EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Rainbow Pyrite

March 29, 2022

6FB61C25-FFDF-4A25-BCE6-40FE92AE2373

Photographer: Allen Steinburg

Summary Author: Allen Steinburg

Rainbow pyrite is the trade name for Pyrite Druzy and a non-Quartz
species of gemstone. These colorful rock specimens are valued for
their rainbow-like iridescence caused by differential refraction
and diffraction of light. Historically, this metallic looking rock was
extracted in Russia, however, the former 1870 abandoned Shipman
pyrite mine in Ontario, Canada is proving to be another source for
rainbow pyrite along with uncommonly large octahedral pyrite crystals.
Photo taken on November 10, 2021.
* Shipman Mine Ontario, Canada Coordinates: 44.53750,-75.79694

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Geology Links

* Earthquakes
* Geologic Time
* Geomagnetism
* General Dictionary of Geology
* Mineral and Locality Database
* Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
* This Dynamic Earth
* USGS
* MyShake - University of California, Berkeley
* USGS Ask a Geologist
* USGS/NPS Geologic Glossary
* USGS Volcano Hazards Program

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 4 weeks, 1 day, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


California Quail After a Snowstorm

April 29, 2022

Quailhome1391c_6mar22

Quailhome1389c_6mar22

Photographer: Ray Boren

Summary Author: Ray Boren

One can anthropomorphically imagine what the birds in this flock, or
covey, of California quail might be thinking: Wasn’t it spring
yesterday? Where did all this snow come from? How are we going to
scratch and forage for seeds and other edibles as we usually do here a
few times every day? The weather indeed had been spring-like, but the
transition from winter into spring can be fickle. More than a foot
(30.5 centimeters) of snow fell the day I took these portraits, on
March 6, 2022, while furtively peering out a sliding door into my
backyard in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The plump California quail (Callipepla californica) is a species
known for its curved head-top plumes. The mostly gray males have strong
face markings, with black-to-gray shaded faces and bibs, as well as a
white border stripe on the neck and brow. Females are lighter overall,
brown to gray, and without bold face designs. Both genders have white
to light-brown scale-like patterns on their bellies. The birds’
traditional range is in brushy terrain from Baja California to the
American Northwest, and the species was designated California’s
official state bird in 1931. A cadenced warning call, often raised by a
male sentry perched higher than quail down on the ground, has been
described as sounding like “Chi-ca-go,” which, of course, is not in
California.

So, what are these West Coast natives doing in Utah? According to the
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, California quail — a game bird
often called valley quail in California itself — were introduced to the
Salt Lake City area in 1869 by a military officer who released 14 pair
at nearby Fort Douglas. They thrived in the low foothills. Other
releases have been made in the past 150-plus years. Though often
habituated to humans, the quail remain cautious. When frightened or
startled, the birds quickly flush and fly short distances toward
safety.
* Salt Lake City, Utah Coordinates: 40.7608, -111.8910

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Animal Links

* Animal Diversity Web
* ARKive
* BirdLife International
* Bug Guide
* Discover Life
* Integrated Taxonomic Information System
* Microbial Life Resources
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the
-
Universities Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 8 weeks, 4 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Solar Halo Over Torres Vedras, Portugal

June 29, 2022

Solar-Halo

Photographer: Paulo P. Pereira

Summary Authors: Paulo P. Pereira; Cadan Cummings

The photo above features a 22-degree solar halo spotted near
Torres Vedras, Portugal on March 13, 2022. At first glance through
a window, I saw what looked like an upside-down rainbow. When I went
outside to photograph it, I realized it was a solar halo.

Halo phenomena appear when randomly oriented ice crystals
composing cirrus clouds reflect and refract incoming sunlight. The name
of the halo (22 degrees) denotes the angle in which the ice crystals
bend the incoming light to create this colorful and vibrant circular
effect. In total, this halo remained visible for over half an hour.

Photo details: Canon EOS RP, RF 24-105mm, f/13, 1/800 second exposure,
ISO-100, 24mm
* Torres Vedras, Lisboa, Portugal Coordinates: 39.0918, -9.2600

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Atmospheric Effects Links

* Atmospheric Optics
* Optic Picture of Day: Gruppo Astrofili Galileo Galilei
* Color and Light in Nature
* The Colors of Twillight and Sunset
* Refraction Index
* Image Gallery: Atmospheric Effects
* What is a Rainbow?

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 17 weeks, 2 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Mature Snapdragon Flowers Remain Closed

July 29, 2022

Menashe_snapdragon1a

Menashe_snapdragon2

Photographer: Menashe Davidson

Summary Author: M enashe Davidson

The time of flower opening marks the onset of a period in which
pollinators are attracted by the flower sweetness, leading a pollen
removal and pollination. In many species the flowers are open
permanently, whereby the opening period is terminated by a closure
movement, or by petal withering or abscission. But there are few
species, such as snapdragons, where mature flowers stay closed.

Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus, family Plantaginaceae) have a wide
range of flower colors, and they’re easily grown in gardens. The
snapdragon flowers are closed flowers (top photo) with two modified
petals, described as lips, that essentially prevent honeybees from
penetrating them. Note, however, that the flowers can be opened when
they're pressed on their sides (bottom photo). Here we can see the
inside of the flower, where there are four stamens with white
filaments surrounding a pistil (green stalk). Bumblebees, which
are much bigger than honeybees, are the main pollinators for
snapdragons because they’re larger size permits them to open the closed
flowers. Photos taken in March 2022, from my home garden in Rishon
LeZion, Israel.


