
Birds build nests. So do rats. Termite mounds are pretty impressive. But what other animal (nevermind us) builds anything so impressive as does the beaver?
The post Geo-Joint: Beaver Back on the Job appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on November 18 2015
Birds build nests. So do rats. Termite mounds are pretty impressive. But what other animal (nevermind us) builds anything so impressive as does the beaver?
The post Geo-Joint: Beaver Back on the Job appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on October 27 2015
Some countries expand their size by taking over neighboring territory. But in the South China Sea, China is simply making new land.
The post Geo-Joint: New Islands in the South China Sea appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on October 15 2015
Geographic name changes for large expanses of the earth’s surface aren’t all that common. The breakup of the Soviet Union presented such a moment decades ago, and the one we’ll focus on today isn’t breaking news either. It cropped up 15 years ago and isn’t universally accepted yet. But its story is interesting and illustrates the tenacity of established geographic ... Read More
The post Geo-Joint: The Southern Ocean appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on October 07 2015
As with almost every geographic "biggest" or "longest", there are seven different ways to tabulate the results. The longest border between two countries would seem to be that between the U.S. and Canada. In total, it's about 5,526 miles.
The post Geo-Joint: Longest Borders appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 30 2015
This is the story of a big deal with a big footprint. During the end of the last Ice Age in North America, starting around 20,000 years ago, glaciers would advance and retreat with global temperature changes.
The post Geo-Joint: Lake Missoula appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 24 2015
It takes a special set of circumstances: rain, of course, with some clearing for the rays of a low-angled moon coming from a direction opposite the rain, a dark sky, plus the added requirement of a moon in full or nearly-full phase.
The post Geo-Joint: Moonbows appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 08 2015
Growing tall gives a tree the edge on capturing sunlight before some other tree shades it out. But the taller it gets, the harder it is for water to get drawn up all the way to the top.
The post Geo-Joint: Giant Ash appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 01 2015
With the exception of the Inuit and other hardy souls of the Far North, the deep Arctic stood as a formidable outland for centuries and even the bravest non-natives only utilized its periphery for fish and furs from the resident four-legged or flippered animals.
The post Geo-Joint: Arctic “Land Rush” appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on August 25 2015
A hundred years ago those familiar drought conditions were plaguing San Diego. In 1915, San Diego was a small but growing city and its water needs were also growing. The rainfall records of that year don't indicate severe drought conditions, and in fact by year's end there was even more rain than average. But the city fathers were concerned about future needs and were looking for ways to increase the amount of stored water.
The post Geo-Joint: The Rainmaker appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on July 29 2015
The project was informally called The Third Straw. All it took was drilling a 24-foot diameter tunnel through three miles of rock underneath the bottom of Lake Mead. Piece of cake. It did, however, take three years to eat it. The hydraulics of this scheme are, of course, complex, but they went more or less as follows.
The post Geo-Joint: Lake Mead’s Third Straw appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on July 21 2015
There are residents of the exclusion zone who never left. Those would be the plants and animals whose ancestors had lived there for thousands of years and didn't get the memo that the place was now glowing with radiation.
The post Geo-Joint: Chernobyl and the Red Forest appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on July 15 2015
Get the corkscrew! Twist the cap! Unseal the spigot! Let's have a glass of wine right now!
The post Geo-Joint: Deep wine storage appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on July 07 2015
There really is a place no more than 28 miles off the coast of Great Britain where not only do palm trees grow, but actual white sandy beaches and azure waters do a pretty fair imitation of the Caribbean tableau.
The post Geo-Joint: British Palm Trees appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on March 31 2015
Which country has the least population density? The answer to this question turned into a muddy mess of questionable statistics and bad math.
The post Geo-Joint: The Least Dense appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on March 16 2015
Lascaux cave was open to the public for 15 years before it became apparent that the body heat and mere breath of visitors was causing chemical reactions with the pigments of the drawings.
