Monday Geology Picture: A Sand-Filled Room in Kolmanskop, Namibia

A sand dune slowly taking over a room in Kolmanskop.

For this week’s “Monday Geology Picture” here’s a picture of a spectacular sand-filled room in a house in the ghost town of Kolmanskop, Namibia. I visited this diamond mining ghost town back in 2014, and you can find more pictures from that visit here. If you ever visit Namibia I highly recommend a visit to Kolmanskop!

Plane Views: Amsterdam to Cape Town– Part II

Here is Part II of the views that I observed during a flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town back in September 2012. Part I is here. I believe that all of these shots were taken over Algeria. There are some stunning desert views. Although I grew up in relatively lush New England, I have always liked deserts. I think I first became enchanted by deserts when I was an exchange student and lived in Jordan for 5 months when I was 15 years old. My school in Jordan took me on visits to places such as Wadi Rum and Petra, and I quickly fell in love with the sands, rocks, animals, people, and historical ruins of the deserts there. Visiting the Jordanian deserts certainly helped inspire me to study geology.

I’ve never been to Algeria, but the desert views I observed while flying over Algeria are certainly enchanting. The young, volcanic Hoggar Mountains look particularly enticing. I hope that I can one day visit the deserts of Algeria. Has anyone been there?

Enjoy the desert views below. And, as always, feel free to point out interesting locations and geological features.

I still have some more views to share from this flight, so stay tuned for Part III!

Algeria10 — Algeria #10. Another view of the fire.

Algeria11 — Algeria #11. Sand, sand, sand.

Algeria17 — Algeria #17. Red, white, and blue desert hues.

Algeria19 — Algeria #19. A winding wadi leading into the Hoggar Mountains.

Algeria26 — Algeria #26. Volcanic mountain tops.

Sand Dunes in Death Valley

A sand dune in Death Valley, California. Fall 2005.

I noticed that there has been a sand dune meme wandering around the science blogosphere over the past week or so.

Here is my contribution to the meme– some pictures of sand dunes in Death Valley, California. I visited these sand dunes near sunset after a long day of mapping with my undergraduate fieldwork program in Fall 2005. Our instructors had promised we could visit the dunes once we finished working, but by the time we finished we only had an hour or two of light left. So, we had to race out to the dunes, first by driving and then by walking or running as quickly as we could on the soft sand. We spent a few minutes tumbling and rolling down the dunes then made our way back to the vans as darkness fell.