Flutterby™! : Google Earth discoveries

Google Earth discoveries

2008-08-28 16:54:42.698076+02 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Random for Eric: 8 great Google Earth scientific discoveries.

[ related topics: Maps & Mapping ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-28 18:17:04.754288+02 by: JT

Geologists Researchers using Google Earth detected some characteristics (chevrons) of a Giant Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. They analyzed the satellite images of the area’s bottom morphology and there was a huge crater. It is now believed that when this crater was created, a tsunami of 200m height hit the area and it was raining all over the world for days. They estimated the age of the crater at 5000 years.

I'd love to know more about how they reached this particular conclusion.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-28 20:45:22.19967+02 by: Dan Lyke

They used The Internet Archive's "Wayback Machine" feature to look at previous versions of Google Earth, of course...

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-29 02:47:36.784529+02 by: TheSHAD0W

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11...ience/14WAVE.html?pagewanted=all

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-29 13:59:40.660813+02 by: Medley [edit history]

LOL. (And I don't type LOL or actually LOL when browsing the internet all that often ;-) ).

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-29 15:03:12.390013+02 by: JT

The explanation is obvious to some scientists. A large asteroid or comet, the kind that could kill a quarter of the world’s population, smashed into the Indian Ocean 4,800 years ago, producing a tsunami at least 600 feet high, about 13 times as big as the one that inundated Indonesia nearly two years ago. The wave carried the huge deposits of sediment to land.

Hardly a confirmation that it was raining all over the world for days. That's the particular part of the quote that makes me wrinkle up my forehead.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-08-30 04:39:07.069305+02 by: TheSHAD0W

An asteroid strike in the ocean would release a huge amount of heat into the water, evaporating plenty and causing storms everywhere. 40 days and 40 nights might be a reasonable estimate.