The post Geo-Joint: Cave Art appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on March 04 2015
A lot of people have contemplated that question and more than a few have whittled the number of key destinations down to their list of "100 places to see before you die."
The post Geo-Joint: 100 Places to See Before You Die appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on February 24 2015
Mustard comes in a variety of species which hybridize, so there are a lot of different kinds of the plant out there. One of the most common along the coast is Brassica nigra, or black mustard, which grows quite tall and is the stuff you probably see the most of as you (locals) drive up the Gaviota Coast.
The post Geo-Joint: Mustard appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on February 17 2015
The earth has been around for something like 4.5 billion years, and life has been dated back to around 3.8 billion years. In all that time, one thing has been constant—change.
The post Geo-Joint: A World of Stability appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on February 11 2015
way out in southwest North Dakota lies the Enchanted Highway, running north-south for 32 miles between the mega-cities of Regent and Gladstone.
The post Geo-Joint: The Enchanted Highway appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on February 04 2015
At a depth of over two miles, liquid Lake Vostok has sat unseen for perhaps 35 million years.
The post Geo-Joint: Lake Vostok appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on January 28 2015
A wooden sled sheathed with a metal bottom is the vehicle of choice. At the back end on the bottom, a one-use sheet of plastic is attached, and by leaning back and pulling on the rope attached to the front of the sled, you can reduce your contact point to nothing but this slick surface, achieving speeds of 50 to 60 mph!
The post Geo-Joint: Volcano Surfing appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on January 21 2015
Sharks have fairly salty interiors so they are at home in the ocean. Even the ones that dine on small fish prefer to keep to the ocean and avoid freshwater.
The post Geo-Joint: Freshwater Sharks appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on January 13 2015
In 1900, sponge divers off the Greek island of Antikythera found a strange clockwork-like mechanism made of bronze in the wreck of an ancient ship.
The post Geo-Joint: The Antikythera Mechanism appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on January 06 2015
There are scores of different New Years observations and celebrations around the world - this is but a very short list.
The post Geo-Joint: New Year’s Day appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on December 23 2014
The North Pole may seem remote to us nowadays, but back before anyone had been there, it might as well have been on the moon.
The post Geo-Joint: The North Pole appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on December 02 2014
Unlike the melting of the tundra in faraway Alaska, Glacier National Park is a highly visible and closer-to-home example that our world is changing rapidly.
The post Geo-Joint: Glacier National Park appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on November 19 2014
A long time ago, Timbuktu was pretty far from anything else. It still is. Timbuktu is in Mali, Africa, and while there are scattered towns at some distance to the south, to the north is the vast emptiness of the Sahara Desert.
The post Geo-Joint: A Trip to the Middle of Nowhere appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on November 11 2014
Deepsea drilling rigs poke holes in the sediment under the ocean to find oil and gas, but there is another trove of treasure that has long been known, and only recently targeted.
The post Geo-Joint: Deep-Sea Mining appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on November 04 2014
The towns that once made their living from the sea have gone away, their fishing boats left high and dry, now miles from the shoreline.
The post Geo-Joint: The Aral Sea appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on October 28 2014
Transylvanian nights are as dark as any others, and they do get a fair amount of rain and cool temperatures, but the reputation for scary evil is nothing more than the result of a novel written by an Irishman in the late 19th century.
The post A Bloody Good Time in Transylvania appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on October 16 2014
China devised a way to tame the Yangtze. In a narrow part of its course, where it would drown three famous gorges, a massive dam would rise.
The post Geo-Joint: Three Gorges Dam appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 30 2014
Here in sunny California we have a gem of a mountain range, the Sierra Nevada. And in the southern part of that range stands Mt.Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48.
The post Geo-Joint: Mt. Whitney appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.
Posted on September 25 2014
Go to the northeastern coast of Australia and look east - you can't miss it. Except it's underwater, mostly.
The post Geo-Joint: The Great Barrier Reef appeared first on Journeys by Maps.com.