Cool pic of geological feature in Africa

[n2doc]

"The Lost World", anyone?


The Brandberg Massif is a lump of granite which punched its way through the Earth's crust about 120 million years ago in what is now Namibia. The period saw intense geological activity connected with the splitting of the "super-continent" Gondwana. (Image: Nasa/USGS)

[AIJ Alom]

1. Wow ! Granite just pushing through ?

A geologist dream come true.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. From the Wikipedia

The Brandberg Massif or Brandberg Intrusion is a dome-shaped plateau in Namibia. It is in the northwestern Namib Desert, near the coast, and covers an area of approximately 650 km². The highest point is 2573 m. It is a granitic intrusion. Many significant cave paintings are located on its cliffs.

The area is uninhabited and wild. It is very arid and finding water can be difficult or impossible. In summer temperatures over forty degrees Celsius are routine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandberg_Massif

How would something that big have developed? I can't imagine that it's the stump of an old vocano.

[populistdriven]

5. it is a granitic intrusion so imagine a lava lamp

The rising stuff is the lighter granite and the surrounding liquid is what it punched through - all this happens at great depth in the roots of continents. After the entire mass cools and hardens into rock the overburden erodes and exposes the more resistant granite. The area also probably saw significant uplift which accelerated erosion.

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Got it, thanks!

I was a math major in college. The idea of the earth's crust acting like a lava lamp just seems bizzare.

[populistdriven]

8. lava lamps are both bizzare and cool!

:hippie:

[mainegreen]

3. Looks a bit like this thing in Mauritania:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&z=11&ll=21.108844,-11.35849&spn=0.345907,0.468292&t=h&om=1

[populistdriven]

6. very large high resolution version of the same Brandberg photo

Click on the pic to see the huge version

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16440

[Wilber_Stool]

13. Thank you......n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Um ... copper mine?

[mainegreen]

11. No, it's some form of weathered down uplift.

It actually bows up, not down!

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Weird. And I should have looked at the scale !!!! nt

[Ediacara]

14. That IS weird

It could be a similar situation to the Massif, but I think it's more likely to be a salt dome, very similar to Upheval Dome near Moab, UT:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=moab+ut&ie=UTF8&z=13&ll=38.433556,-109.926624&spn=0.068847,0.173035&t=h&om=1&iwloc=addr

[back2basics909]

4. Rehabers paradise..

.. thats whole lot of kitchens and bathrooms.

Snark.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. A laccolith -- can you add this photo to Wikipedia article?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laccolith