Rishon LeZion, Israel Coordinates 31.9730, 34.7925


Recent EPODs

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Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 21 weeks, 4 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Idaho’s Gravity-Defying Balanced Rock

August 29, 2022

RayB_balrockida248ac_26july22 (006)

RayB_balrockpkida253c_26july22 (006)

Photographer: Ray Boren

Summary Author: Ray Boren

High above a rural road southwest of Twin Falls, Idaho, rises a huge,
precariously poised hoodoo shaped somewhat like the continent
of Africa. Like many of its kind, it is simply called Balanced
Rock, as illustrated in a photograph taken on July 26, 2022. An
upward-tilted arrow on a roadside sign points toward it, and the sign
reports that this natural sculpture, some 48 feet high and 40 feet
wide (14.6 by 12.2 meters), hovers over a slim base only 3 feet by 17.5
inches wide (0.9 by 0.5 meters).

Shaped by differential weathering over a great span of time, the
pillar is composed of rhyolite, a silica-infused magma laid
down about 8 million years ago on the southern fringe of the Snake
River Plain, when the volcanic hot spot below today’s Yellowstone
National Park instead sat 300 miles (480 kilometers) away, below this
part of southern Idaho.

Just down the road from Balanced Rock is a veritable oasis in this dry
setting: Twin Falls County’s Balanced Rock Park, as shown in a
second photograph taken the same day. Salmon Falls Creek, en route
to the Snake River, flows beneath volcanic escarpments, providing
visitors a pleasant spot for picnicking, camping, hiking, climbing,
boating and fishing.


Balanced Rock, Idaho Coordinates: 42.5482386, -114.9575579


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Geography Links

* Atlapedia Online
* CountryReports
* GPS Visualizer
* Holt Rinehart Winston World Atlas
* Mapping Our World
* Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
* Types of Land
* World Mapper

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 26 weeks, 20 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Use of Wild Plants in Floriculture

September 29, 2022


Menashe_Thistle_Picture2

Menashe_Thistle_Picture3a

Photographer: Menashe Davidson
Summary Author: Menashe Davidson

Over recent years, the floriculture trade, in particular cut
flowers and potted ornamentals, has been on the rise, driven by the
growing interest of society in environmental and well-being benefits.
Consequently, it’s in the best interest of floriculturists to tap
upcoming trends related to new ornamental plants. Wild plants are a
category of potential candidates that could be used as ornamentals. The
term “wild” when applied to plant species refers to plants that grow
spontaneously in self-maintaining populations, in a natural or
semi-natural ecosystem, that can exist independent of any direct human
action.

The common globe thistle, Echinops adenocaulos, is a prickly
wildflower in the Asteraceae family that thrives almost everywhere in
Israel (top photo). The plant's Hebrew name is 'kipodan', meaning
"hedgehog", because the spherical inflorescence of the flowers
resembles a hedgehog. Seeing the thistle's cheerful bloom of impressive
purple flower during Israel’s mid-summer, gave me the idea that this
plant is a potential candidate to be used as an ornamental in my home
garden. In addition, after the flower's petals fade, the fruits and
seeds of the small globe thistle plant are eye-catching in their own
right.

Last year, I collected a bundle of many single fruits called
" achenes" that I inserted on an apical plate that were then
sown in containers in my home garden during mid-winter. The top photo
(taken on June 22) and the bottom photo (taken on July 29) demonstrate
my success in the domestication of a wild plant without any modifying
human labor to meet its specific needs.


Rishon Le Zion, Israel Coordinates: 31.9730, 34.7925


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Plant Links

* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 30 weeks, 3 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Carob Mushroom in Early Stage of Growth

November 29, 2022


Fungo di carrubo

Photographer: Emanuele Nifosì

Summary Author: Emanuele Nifosì

Shown above is the rather rare carob mushroom I came across in Regusa,
Sicily (Italy). The scientific name of this yellow-orange fungus is
" Laetiporus sulphureus." This year, due to the drought, these
mushrooms were even more rare. They can be found on the lower trunk of
some carob trees, or, even more rarely, on the trunks of almond
trees. August and September, after a rainy day or two, is when the
Carob mushroom begins to grow.

The fruiting body of the fungus grows in only a small percentage of
carob trees for two reasons: firstly, because it’s generated by a
secondary parasite that manages to "infect" the tree only through
wounds; secondly, because the carob tree is widespread, but in a very
narrow climatic belt. In Italy, about 70% of this species exists in the
province of Ragusa. Note that this mushroom also forms on deciduous
trees such as chestnut, beech or eucalyptus, but when it does it seems
to develop a certain toxicity, which is why it’s considered edible only
when plucked from carob or almond trees -- after boiling. Photo taken
on September 11, 2022.

Photo details: Nikon D700 camera; Nikkor lens 70-210: ISO 400; f. 5/6;
1/100 second exposure.
Contrada Cuturi, Regusa, Sicily, Italy Coordinates: 36,815488,
14,700164


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Plant Links

* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 39 weeks, 1 day, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Dalene Matthee Big Tree

December 29, 2022

Louise_IMG_20221210_114403 (003)

Photographer: Louise van der Meulen

Summary Author: Louise van der Meulen; Jim Foster

The stunning specimen featured above is thought to be over 800 years
old. Found in the montane forest near Knysna, South Africa, it’s
called the Dalene Matthee Big Tree. And big it is -- standing 131
ft (40 m) with a diameter of 5.6 ft (1.72 m). This handsome giant
belongs to the Podocarpus falcatus species (family
Podocarpaceae) and is commonly referred to as a yellowwood tree.
Photo taken on December 9, 2022.

The sign at its base reads -

Like a towering king it stood towering above the white alder and
mountain saffron, stinkwood, assegai and hard pear. As if God had
planted long before the others. Its giant root anchored it to the
ground like giant arms.

Dalene Matthee, Circle in a Forest, 1984.


Knysna, South Africa Coordinates: 33.9167 -22.9579


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Plant Links

* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 43 weeks, 3 days, 20 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)