[FRIAM] "Weather line" on 14

Sat Jun 22 23:48:14 EDT 2024

Nick,

I imagine the Galisteo Dike is similar to the Shiprock Dikes.

Description of formation here:
https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/landmarks/shiprock/home.html

____________________________________________
CEO Founder, Simtable.com
stephen.guerin at simtable.com

Harvard Visualization Research and Teaching Lab
stephenguerin at fas.harvard.edu

mobile: (505)577-5828

On Sat, Jun 22, 2024, 9:21 PM Nicholas Thompson <thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes, Barry.  I heard you but I had the bit in my teeth.  I apologize.
> Your point seemed, for me, to beg the question I was obsessed with at the
> moment.  Where did a straight line of such scale come from?  Now, I can see
> why a radar echo might be a straight line, but why a  line of dirt?  What
> geological process produces linear dikes?   I can under why a sediment
> layers might be horizontal layers and I guess maybe, I can imagine that
> the seam between  two layers might get rotated ninety degrees and then
> crack and then I imagine igneous rock might press up through that seam.  Is
> that the sort oft thing you had in mind?
>
> N
>
> Nick
>
> On Sat, Jun 22, 2024 at 5:38 PM Barry MacKichan <
> barry.mackichan at mackichan.com> wrote:
>
>> Several times on the Thuram Zoom call, I asked “Do you mean that volcanic
>> dike?” but I always seemed to say it just as someone else started up.
>>
>> I have two memories about it.
>>
>>    1.
>>
>>    The president of SAR conjured up the image of 3,000 Comanches coming
>>    through the gap (Comanche Gap) as they came to Santa Fe in the 1770s to
>>    agree to the truce with New Mexico — the truce that I believe enabled the
>>    Spanish to hang on for the next 50 years in NM. The image has stuck with me.
>>    2.
>>
>>    I thought it would be a great place to find petroglyphs, and indeed
>>    it is. The density of the “No trespassing” signs along the road increases
>>    as the square of the inverse of the distance from the point where the road
>>    crosses the dike. They make it clear exactly where you should not trespass.
>>
>> —Barry
>>
>> On 21 Jun 2024, at 11:18, Stephen Guerin wrote:
>>
>> Research last night on historical geologic maps got the name of that as
>> the "Galisteo Dike". composition and description in attachment. There is
>> one further with as well. Also known as the Creston or Comanche Gap
>>
>> https://galisteo.nmarchaeology.org/sites/creston.html
>>
>>
>> Basic formation given this description (chatGPT):
>>
>>
>> The Galisteo Dike is a geological formation characterized by its
>> composition and physical properties, indicating its formation through
>> volcanic activity. Here’s a detailed interpretation of its formation based
>> on the description provided:
>>
>> 1. **Composition Analysis**: The Galisteo Dike consists of
>> micro-monzonite, a fine-grained igneous rock. It contains a mixture of
>> minerals including plagioclase, potassium feldspar, titan-augite,
>> titaniferous biotite, apatite, and opaque grains in a glass groundmass.
>> This mineral composition suggests that the dike formed from magma that
>> cooled relatively quickly, preventing the formation of large crystals.
>>
>> 2. **Physical Description**: The dike appears as a dark gray,
>> fine-grained rock with a salt and pepper texture. It weathers to dark brown
>> or grayish brown and forms a wall-like rampart. This implies that the dike
>> is resistant to weathering and erosion, standing out in the landscape as a
>> prominent feature.
>>
>> 3. **Structural Features**: The dike is described as comprising many
>> right echelon overlapping segments varying in length from 200 to 1200 feet
>> and up to 18 feet thick. This pattern of overlapping segments indicates
>> that the magma was injected into pre-existing fractures in the surrounding
>> rock, likely under significant pressure, causing the fractures to open and
>> propagate in an en echelon pattern.
>>
>> 4. **Geological Age**: The dike is dated to 26.55 million years ago,
>> placing its formation in the Oligocene epoch. This was a time of
>> significant tectonic activity in many parts of the world, often associated
>> with volcanic and plutonic intrusions.
>>
>> ### Formation Process
>> 1. **Magma Intrusion**: The formation of the Galisteo Dike began with the
>> intrusion of magma into fractures in the Earth's crust. The magma,
