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Some background; in the last couple of weeks, I've been posting pictures of "Great Falls", starting with the Great Falls nearest to me, on the Potomac River. I speculated that there are several "Great Falls" around (there are). A humorous wag posted that one of them must be the "Great Falls of Bire" (rim shot, please). I replied to him that if Ireland had a great falls, this would be the "Great Falls of Eire". So I Googled to find out if Ireland had a great falls. It doesn't, but in searching, I discovered the "World Waterfall Database", which right...

Link post; to alert interested Free Republic readers to the post in the "Chat" section. PLEASE post any discussion and comment on that thread, not this one! The picture I've posted this week is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Geology Picture of the Week, August 8-14, 2004: Amazing Tropical Waterfalls

Tropical Cyclone "Batsirai" formed well east of Madagascar on January 27, 2022, at a time Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi were still assessing severe damage caused by the passage of Tropical Cyclone "Ana." Environmental conditions favor further intensification, leading to a possible catastrophic landfall in Madagascar on February 5. Up to 600 mm (24 inches) of rain is possible in some areas. Batsirai is the second named storm of the 2021/22 Southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season. At 06:00 UTC on February 2, Batsirai was an Intense Tropical Cyclone located approximately 246 km (153 miles) NNE of Port Louis, Mauritius. Its maximum...

Yes, I know I missed the last week of the year; I've been busy and still trying to catch up and dig out. Meanwhile, there were eruptions, including one of the best "curtains of fire" I've seen since Eldfell. Curtain of fire on Nyamuragira: From here: chitravini's photostream (go to page 2) Lava flow on the side of Piton de la Fournaise's main crater: From here: Paysages de la Reunion And finally, the lava pit inside Halemaumau (Kilauea, Hawaii), has been putting on a great show over the past few days: (click for full-size) Link to Webcam page

First, from Norway Vøringsfossen Click 'em for full-size. This next one's not big or great, but it shows where the hotel is. Also small, but a good view of the base of the falls. Something tells me it is NOT easy to get down there. Second, from the border of Vietnam and China: Detian/Ban Gioc. Click both for full-size.

Connect the dots: 1) Heard about a new (small) eruption of Piton de la Fournaise. 2) Piton de la Fournaise is the current "expression" of the La Reunion mantle plume. 3) Thought about what happened when the Indian subcontinent passed over the La Reunion plume = Deccan Traps volcanism. 4) Tried to find a good picture of the Deccan Traps. 5) Discovered that one of the few places to see Deccan Trap basalt layering is Lonar Crater. 6) Lonar Crater is said to be the only impact crater on volcanic basalt. 7) Found remote sensing and surface pictures of Lonar...

First of all, one might think I'm Etna-obsessed. Not true; I posted some images of the Piton de la Fournaise effusive eruption before this. But the Etna pictures continue to be interesting, so why not? This one, primarily due to the cold lava spires in the background, looked like a science-fiction movie set (shrunk for display, click to see the full-size image): And now for something completely different; here's an article I happened to read in the doctor's office. I couldn't find the image accompanying the article, so I found a different image of an epidote crystal. The article was...

Link post: please go to the link below to see the pictures and links, and post any comment/discussion there: Geology Picture of the Week, September 5-11, 2004: Etna Lava, Fournaise Bonus

Our first feature is the image of the Etna eruption. As of September 10, the eruption is continuing with a new effusive site opening. The lava flows are near the summit and aren't threatening any structures or villages. Click the picture to see it full-size. For more, click the article link at top and choose "Septembre 2004" at left. Our second feature is at the link below; six QTVR panoramas of the just-ended Piton de la Fournaise eruption. Stunning! If you have the bandwidth to handle it, look at the big ones. The aerial view is mind-boggling (though grainy in...

Click the link above to go to the page with the pictures. The pictures are Javascript so I can't grab any.