be confused with '' hydrographic charts''), are typically produced to support safety of surface or sub-surface navigation, and usually show seafloor relief or terrain as contour lines (called '' depth contours'' or '' isobaths'') and selected depths ('' soundings''), and typically also provide surface navigational information. Bathymetric maps (a more general term where navigational safet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the second and middle period of the Mesozoic, Mesozoic Era as well as the eighth period of the Phanerozoic, Phanerozoic Eon and is named after the Jura Mountains, where limestone strata from the period were first identified. The start of the Jurassic was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event, associated with the eruption of the Central Atlantic magmatic province, Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). The beginning of the Toarcian Age started around 183 million years ago and is marked by the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, a global episode of Anoxic event, oceanic anoxia, ocean acidification, and elevated global temperatures associated with extinctions, likely caused by the eruption of the Kar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders the state of Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and shares Mexico-United States border, an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its List of capitals in the United States, state capital is Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S., founded in 1610 as the government seat of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, Nuevo México in New Spain. It also has the highest elevation of any state capital, at . New Mexico is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, fifth-largest of the fifty states by area, but with just over 2.1 million residents, ranks List of U.S. states and terri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an international border with the Mexico, Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With almost 40million residents across an area of , it is the List of states and territories of the United States by population, largest state by population and List of U.S. states and territories by area, third-largest by area. Prior to European colonization of the Americas, European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following Mexican War of Independence, its successful war for independence, but Mexican Cession, was ceded to the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grade (slope)
The grade (US) or gradient (UK) (also called stepth, slope, incline, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line is either the elevation angle of that surface to the horizontal plane, horizontal or its tangent. It is a special case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontal plane, horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which ''run'' is the horizontal distance (not the distance along the slope) and ''rise'' is the vertical distance. Slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, bank (geography), stream and river banks, and stream bed, beds are often described as grades, but typically the word "grade" is used for human-made surfaces such as roads, landscape grading, roof pitches, rail tracks, railroads, aqueduct (watercourse), aqueducts, and pedestrian or bicycle routes. The grade may refer to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial planet, rocky planet or natural satellite, moon. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. For example, the bulk of the plains of volcanism on Venus, Venus, which cover ~80% of the surface, are basaltic; the lunar mare, lunar maria are plains of flood-basaltic lava flows; and basalt is a common rock on the surface of Mars. Molten basalt lava has a low viscosity due to its relatively low silica content (between 45% and 52%), resulting in rapidly moving lava flo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syrtis Major Planum
Syrtis Major Planum (formerly Syrtis Major Planitia) is a massive shield volcano in the eastern hemisphere of Mars. A "dark spot" (an albedo feature), Syrtis Major Planum is located in the boundary between the northern lowlands and southern highlands of Mars just west of the impact basin Isidis in the Syrtis Major quadrangle. It was formerly believed to be a plain, and was therefore described as a ''planitia''. Later data from the Mars Global Surveyor revealed that it is actually a broad topographic rise. The dark color of Syrtis Major Planum comes from the basaltic volcanic rock of the region and the relative lack of dust. The selected landing site for the Mars 2020 mission that includes the rover '' Perseverance'' and the helicopter drone '' Ingenuity'' was Jezero crater, at within the region. The northeastern region of Syrtis Major Planum was also considered a potential landing site. Geography and geology Syrtis Major is centered near at . It extends some north from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alba Mons
Alba Mons (formerly and still occasionally known as Alba Patera, a term that has since been restricted to the volcano's summit caldera; also initially known as the Arcadia ring) is a volcano located in the northern Tharsis region of the planet Mars. It is the biggest volcano on Mars in terms of surface area, with volcanic flow fields that extend for at least from its summit.Cattermole, 2001, p. 85. Although the volcano has a span comparable to that of the United States, it reaches an elevation of only at its highest point.Carr, 2006, p. 54. This is about one-third the height of Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano on the planet. The flanks of Alba Mons have very gentle slopes. The average slope along the volcano's northern (and steepest) flank is 0.5°, which is over five times lower than the slopes on the other large Tharsis Montes, Tharsis volcanoes. In broad profile, Alba Mons resembles a vast but barely raised welt on the planet's surface. It is a unique volcanic structure with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons (; ) is a large shield volcano on Mars. It is over high as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), about 2.5 times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level. It is Mars's tallest volcano, its tallest planetary mountain, and is approximately tied with Rheasilvia on Vesta as the tallest mountain currently discovered in the Solar System. It is associated with the volcanic region of Tharsis Montes. It last erupted 25 million years ago. Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during the Martian Hesperian Period with eruptions continuing well into the Amazonian Period. It has been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for "Olympic Snow"), and its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probes confirmed it as a mountain. Two impact craters on Olympus Mons have been assigned provisional names by the International Astronomical Union: the Karzok crater a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and ice caps (with seasonal snow), but no liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. It is half as wide as Earth or twice the Moon, with a diameter of , and has a surface area the size of all the dry land of Earth. Fine dust is prevalent across the surface and the atmosphere, being picked up and spread at the low Martian gravity even by the weak wind of the tenuous atmosphere. The terrain of Mars roughly follows a north-south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly called the Sandwich Islands by Europeans, the present name for the archipelago is derived from the name of its largest island, Hawaii. The archipelago sits on the Pacific Plate. The islands are exposed peaks of a great undersea mountain range known as the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, formed by volcano, volcanic activity over the Hawaiian hotspot. The islands are about from the nearest continent and are part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. The U.S. state of Hawaii occupies the archipelago almost in its entirety (including the mostly uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), with the sole exception of Midway Atoll (a United States Minor Outlying Island). Hawaii is the only U.S. state that is sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gardner Pinnacles
The Gardner Pinnacles () are two barren rock outcrops surrounded by a reef and located in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The Pūhāhonu volcano responsible for the pinnacles is northwest of Honolulu and from French Frigate Shoals. The total area of the two small islets, remnants of an ancient shield volcano, the world's largest, is . The highest peak is . The surrounding reef has an area in excess of .Gardner Pinnacles - Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. December 14, 2016 The Gardner Pinnacles were discovered and named in 1820 by the whaling ship ''Maro''. The island may be the last remnant of one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
