sábado, 30 de abril de 2016

The landscape collector

APRIL 16

Making plans 



... It was not the official arrival of spring, already a month ago, but the daily ambience which is now filled with the warm, soft and pleasant atmosphere that anticipates the explosion of life ... of wildlife.

The fact is that our mind is now busy with plans. 
There is never enough time for plans ...

Round and round , ruminating and thinking on unbeaten paths, mountains to  walk, from sunrise to sunset, slopes to explore and cliffs to examine, looking for that wildlife ...

There will always be more to do than days off , but the illusion has returned, as migratory birds have. 
There will never be enough time for plans ...



…No ha sido la llegada oficial de la primavera, de la que hace ya un mes, sino el ambiente que estos días se ha ido cargando de la atmósfera cálida, suave y agradable que anticipa la explosión de vida silvestre…

El caso es que nuestra mente está ahora ocupada con planes. 
Nunca hay tiempo para tanto plan…

Vueltas y vueltas,  pensando en caminos por transitar, sierras por recorrer, desde el amanecer hasta la puesta del sol, laderas por explorar y paredes por escudriñar, en busca de esa vida silvestre...

Siempre habrá más sierras que días libres, pero la ilusión ha regresado, como las aves migratorias.
Nunca habrá tiempo para tanto plan…

viernes, 15 de abril de 2016

Paisaje geológico en Peniche - Portugal

Patrimonio geológico, paisaje sobresaliente, espectáculo natural y curiosidad singular …

Coastal cliffs in Cabo Carboeiro, Peniche (Portugal) constitute a geological patrimony, an outstanding landscape, a natural show and a singular curiosity...





Los acantilados costeros del cabo Carboeiro en la península de Peniche, Portugal tienen un mucho de todo esto.

Desde el punto de vista técnico, se trata de una serie sedimentaria jurásica de elevado interés científico, con categoría internacional, en donde se identifica el tránsito Pliensbachiense-Toarciense, en el Lias, en capas subhorizontales de calcarenitas con amonites... con estratificaciones cruzadas y otras singularidades en las que no nos vamos a adentrar en más detalle.


They correspond to a sedimentary Jurassic series with an International scientific interest for Lias identification.


Sin embargo, y ahí reside lo que llama poderosamente nuestra atención, la disposición de las capas, con un incidente proceso de carstificación vertical a favor del diaclasado, desgaja un mosaico de bloques, apilamientos de capas horizontales, variado y excepcional laberinto sobre el acantilado.











Strata position with a deep vertical carstification along the jointing gives result to a block mosaic of horizontal layers, varied and exceptional laberynth above the cliffs.

Vigía atemporal, inspeccionando el horizonte en busca de cualquier novedad... el frente impertérrito del acantilado afronta el océano, por buena o mala mar, cara al viento atlántico... 


No time spotter, inspecting the horizon in quest of any news... the ocean cliff  afaces the atlantic wind...

jueves, 7 de abril de 2016

Black Kite migration

Last weeks have been prone to the migration of several bird species over our territory...
Some are back home to stay; Some are on their way to farther north. 


While travelling now along both highways and local roads, black kites show themselves again conspicuous, as a preview of their common daily presence in the next months...


Always watchfull eye for a ran-over rabbit, lizard or bird with which to feed.



Kites, as harriers alike, are aerobatic skilled flyiers, taking advantage of gusty and unstable wind, their typical tail making them unmistakable.


lunes, 4 de abril de 2016

Monthly Geological Pics

APRIL 16

Anticlinal de Pancorbo / Pancorbo anticline


Decía en una entrada anterior que hubo un tiempo en que las carreteras, con solo dos carriles: uno para ir y otro para volver, sus curvas y sus camiones, por fuerza se recorrían despacio… 

Era un tiempo en que abundaban ventas, hostales y gasolineras que ahora yacen abandonadas y arruinadas, impúdicas a la vista de todos… Ahora raramente nos paramos, por eso de las prisas con que por lo general vamos en carretera, de un lado para otro…

Pues bien, al amparo de las miradas, insospechado, en una de las carreteras más transitadas de España, se encuentra un punto geológico singular… el Anticlinal de Pancorbo.


En efecto, la Sierra de Cantabria y los Montes Obarenes forman, entre Peñacerrada y Pancorbo, parte de la larga alineación montañosa E-O. de materiales mesozoicos que cabalga, con gran contraste morfológico, al Terciario continental del valle del Ebro.

En palabras del insigne geólogo Ramírez del Pozo, “la carretera N-1, de Madrid a Irún y el ferrocarril atraviesan los Montes Obarenes (al este de Pancorbo comienza la Sierra de Cantabria), cortando los tres anticlinales con vergencia al sur del Cretácico Superior cuyos núcleos son las arcillas del Keuper o las arenas y arcillas de facies Utrillas. En el flanco NE del último anticlinal, en cuyo eje se ubica el pueblo de Pancorbo, hemos levantado un pequeño perfil muy esquemático del Cenomanense”...

Perfil Suroeste a Noreste y extracto del mapa geológico MAGNA de la zona de cabalgamiento de los Montes Obarenes sobre el valle del Ebro.

La sierra está constituida por una compleja sucesión de anticlinales y sinclinales que en el cruce por el desfiladero de Pancorbo, en la carretera Madrid-Irún, son simplemente tres anticlinales sucesivos con los sinclinales intermedios prácticamente eliminados por fallas longitudinales paralelas al cabalgamiento. En el cabalgamiento de la sierra ha tenido gran influencia la presencia de un potente Keuper que ha producido una típica tectónica halocinética, con numerosos anticlinales con núcleo salino.


