Bobo Dioulosso Mosque and Market

The next day we got to fly in the jet one hour to the southwest. We landed in Bobo Diolousso to see the interesting mosque, built in 1888.

Exterior with wood slats to help with adobe maintenance

Adobe is really a big business here. We saw many areas along the road where the bricks are made.

On the roof of the mosque 

Street scene in Bobo

Street scene

Bobo vegetable market - one of the most colorful and lively I've been to. This woman was obviously pleased at the selection of tomatoes, possibly walked to the market from up to five miles away on the sellers head.

Faux jewelry

Okra and very hot yellow peppers

Anything canbe bought here, even fine grassi

Full moon over Wah-gah-du-goo! Photo taken just after nightfall at the Ouagadougou Airport on January 15. I will next blog about the fabulous rocks seen at Fabedougou.

More Burkina Faso

I want to get some more pictures up before we leave Burkina Faso. Older readers may remember that this country used to be called Upper Volta. The name was changed in 1984 and Burkina Faso means, "Land of the Dignified People". We saw some good geology today and you'll see those pictures at the end of the post.

We went to a small village near the border with Ghana called Tiebele. It was a 2 hour drive by bus. Here is a sequence of photos showing the progress on painting the wall of this house.

Yep - they are singing while they apply the paint.

Now the design is painted over the brown color

It begins to look good!

This was my final shot of the house painting - had to see the rest of the village.

Children coming to see the strange-looking visitors

A woman cooks roots to make red dye

And poses for a picture. The village is real and is famous in this country but the house painting is now performed for visitors, of which there are not many.

A baobab tree in the village: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/baobab.htm

The people are friendly, quite to smile, and ever so poor by our standards. Yet they seem to be pleased with their lives.

Flying to Burkina Faso

On Monday, January 13, we left Madera Island and flew across the Sahara desert to Burkina Faso. I gave a slide illustrated lecture along the way called, "An Introduction to Africa's Landscape". Unfortunately, I didn't see the Morocco landscape below me as I gave the lecture. But I did get to see one interesting feature while flying over Mauritania. This is the Richat Structure, also known as the eye of the Sahara desert. It was initially thought to be a meteorite impact structure, but further geologic mapping failed to show any impact minerals such as coesite. A short description can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richat_Structure and here: http://geology.rockbandit.net/2008/09/25/richat-structure-in-mauritania/. What a treat it was to fly over this and photograph it from 39,000 feet up.

Richat structure in Mauritania. The outermost rings are Ordovician-age limestone with Proterozoic rocks in the eye.

The Niger River in Mali

Madeira Island

It's raining today on Madeira Island but we set out anyway to explore some of the things to see here. Plus, it seems that my laptop computer has finally died and the procedure I normally use to upload photos is not available to me. So I figured out a way to take photos with an iPad and then upload them directly to Blogger. So just a few photos today as I figure out how this all works. 

I first visited this island in 1990 while working for Lindblad and we arrived by ship. The change in those 23 years is astounding. Back then it seemed like a rural, out of the way backwater but today it has a freeway and many many more people and hi-rise apartments. I attribute the growth to the islands economic connections to all of mainland Europe through the European Union. What a difference although this is my fourth or fifth time here and the change was imperceptible before. 

Valley of the Nuns from above

Close-up view

The spectacular valley walls are composed of layered basalt lava flows but the valley bottom contains a layer of relatively unconsolidated pyro classic tephra (cinders). When the stream in the valley dissected into the cinder horizon, it caused the otherwise dense basalt to collapse, forming the valley. The oldest sub-aerial lavas here are 5.6 Ma but only 4.2% of the volcano is above sea level! That means that 96% of the volcano reside below the sea, an astounding thought.

Driving on the narrow, hilly roads is a colorful experience

We visited a local winery and got to taste the famous Madeira aperitif

Oak barrels for aging the wine

Local vintners 

The island is about 40 miles long and 20 miles wide with 300,000 inhabitants. It has no archaeologic sites and the first people known to have seen it were Portuguese navigators in the 16th century. If I had the ability to attach a link, I would do so for Madeira but as I say, this posting is an experiment using an iPad.

Rendezvous in Surprisingly Sunny London

I am now in London ready to begin the Cape to Cape adventure. Tonight we will have our Welcome Dinner and meet our fellow travelers.

The flight over from Arizona was painless. I have done so many Atlantic crossings now that my body is used to sitting in coach seat for nine hours. I think it all about being relaxed and not fighting it. British Airways makes it very easy to fly from Phoenix to Heathrow International, even with the person behind you jamming their knees into your back. Once on the ground, I took the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station in Central London and was checked into my room only one hour after going through Customs.

