Das AstroGeoPlänkel ist eine regelmäßige Sonderfolge, in der es um eure Fragen, Kommentare, Anmerkungen und Wünsche geht. 🎙️#Massensterben #Devon #Bäume #Parallaxe #Feedback #Astronomie #ErdeUmwelt
AstroGeo: Vom Devon zur Silbernase des Tycho Brahe
#devon
#Devon sent: a short, epic #train ride into the wintry wonders of the #ExeEstuary | #Exeter holidays | The Guardian
A little local promotion.
https://mastodon.social/@Rachelburch/113389924018695235 Rachelburch@mastodon.social - Samhain / Halloween vibes at Fourwinds yesterday, the walls are the remains of a school built for the nearby quarry worker’s children.
#Dartmoor #Devon #photography #autumn
Dass die Genome der Lungenfische riesig sind, war bereits bekannt, doch das Erbgut der in Südamerika beheimateten Art ist gigantisch. Es ist 30-mal größer als das des Menschen.#SüdamerikanischerLungenfisch #Lepidosirenparadoxa #Genom #DNA #Erbgut #Devon #Vorfahr #Biologie
Größtes bekanntes Tiergenom entschlüsselt
Yesterday, we went on a trip to #Penzance in #Cornwall. There is a direct #RailwayLine running from here to #London #Paddington. My local station is about half way along this 6-hour route and I've been on the London leg many time and so I thought it would be nice to go to the end of the line in the other direction. There are lots of #RailwayStations with strange names, like #Lostwithiel and #StErth and so it was nice to pass through them on our way.
Looking east along the beach, you can see #StMichaelsMount, which is built on a part-time island, in that it is an island when the tide is in but otherwise you can walk to it over a #causeway. We did that a decade ago. Here are a couple of views with a #ZoomLens (I didn't have space to pack my telephoto lens).
The #town of #Penzance can be seen in the opposite direction.
Parts of the #beach have #grey compacted sand. It's firm and yet soft and when wet it forms a shimmering mirror for the sky.
From the next #headland, you can get a really good view of St Michael's Mount. I think the light conditions here were better too in the early afternoon.
Off the shore, there were several #vessels including this #ship. I'm not sure what its function is but it's certainly for some special purpose.
The #sea appeared #blue or #green depending on the underlying geology.
Here. it even has patches of gold colour looking a bit like those pools into which people drop coins.
The boundary of #Devon and #Cornwall is marked in the south by the #RiverTamar. Across it, there is an old and historic #RailwayBridge called the #RoyalAlbertBridge, which was built in the mid 1800s by #Engineer #IsambardKingdomBrunel, Here, you can see it on the approach on the #train. This was taken using my #Android phone.
Right next to it is the much more modern #RoadBridge, which is a #SuspensionBridge.
https://mastodon.online/@stargazerrob/112419100306650251 stargazerrob@mastodon.online - Bright aurora!! #Devon
https://mastodon.social/@Rachelburch/112195859788321690 Rachelburch@mastodon.social - Slate sculpture along Tavistock’s old railway line, this morning #Devon #photography #mosstodon
#Devon awarded £5.3 million for #ZeroEmission #buses - News
Some positive local news.
https://www.devon.gov.uk/news/devon-awarded-5-3-million-for-zero-emission-buses/
World’s oldest #FossilisedTrees discovered along #Devon and #Somerset #coast | #Palaeontology | The Guardian
Act to save #Dartmoor #rainforest from sheep, urge campaigners | #Trees and #forests | The Guardian
Our local #TemperateRainforest, just down the road.
Last week, we had a day trip to #Torquay but rather than drive or take the train, we decided on a different route. The first leg was a #cycle trip to #Exmouth, about 17 km, followed by a boat trip around the #Devon #coast. The weather was a bit changeable but there were only prospects of short showers.
Well the first shower- didn't take long to arrive and here you can see the drops falling into the #EnglishChannel in the #wake of the #boat. An interesting combination of periodicity and irregularity on the water's surface.
But soon the rain cleared up and the Sun poked through the broken clouds.
The first part of the #coast travelling #west is primarily #sandstone with its distinctive orange colour. You can see the layers tilted through geological action. #Erosion is always evident at the surface but on the action is the sea. The rocks are dated at about 250 million years.
On to a bit of #EngineeringGeology and #GeotechnicalEngineering, the erosion is a serious problem for any structures built on or near the coast and there is a mainline railway track on the route to London which runs along it on this stretch. #NetworkRail is busy trying to stabilize and strengthen the cliffs using #RockAnchor, #RockBolts and #meshing to retard the process. Here you can see workers #abseiling as part of their work.
The erosion causes all manner of interesting irregular shapes in the rocks which make ideal place for #Seabirds to live. These include #Cormorants, #Shags and #Gulls.
As you travel further west, the stratum abruptly changes to #limestone which is over 300 million years old. The form of erosion is also different as limestone is also chemically eroded by slightly acidic water. You can also see that the colour of the sea here is a very deep green.
The #limestone also forms small #islets just off the #coast, again on which birds alight.
A close approach to an islet reveals the beautiful detailed patterns of #rock and #vegetation.
Approaching our destination, some brave souls were clambering over this islet and perhaps were preparing to dive into the water.
I'm glad to see the #ExeterChiefs, the local #rugby team have dropped their old logo of a #NativeAmericanChief after many years. I think it was culturally clumsy. They now have the image of a historically indigenous warrior from the #Dumnonii tribe who inhabited the region in the #IronAge.
