Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Debriefing with Crewmembers, 23 January, 2001

STS-108 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Debriefing with Crewmembers
January 23, 2001

VOLCANOES AND MOUNTAIN BUILDING

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STS108-721-42 British Columbia, Canada; Washington, United States: N. Cascade Range/Canadian Coast Range. Mt. Baker is at lower left. Vancouver, on the Fraser River delta, and Bellingham, WA are barely visible. The Pacific tectonic plate is being driven under N. America, giving rise to the line of young volcanoes that includes Mts. Baker, Rainier, St. Helens, etc. The darker low country (right center) is the forearc basin lying inland (east) of the volcanic arc. Still farther east, the older Canadian Rockies are cloud-covered.

STS108-722-5 Idaho, United States: North-central Snake River Plain. Boise at far left; Walcott Reservoir and towns of Rupert and Burley at bottom left. Snow has smoothed the rough, black, young lava flows of the Plain, which have erupted and filled the depression that formed as the northern and central Rocky Mts. have spread apart.

STS108-720-32 Colorado, United States: Spanish Peaks and Rocky Mts. Uplift of the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rockies began about 75 million years ago and produced the long north-trending ridges of faulted and folded rock to the west of the paired peaks. After uplift had ceased (~26 to 22 million years ago), the large masses of igneous rock (granite "stocks") that form the Peaks were emplaced. Dikes radiate outward from the mountains like spokes of a wheel. As the molten rock rose, it forced its way into vertical cracks and joints in the bedrock; the less resistant material was then eroded away, leaving walls of hard rock.

STS108-723-58 Switzerland: Lake Neuchatel, Jura Alps. The folded rocks of the Jura Mts., highlighted by snow, appear as a rumpled rug. Here, a thinner package of rock layers have been folded and faulted ("thin-skinned deformation"), compared with the great massifs of the Bernese and Pennine Alps farther south.

STS108-723-32 France/Spain: The Pyrenees (highest point 3404 m), extends from the Bay of Biscay (west) to the Gulf of Lyon (east). The range began forming about 320 million years ago and was strongly uplifted again during early stages of Eurasian-African plate collision. This fine stereophoto pair reveals details of folded and faulted strata of the southern Pyrenees near Pamplona. Tin, tungsten, talc, fluorite, barium and gold have been mined from the mountains, and petroleum is produced from the adjacent Aquitaine sedimentary basin.

STS108-723-38 France/Spain: Pyrenees detail.

STS108-717-89 Mexico: Sierra Madre Oriental. The sweeping folds of the Sierra Madre Oriental, like those of the Anti-Atlas (STS108-711-25) formed when a gypsum-bearing sequence of rock layers was compressed as two tectonic plates collided about 60 million years ago. Gypsum is exposed in the core of the fold at Potrero Garcia, the triangular open fold north of Monterrey.

STS108-711-25 Morocco: SW Atlas Mts., Jbel Ouarkziz. The Anti-Atlas ranges, like the Pyrenees, were produced by two collisions between North Africa and Eurasia, one beginning about 320 million years ago and another about 80 million years ago. Beneath the massive sandstone and limestone beds were gypsum layers which flowed and slid when mountain-building pressures were applied, resulting in the broad, open folds seen in this excellent view. Tighter secondary folds developed due to crowding between major structures.

STS108-717-85 Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras: Cosigüina volcano and Golfo de Fonseca. The explosion of Cosigüina in August, 1859 has been the largest historical eruption to date in the western hemisphere. The volcano developed at the intersection of two structural complexes -- a bend in the convergent plate margin, and a north-trending fault valley (graben) that intersects the volcanic arc. Another volcanic peak rises at the outskirts of San Miguel, El Salvador. Extensive mariculture ponds can be observed in the eastern gulf.

STS108-717-83 Nicaragua: Cosigüina.

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STS108-721-42	British Columbia, Canada; Washington, United States: N. Cascade Range/Canadian Coast Range. Mt. Baker is at lower left. Vancouver, on the Fraser River delta, and Bellingham, WA are barely visible. The Pacific tectonic plate is being driven under N. America, giving rise to the line of young volcanoes that includes Mts. Baker, Rainier, St. Helens, etc. The darker low country (right center) is the forearc basin lying inland (east) of the volcanic arc. Still farther east, the older Canadian Rockies are cloud-covered.
STS108-722-5	Idaho, United States: North-central Snake River Plain. Boise at far left; Walcott Reservoir and towns of Rupert and Burley at bottom left. Snow has smoothed the rough, black, young lava flows of the Plain, which have erupted and filled the depression that formed as the northern and central Rocky Mts. have spread apart.
STS108-720-32	Colorado, United States: Spanish Peaks and Rocky Mts. Uplift of the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rockies began about 75 million years ago and produced the long north-trending ridges of faulted and folded rock to the west of the paired peaks. After uplift had ceased (~26 to 22 million years ago), the large masses of igneous rock (granite "stocks") that form the Peaks were emplaced. Dikes radiate outward from the mountains like spokes of a wheel. As the molten rock rose, it forced its way into vertical cracks and joints in the bedrock; the less resistant material was then eroded away, leaving walls of hard rock.
STS108-723-58	Switzerland: Lake Neuchatel, Jura Alps. The folded rocks of the Jura Mts., highlighted by snow, appear as a rumpled rug. Here, a thinner package of rock layers have been folded and faulted ("thin-skinned deformation"), compared with the great massifs of the Bernese and Pennine Alps farther south.
STS108-723-32	France/Spain: The Pyrenees (highest point 3404 m), extends from the Bay of Biscay (west) to the Gulf of Lyon (east). The range began forming about 320 million years ago and was strongly uplifted again during early stages of Eurasian-African plate collision. This fine stereophoto pair reveals details of folded and faulted strata of the southern Pyrenees near Pamplona. Tin, tungsten, talc, fluorite, barium and gold have been mined from the mountains, and petroleum is produced from the adjacent Aquitaine sedimentary basin.
STS108-723-38	France/Spain: Pyrenees detail.
STS108-717-89	Mexico: Sierra Madre Oriental. The sweeping folds of the Sierra Madre Oriental, like those of the Anti-Atlas (STS108-711-25) formed when a gypsum-bearing sequence of rock layers was compressed as two tectonic plates collided about 60 million years ago. Gypsum is exposed in the core of the fold at Potrero Garcia, the triangular open fold north of Monterrey.
STS108-711-25	Morocco: SW Atlas Mts., Jbel Ouarkziz. The Anti-Atlas ranges, like the Pyrenees, were produced by two collisions between North Africa and Eurasia, one beginning about 320 million years ago and another about 80 million years ago. Beneath the massive sandstone and limestone beds were gypsum layers which flowed and slid when mountain-building pressures were applied, resulting in the broad, open folds seen in this excellent view. Tighter secondary folds developed due to crowding between major structures.
STS108-717-85	Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras: Cosigüina volcano and Golfo de Fonseca. The explosion of Cosigüina in August, 1859 has been the largest historical eruption to date in the western hemisphere. The volcano developed at the intersection of two structural complexes -- a bend in the convergent plate margin, and a north-trending fault valley (graben) that intersects the volcanic arc. Another volcanic peak rises at the outskirts of San Miguel, El Salvador. Extensive mariculture ponds can be observed in the eastern gulf.
STS108-717-83	Nicaragua: Cosigüina.

This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate. Recommended Citation: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." .
	NASA Responsible Official: Tracy Calhoun Curator: jsc-earthweb@mail.nasa.gov Contributors: Earth Sciences Web Team	National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center	International Space Station National Laboratory Last Update:
Server: 1