Today I met friends from Flagstaff who have relocated to London temporarily. Drew Barringer and Claire Schneider are here because of her job and we met for lunch at the Lord Nelson Pub in Southwick (pronounced suth-ick - I wish they would learn proper pronunciation over here) The pub claims to have the "Best Burgers in London" and it was hard to argue that after getting the BLUESY LUCY – Stuffed w/ Smoked Bacon and Blue Cheese! After saying goodbye to Drew and Claire, I walked around Green Park near Buckingham Palace. I missed seeing the Queen but here are some pictures of this beautiful section of London.

Tomorrow we fly to the volcanic island of Madeira (Portugal but off the coast of West Africa) and I hope to post some pictures of the wonderful outcrops there of the dikes and pyroclastic rocks that have been  sculpted.

Green Park scene looking south about 2:30 PM local time.

Many of the views are reminiscent of Central Park in New York (well at least to a neophyte of both places like me). It is said that there area was once a swampy burial ground for the lepers in London.

Looking out the gate to Buckingham Palace

Very impressive! I kept waiting for the Queen to to spontaneously appear at one of the windows to wave the Royal Wave to the surprisingly large number of visitors who stand out side the gate to gawk at the western world's most famous monarchy.

The Royal Gate

The Queen Victoria Memorial was dedicated by her son, George V, in 1911. The queen reigned from 1837 to 1901 - 63 years and longer than any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history).

The statue is topped with gold.

Looking back towards Green Park

It's a lovely park

My digs for the night at the Four Season's of London, Park Place

And the view from my room

A "selfie". The word selfie was designated as one of the more important new words in 2013 and according to the definition, taking a different one each day and posting it is a no-no. Those who often read this blog will know that I rarely jump into my own pictures but this time I got a room with a view!

The Four Seasons of London was recently remodeled  with state-of-the-art amenities. I noticed this little box on the bathroom mirror. It was part of the mirror - look at my robe imaged on the mirror. Then I noticed a little thin pad on the shelf - you can see it (barely) on the very bottom of this photograph near the drinking glass. It said, "Electronic remote" on it. I wondered what it could be? So I pressed the power button and the dark box then became a TV!

Yep - you can watch TV and shave at the same time. My apologies to those who were aware of this technology months ago!

Africa and South America - The Journey Begins January 8

This Wednesday, January 8, I will begin a 24-day Private Jet Adventure with TCS & Starquest Expeditions called Cape to Cape. This will be an epic journey to two continents and nine countries along the Atlantic Rim. You can peruse the whole itinerary here.

It will be my pleasure once again to travel with Dr. David Keeling of Western Kentucky University, who will be my lecture colleague and speaking about geography and geopolitics.  David and I shared lectures duties last year on the Around the World itinerary. The Expedition Leader will be Eszter Foldvary, whom I first met many years ago when I used to sail to Antarctica with Society Expeditions. Bios for the whole team can be viewed here.

On this journey, Managua Nicaragua will be a new stop for me. It should be exciting as we will visit the ever-active Masaya Volcano located 30 minutes south of the capital. However, I will be returning to many of my all-time favorite destinations including, Cape Town, South Africa, coastal Namibia, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and the Beagle Channel near Tierra del Fuego. We may even make a fuel stop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the volcanic wonderland of Acension Island. This is an awesome itinerary worthy of excitement!

Be sure to tune-in to Earthly Musings regularly during the month of January, as I will be posting photos, videos, and commentary from all of these locations. Thanks for reading.

Another Road Slump on a Scenic Southwest Road - The Tijuana-Ensenada Highway Collapse

Scenic road slump south of Tijuana, Mexico. Photo by David Maung

My friend Don K. of Flagstaff made me aware this morning of a monumental collapse of another southwestern road, this one on an important coastal link between the cities of Tijuana and Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Readers of this blog will recall the geologic slump that occurred this year on February 20 along a scenic stretch of highway between Flagstaff and Page, Arizona. There the Chinle Formation gave way necessitating a possible two-year road closure.

This collapse occurred just about 10 days after a 4.6 magnitude earthquake struck the area. You can read the official US Geological Survey earthquake summary here. The quake was about 58 miles southeast of Ensenada and 257 miles air miles from Phoenix. It is unknown at this time if the quake and the slump are related.

The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper published an article about the slump and road closure and can be read here. Attached to this article is a video survey of the damage which can be viewed here. Be sure to look at the photo gallery embedded within the article - it shows clearly how soft the base material is. Makes one wonder how a road was even possible in the first place on such a road base.