>> originating from deeper within the mantle, was rich in the minerals
>> described and had a high temperature, allowing it to flow and penetrate the
>> fractures.
>>
>> 2. **Cooling and Crystallization**: As the magma moved upward through the
>> fractures, it began to cool and solidify. The rapid cooling near the
>> surface resulted in the fine-grained texture of the rock, with minerals
>> crystallizing quickly in the groundmass of glass.
>>
>> 3. **Fracture Propagation**: The injection of magma caused the fractures
>> to propagate, leading to the characteristic right echelon overlapping
>> segments. This suggests that the fractures did not open uniformly but
>> rather stepped along the strike, with each segment forming as a discrete
>> intrusion event.
>>
>> 4. **Weathering and Erosion**: Over millions of years, the surrounding
>> rock may have eroded away, leaving the more resistant dike exposed as a
>> wall-like structure. The weathering of the dike itself results in the
>> observed dark brown or grayish brown coloration.
>>
>> In summary, the Galisteo Dike was formed by the intrusion of magma into
>> fractures in the crust, followed by rapid cooling and crystallization,
>> resulting in a fine-grained igneous rock with distinct mineral composition
>> and structural features indicative of significant volcanic activity during
>> the Oligocene epoch.
>> ____________________________________________
>> CEO Founder, Simtable.com
>> stephen.guerin at simtable.com
>>
>> Harvard Visualization Research and Teaching Lab
>> stephenguerin at fas.harvard.edu
>>
>> mobile: (505)577-5828
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 21, 2024, 9:08 AM Nicholas Thompson <thompnickson2 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Stephen,
>>>
>>> Thank you for prompting me to respond to this inquiry.  I was having
>>> some trouble getting the image to behave on my computer, and so was
>>> reluctant to wade in.
>>>
>>>  Indeed, just as nature abhors vacuums, she abhors straight lines, and
>>> so any line as straight as this one requires a special explanation.  To me,
>>> that the line points southwestward toward the radar site NW of ABQ suggests
>>> a radar artifact, perhaps the shadow or some distant hill.  As we watched
>>> the animated radar image, we could see a persistent weakness in the radar
>>> echo along that line, even as the clouds crossed it.
>>>
>>> Speaking of abhorrent straight lines, during our conversation with
>>> Frank, we spent quite a lot of time discussing another line, a berm of sand
>>> that runs across the Galisteo Basin in roughly the same orientation,
>>> perhaps 50' high?.  I had noticed this feature on topo maps and always
>>> assumed it was an old railway embankment.  Frank, who knows the area well,
>>> thought that idea was absurd.  So, we were left with the puzzle of a highly
>>> linear geological formation several miles long.
>>>
>>> Could it be that this geological straight line accounts for the straight
>>> line cloud formation that Mr. Kadlubek  sees? As the dry line breaks down
>>> in anticipation of the SW Monsoon, moist air does indeed move northward,
>>> following the river valleys up from TX.   AT some point, it will be raised
>>> enough that its moisture is condensed leading to the release of latent heat
>>> and the further development of clouds.  If the structure that raises it is
>>> a straight line, then the clouds themselves will be arranged in a straight
>>> line.  We can see this effect often along linear coast lines as a sea
>>> breeze front topped by (usually) fair weather cumulus.  However, given all
>>> the dramatic topography in the area, it's hard for me to imagine that this
>>> low lying feature would be determining very often.
>>>
>>> I, too, live for the weather.  I don't live for Face Book, however.  So
>>> if you have any way to put in touch with Mr. Kadlubek, he and I could
>>> perhaps have coffee when I get back to Santa Fe in the fall.
>>>
>>> Yours faithfully,
>>>
>>> Nick Thompson
>>> "Behavioral Meteorologist"
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 7:06 PM Stephen Guerin <
>>> stephen.guerin at simtable.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Nick,
>>>>
>>>> It's your time to shine! Respond to Vince.
>>>>
>>>> In the comments, local knowledge refers to it as the "prison line" as
>>>> weather is different on either side of the prison on 14.
>>>>
>>>>
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