The Sierra de Cantabria and Montes Obarenes form, between Peñacerrada and Pancorbo, part of the long Mesozoic materials line of mountains which overrides E -W the continental Tertiary Ebro valley, with great morphological contrast.

The range is constituted by a complex series of anticlines and synclines which, at the Pancorbo gorge crossing, on the Madrid - Irun highway, they are simply three successive anticlines, with the intermediate synclines virtually eliminated by longitudinal faults, parallel to the thrust.

The range thrust has been greatly influenced by the presence of a powerful Keuper that has produced a typical halo-kinetic tectonics, with numerous salt nucleus anticlines.



sábado, 2 de abril de 2016

khardung La – The natural frontier from Himalaya to Karakorum

The road to Khardung La crosses the Ladakh granite batholith range, the western equivalent of the 2.000 km long Trans-himalayan batholith, immersed between the two suture zones dividing between Himalaya and Karakorum; the natural frontier between the two mountain ranges. South suture zone runs along the Indus valley, while North suture zone extends along the Shyok – Nubra valley…

North of Leh (Left), the Khardung La road climbs from the Indus river valley to cross the Ladakh range. Karakorum is seen in the distance, beyond the Nubra valley. Amazing dejection cones extend at the foot of the Ladakh range, as a testimonial of highly active earth dynamics (Right).
Citius, altius, fortius…, the latin words are as fashionable as ever.
In modern times, society is keen for the taller, the smarter, the most beautiful. No wonder if at school, at work, at sports, at fashion and showbiz, we collectively keep looking for the record… the Queen bee.
Nature has got itself its own records too, of course. Everybody knows about Everest, the highest mountain on earth, although not the most beautiful… the longest river, the most arid desert, the fastest flying creature, the longest living tree …
Then, sometime, not that long ago, I had the opportunity to be in the highest mountain pass road in the world. A place that claims a world record. A place that people crosses for this pure and simple fact… but which is far beyond its fame.

Road to Khardung La as seen soon after leaving Leh. South of the Indus valley extend the high picks of the Himachal Pradesh Himalayas.
All along the way, here and there are found Buddhist “Gompas”, amazing monasteries hooked to the rock slopes…

Khardung La (Khardung Pass, la meaning pass in Tibetan) is a high mountain pass located in the Ladakh region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies north of Leh and is the gateway to the Shyok and Nubra valleys. The elevation of Khardung La is 5,359 m, though local summit signs and dozens of stores selling shirts in Leh incorrectly claim that its elevation is in the vicinity of 5,602 m metres and that it is the world's highest motorable pass.
Curve after curve, meter after meter, road endures a franc climb to gain the 2.000 meters elevation over Leh.
Extraordinary result shape of an extreme land, this glacier valley can be seen not long before reaching the pass.   
The road, built in 1976 is strategically important to India as it is used to carry supplies to the military units  in the Siachen Glacier. It is historically important though, as it lies on the major caravan route from Leh to Kashgar in Central Asia. About 10,000 horses and camels used to take the route annually, and a small population of Bactrian camels can still be seen at Hunder, in the area north of the pass. During World War II there was an attempt to transfer war material to China through this route.
Khardung La pass, that’s it… Some snow, a modest cafeteria and plenty of colorful prayer flags… Then a lack of air, some dizzy feeling and a mind loosing walk to take this picture…
Geology and significance
Ladakh batholith granites near Khardung La pass. Highness and wind give way to a deep blue sky where colors and contrasts are dramatically beautiful.
Thick volcanics and volcano-clastics follow north of the Ladakh batholith, ranging from basalts to trachytes, together with rhyolites showing ignimbritic flow features.
As a product of the Indian collision with Asian plate, immense molasses deposits where formed as the himalayan range was rising and the Ladakh batholith was subsequently being eroded, as well as the volcanic materials associated with the alpine edge.
Not only geology… a Yak and a herder on the first pastures way down to the Nubra valley.                                                               Then, I can tell, yak milk is sweet, creamy and tasty…lovely…
The big surprising high Nubra valley, after some 6 hour drive… Azure blue waters braiding among snow white sand bars, patched here and there with greenery.
 Though a fairy landscape, heart cannot but be overwhelmed with a somehow oppressing feeling of remoteness and solitude. An unavoidable encounter with only oneself and whatever beliefs…
A Gompa in a Nubra Valley slope… Some human communion, a landscape sharing. A place to wonder about how some people are full with just a minimum, while we need so much to sometimes be quite empty…
Buddhist lamas give happy life to Gompas in the Nubra Valley as elsewhere.
Along a sharp thrust, gneisses and granites of the Karakorum overly the volcanics, followed by a conspicuous row of hot springs. Valley down, the Shyok river will eventually enter Pakistan, preventing any other valley access then the Khardung La pass.
Khardung La is widely, but incorrectly, believed to be the highest vehicle-accessible pass in the world. A well-graded Indian military road reaches 5,610 metres on the India - Tibet border. There are also higher motorable passes at Suge La, west of Lhasa, 5,430 m, and Semo La, 5,565 m, between Raka and Coqen in Central Tibet. Vehicles have also been driven over the 5,582 metres Marsimik La, in the Indian Karakoram to the north-east of Khardung La.  
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