Moonrise over Sukakpak

[Blue_In_AK]

This is where we waited for our first night of auroras. I think this is the Dietrich River. The moon was so bright that my aurora pictures all have color in the foreground. (Amazing how much light cameras can pick up.) I'm about halfway through editing, so making some progress.

[Solly Mack]

1. That's magnificent!

[elleng]

2. WONDERFUL!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Wonderful, my dear Blue!

[Tom Kitten]

4. That's gorgeous!

the moon + reflection,and the peak, looks like a fault block but most likely a volcano, maybe?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. More likely a fault block, I think.

The volcanoes are all down here in Southcentral AK and out on the Aleutian Chain. This is way north, above the Arctic Circle.

[alfredo]

7. Let's say it was uplifting.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Yes, it certainly was. :)

I've got some pretty cool reflection shots of that mountain from another side of it. It's a pretty unusual hunk of rock sticking up there.

Here's what I find on Google about it. It seems like I was correct that it's upthrust.

Sukakpak Mountain elev. 4,459 ft. Once an ancient seabed, this limestone deposit was subjected to intense heat and pressure causing it to be metamorphosed into marble. This massive marble rock was thrust up during the formation of the Brooks Range and is now one of its most recognizable peaks. Look for palsas around the base of the mountain. These oval shaped mounds are formed by ice beneath the soil. Palsas are low frost heaves that pop up in arctic and sub arctic regions. As the ice freezes and thaws, it pushes the ground up.

http://www.alaska.org/detail/sukakpak-mountain-mi-207.5

[alfredo]

10. I looked up Palsas. Interesting.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I thought it was a beaver house

when I saw the first one by the reflection pond.

[alfredo]

12. Isn't there a larger version that goes by a different name?

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Pingoes, I think.

These around the base of this mountain aren't really big. I think the pingoes are more like hills than mounds.

[alfredo]

14. That's it.It's like a loose denture Bingo!

[alfredo]

6. That is beautiful

[mnhtnbb]

9. That is gorgeous, Blue!