Terra Inferma

Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy;
Psalm 98:8

Geomorphology is such a cool class! Here is what we looked at today!

Bhutan Glacier, as taken by an Aster image. Isn't that neat? The Himalayas have the highest uplift rates in the world, of almost a cm a year! That is phenomenal! (In the Appalachians, the rate is more like a cm every thousand years) The rivers are so effective, that they erode the new material almost as fast as it is produced. This is why the Himalayas have both the highest peaks, and some of the lowest valleys in the world. The coolest thing today was getting to look at the actual landscape on Google Earth. We could twist the view around to see the moraines, finger lakes, and ice caps. The glories of technology!

And here is the Menaspina glacier in Alaska (infrared photograph)
The red color is actually green in the real world, as in vegetation. See the really bright red bit?
That is a forest. On top of the glacier!
This is sooo cool!

Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,

You mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,

Who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.

Psalm 114:5-8