Note the murky water offshore, likely from slump material entering the sea. Photo by David Maung

Earthly Musings Listed On Geology Degree.org Web Site

Earthly Musings has been selected to be listed on a new online resource that will help geology students and prospective students stay abreast of new trends in the geological sciences. This is the notice I received from Sandra Harris, junior editor at GeologyDegree.org:

"I'm thrilled to let you know that we've published an article entitled Geology Online: 105 Websites That Rock on GeologyDegree.org. Wayne Ranney's Geology Blog known as Earthly Musings is featured on it. 

Geology can be an endlessly exciting and rewarding field to work in. By publishing this list of sites covering all angles of geology, hydrology, and even volcanology, we hope to encourage our readers to seriously consider higher education and eventually careers in the geosciences."

The entire list of 105 web sites can be viewed here. There will be many listed sites that regular geoblog readers will be familiar with, such as Highly Allochthonous, GeoTripper, and Written in Stone- Seem Through My Lens. Happy reading!

New Interactive Geologic Map of Arizona from the AzGS

The Arizona Geological Survey has just released an interactive geologic map of the state. You can access it here. I played with it and found it to be quite useful, although the scale is too small for extremely detailed work.

The zoom feature in the upper left will bring you in to a scale close to about one inch equals one mile. If you hover your mouse over a particular color (rock formation), its symbol appears in another box in the upper right. If you double click on that box, the legend description appears in a larger box to the right. There is a tab there that takes you to its description in the legend. Here is the geologic map with detail at full zoom, centered on the House Mountain volcano just south of Sedona, Arizona.

The House Mountain volcano (Tb - short for Tertiary basalt) is depicted as the pink "teardrop" shape in the center. I hovered my mouse over that shape and color and the white box at the top appeared, describing the nature of these rocks. Then I clicked on the "View the legend" tab at the bottom of this box and the legend appeared on the right. I screen captured the image to include it here.

It's fun to zoom around the state and see what is where. Enjoy and thanks to AzGS for this tool.

China's Rainbow Mountains and the Danxia Geologic Park

China's Rainbow Mountains - Are the colors real or unreal?

You might be tempted to think that I have fallen for the "colorful" hype circulating on the internet these days regarding certain rock formations in China called the Rainbow Mountains. Or maybe you have seen this site that offers even more of the wild photographs. Even Huffington's Post fell for this one. Yes, I have seen these pictures that portray certain soft sediments with wildly psychedelic tones, something that might have been seen on a poster in the walls of a college dorm room, circa 1968.

However, a friend of a friend has apparently tracked down some bonafide renditions of the rocks, with properly colored photographs and a six-minute video of them to boot. There might now be an answer to the question I have received in my "in-box" numerous times this year: "Are these rocks real?"

The short answer is no - with a conditional yes/asterisk/parts of them to follow. The colors that have been portrayed most often are super-hyped in a photo-editing program, one where the operator fell in love with their saturation tool. This has rendered the otherwise interesting rocks into glaring tones that cannot be accounted for by natural processes. However, the texture and erosional form of the strata is real enough. And they bear a striking resemblance to the Colorado Plateau's Chinle Formation, which you will recall was named in the late 19th century by true, red-blooded Americans as the Painted Desert. To which I might add, were rendered in the early 20th century in fanciful hand-colored postcards with colors that resemble those circulating today for the Rainbow Mountains. The Chinese seem to be following the American model to a tee - build a wildly huge military, embrace consumerism, dam you rivers for cheap power, and make your cruddy old mudstones look like a box of Crayloa crayon colors.

Anyway, the quasi real pictures can be seen here. Beware though, there are some links in this site that take you to the same overdone photos. This link has many true-colored photographs, which are downright interesting without the hype. You can also watch the video which shows folks riding their bikes while Chinese music plays in the background. Looks real enough for me there.

I have been near this site just once but we did not venture far enough south to see these rocks. I remember being very impressed by the Quilian Mountains nearby from the window of our train.

By the way, there are two widely separated locations in China with the name Danxia and they both contain geological areas of interest. The first is located in the Human Province which is more humid and contains karst features. One particular landform is called Yangyuanshi (Male Stone). When you see the photos of this you'll know why. The second is in far western China in Gansu Province, which is the arid part of the country and the location of the "Rainbow Mountains". It is specifically called Zhangye Danxia. If you would like to zoom into this location on Google Earth, type in these coordinates - 39° 6'27.52"N   99°58'3.70"E - and check the "photos" box in Google Earth to see more natural pictures in the area.

Before you book a flight to China, you might just want to come to our own Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. And until then, just read Bill Parker's Chinleana blog, which honors all things Triassic and colorful.

By the way, I have seen at least 3 widely divergent ages for the Danxia rocks, Cretaceous, Eocene, and "thousands of years old". So I'll wait until something more definite comes along that speaks to the real story of this very interesting place!