A series of Questions for our Geologists.

Perhaps the worst thing to have ever happened to the field of Geology has been the advent of Google Earth. With Google Earth and all of the great photos that have been released since the cold war ended, idiots like me have been able to look down on the earth and pester you good folk to explain the wonderous things we see.I'd like to start by getting one of you to explain a feature for me.Using Google Earth, if you set your eye position at about 400 miles altitude, there is a visible arc with Montgomery, Al at the bottom and swinging in a clockwise manner north towards Nashville, TN.What is it?

That's definitely what we see to the north east of of Montgomery and we will get to those in a while (including the Ark which came to rest just North of Birmingham). But this is so regular, I'd like to see what the geologists say.We'll move on up the coast as this thread progresses hopefully.This message has been edited by jar, 01-14-2006 02:35 PM

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Yes, the arc to the west of your line.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Great. Wonderful answer.But I'd like to get a little more information from you if I can before we move north a ways. How was the arc created?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Well, was hoping for a little more detail than that.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

If we look at the area beginning in central Alabama, we see a series of liniar marks that eventually become mountain crests as we move north. But in Alabama, these seem to be very low. What can you good folk tell us about them?This message has been edited by jar, 01-18-2006 04:08 PM

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

That sure sounds great, but doesn't mean a whole lot to a slow old man.What I see looks more like a layer cake seen from the side or an accordion folded paper. The folds are not straight thoughHow did we get such features?How do you wear down a mountain?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

No pics directly, but using Google Earth, you can see what I'm looking at starting just to the NE of Birmingham, AL.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

But I'm still waiting for the explanation of the mechanism that went into creating the formation I brought up.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

we'll get up there edge, but first I'd like to hammer this point home.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Well, if we look at an aerial view of the area NW of Birmingham, we see what looks like folded fans of paper. They extend in a general NW direction. How were they formed?People have said they were formed during a collision when the continents collided to form Gondwana. If that's the case, let's examine that theory in a little more detail.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

What evidence is there to support that? How do we know there were mountains there at any time?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

The second reference was very good, but neither really addressed the main question. W may know that there is sand in the west that came from the east, but is there any evidence that there really were mountains there in the first place.Remember, we are talking about a very specific area, stretching from Birminham, AL up to Knoxville, TN.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Okay.What we find in the west is sand and sandstone. Sand is pretty easy to move around. Sandstone also erodes fairly quickly.So, is there any evidence that what we see is not just sand that was moved around, likely by a great flood?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

because I think that it might be very important to help me and others understand. What does that mean in english? Great. Can you explain that just a little more for us? This is great. So what exactly are those assemblages and can just anyone recognize them?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion