Sauropod Ceiling

it is starting to bloom outside!!! smell like earth and worms!! the grass is tall and awake!!! flowers are here and scattered everywhere!!! it’s raining and humid and fresh!!! i know i say this every other day!!! i love!!! spring!!!

Wren

This account has been sharing old videos of the many decades of lava flows on Kilauea. Often that volcano will wake up after only a few months of inactivity when it does go quiet, so it probably won’t be long before they get new footage.

Here’s an incredible lava breakout. A crust of pahoehoe is fractured by the pressure of the lava behind it, and the lava spills out onto the surface. Watch how some of the other still-soft rocks nearby flex downwards as the new lava moves on top of them. Also watch how the videographer slowly retreats…

epiclava_

Break on through…

Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers | Battle of Helm’s Deep

Peering back in time over 420 million years ago into the Silurian Period when the first land plants emerged. Pictured in the foreground are Baragwanathia and Zosterophyllum with their pinkish coloured sporangia for dispersing spores. More to come soon from this project with biologist and fellow fossil plant enthusiast Ken Kwak.

https://twitter.com/archeometrie/status/1170031822614474752?s=12

What if... what if I WANT an info dump???

Then you're my favorite and I will dump SO much info on natrocarbonatite lava

No one knows for sure why or how this type of lava forms. Oldoinyo Lengai is the only volcano on earth that actively erupts it currently, and Oldoinyo Lengai hasn't been extensively studied.

The factor that causes lava to be viscous (thick, and sticky) is its silica content. Rhyolitic magmas, like those in Washington, have around 70 weight % silica. Basaltic magmas, like the volcanoes in Hawai'i, are around 45 wt% silica. Natrocarbonatite lava is less than 3% silica. Its flow rate is close to water, so it flows faster than you can outrun.

It's also a LOT less hot than other lavas. Most lavas are from 700-1200 degrees C (basaltic lavas in the higher range, rhyolitic lavas in the lower), but natrocarbonatite is around 500-600 degrees C. It's cool enough that you won't immediately die if you fall into it (you'll be hospitalized for months, as one man who fell into it was, but it's survivable). It's so cool that you can't see it glow in daylight.

It flows black and cools white! This is because of its content of the minerals nyerereite and gregoryite, which are unstable and break down quickly when exposed to humidity.

Basically it's cool as fuck literally and figuratively and I'm obsessed with it

Omg lol.

Temple of Asclepius, Rome