GOOGLE-EARTH ART

Miguel de las Doblas. IGEO, CSIC-UCM, 28040 Madrid. doblas@mncn.csic.es

Figure 1. Oceanic/continental meetings in the four tips of Africa 

Since many decades, Google Earth (GE) has become an amazing tool for countless scientists in all disciplines of knowledge (geology, biology, engineering, chemistry, physics, etc.) and even for a non-specialized public wishing to discover interesting features, new structures, panoramic views, artistic scenarios, etc.

              In this paper, we will highlight the artistic side of GE with different satellite images at all scales. Geologists know that all of them bear a common “rocky” substratum and that’s why we label them with the termination ….Lities (from the Greek “lithos” or stone).We classified some of our GE imagery into nine appealing categories: GeoLities, circularLities, dextraLities, sinistraLities, patternLities, oceanLities, glaciaLities, mimetoLities and humanLities. We will display 20 photo-collages of these 9 different types of GE Art with their corresponding auto explicative legends, thus avoiding unnecessary and tedious additional texts (“an image is worth a thousand words”).

GEOLITIES

Figure 2. A) Atlas conical syncline. B) Tunisian conical anticline. C) Atlas peryclinal termination of a syncline (note asymmetric Z-type folds in northen limb). D) Atlas conical anticline. E) Competing  peryclinal terminations of two anticlines. F) Atlas peryclinal termination of a series of anticlines (note symmetric M-type folds in their inner hinges. G) Extreme/asymmetric drag-folding in the two opposed blocks of a left-lateral NW-SE seismic wrench fault (note loose megablocks in the thick fault zone). H) Egg-box-type complex folds in Spanish Variscan basement.

 

Figure 3. A) Conjugate fractures and pseudo-cylindrical conical folds (erosional features) in a plutonic batholith in Mali. B) Conjugate faults in Bolivian plutonic rocks. C) Conjugate set of mafic dykes crosscutting Chilean volcanics. D) Twisted/braided fluvial meanders in the Brahmaputra river. E) Twisted/braided fluvial meanders in the Kyzylorda river. F) Twisted/braided fluvial meanders in the Niger river. G) Chilean volcanoes and lavas. H) The southern face of the Everest with stratified/thrusted Paleozoic marbles, schists, leucogranites and gneisses.

CIRCULARLITIES

Figure 4. Paired circularlities. A) Twin volcanoes in Kamchatka. B) Twin felsic and mafic embryo-like volcanoes in Libya. C) Twin eroded plutons in Libya. D) Twin small/large plutons in Nigeria. E) Lacustrine circularities in central Spain.

 

Figure 5. Single circularlities. A) The Richat structure (“the Eye of Africa”) in Mauritania  (a 40 km-diameter metamorphic dome). B) Libyan mafic volcano. C) Libyan crustal dome. D) Libyan moon-shaped volcano. E) Faulted Chilean volcano with lavas.

DEXTRALITIES

Figure 6. A) Transform faults displacing the mid-oceanic ridge in the Scotia Arc. B) Major transform fault transecting/deforming the wide mid-oceanic ridge SE of the Galapagos. C) Trains of domino-like elongated peryclinal/cylindrical folds in the Atlas. D) Quaternary alluvial fan deformed by right-lateral active faulting  in Chile. E) Trains of domino-like eolian dunes in Arabia.

SINISTRALITIES

 

Figure 7. Continental sinistralities. A) Major 900 km-long sinistral/transfer fault zone transecting Afganistan and Pakistan. B) Drag-folding of basement sediments by a  NW-SE left-lateral fault in Libya. C)  Left-lateral glacier-dragging in the Antarctica. D) Dragged coastal sediments by marine currents in Turkey.

Figure 8. Oceanic sinistralities. A) Central Atlantic transform faults displacing the mid-oceanic ridge. B) Transform faults displacing the mid-oceanic ridge SW of Madagascar. C) Transform faults dislocating a Pacific mid-oceanic ridge W of Chile. D) Transform fault displacing an oceanic ridge in the Pacific ocean west of northern California.

PATTERNLITIES

Figure 9. Trains of aligned erosive and/or faulted mountain facets. A, B, C, D, E) Atlas. F, G) Iran. H) Central Spain.

 

Figure 10. Contrasted desertic dune patterns. A, B, C) Arabia. D) Gobi. E) Mongolia. F) Tunisia.

 

Figure 11. A)  Ice-square patterns in Southern Lhasa. B) Linear eolian dune patterns in Niger. C) Iranian complex/elongated cylindrical highly deformed folds. D) Asymmetric coastal/wave patterns in Florida.

OCEANLITIES

 

Figure 12. A) Pacific “penetrations” of the Atlantic in the corners of South America: northern (Caribe Arc) and southern (Scotia Arc). B) Chaotic multi-fractures in the Cocos plate. C) Chaotic multi-fractures in the northern/central Atlantic. D)  Pacific chaotic multi-fractures W of Peru. E) Profusion of erratically-distributed seamounts in the western Pacific. F) Gigantic underwater gullies breaking the continental platform of the Canadian /Atlantic passive margin.

 

Figure 13. The most terrific seismic plate contacts on Earth. A) Right-lateral transform contact between the North American and the Pacific plates W of Baja California (the San Andreas fault belongs to this wide fault system). B) Partly concealed subduction of the Pacific plate below the North American plate (Cascades mountains, Seattle). C) Subduction zone with a sinistral component along the Tonga trench. D) Subduction zone with a dextral component along the Japan trench. E) Most seismically-hazardous subduction zone along the Japan trench (note the bulged/stressed edge of the Japan plate being subducted by Pacific microplates). F) The most dangerous place on Earth resulting from the high-angle subduction of the Pacific plate below the South American plate in Chile (note the extremely bulged continental plate-edge being subducted by the oceanic crust displaying domino-like fractures): the most powerful earthquake in history occurred there in 1960 (Valdivia, M 9.5).

GLACIALITIES

Figure 14. A) Breaking away Patagonian glacier. B) Breaking away Everest glacier. C) Patagonian delivery of icebergs.

MIMETOLITIES

 

Figure 15. A) Australian tremendous discussions. B) South American sad gorilla. C) The funny Arabian oasis. D) The "alien" fluvial meander  of Tombuctu. E) Qatar delta sea flower. F) Atlasian S2.

 

Figure 16. A) Saharan embryo. B) Atlas ramping ghost. C) Libyan crustal vagina. D) Libyan herringbone. E) Mali ferret-like pluton. F) Arabian branch-like fluvial pattern. G) "Bigfoot" Antarctic footprint (32 km long). H) C7 in Argentina.

 

Figure 17. A) Profile of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem. B) Lying Chilean volcanic astronaut. C) Faroe glacial heart. D) Gobi desertic love.  E) Himalayan sun.

 

Figure 18. A) Chinese S5. B) Leftwards-looking Gobi profiles. C) The Zorro strikes again in Chile. D) Diving-goggles in Argentinian racecourse. E) Libyan volcanic male attributes.

HUMANLITIES ­

Figure 19. A) Haitian presidential palace before and after the EarthquakE. B) Arabian circular-shaped multi-irrigation towers. C) Contrasted Castilian farm-plowing. D) Anthropic effects on Libyan dune patterns. E) Lybian desert "squared" by humans . F) Shadows of the Merida’s Roman aqueduct.

Figure 20. A) The Sahara conflict wall. B) Libyan dirty oil plant. C) Unbearable Bahrain luxuries. D) Dreadful Peruvian mine. E) The Nazca conundrum. F) Iberia flying over Iberia.