Fast water carries sediment while slow water deposits it

A satellite image from September 1999 of the Mississippi river, showing its many channels and many ox-bow lakes. 'Soft riverbanks are continuously eroded. Floods occasionally spread across the wide, shallow valley that flanks the river, and new channels are left behind when the water recedes. This history of change is recorded in the Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, published by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1944.'

'The delta switching has occurred every 1,000 years or so in the past. As sediment accumulates in the main channel, the elevation increases, and the channel becomes more shallow and meandering. Eventually the river finds a shorter, steeper descent to the Gulf. In the 1950s, engineers noticed that the river’s present channel was on the verge of shifting westward to the Atchafalaya River, which would have become the new route to the Gulf. Because of the industry and other development that depended on the present river course, the U.S. Congress authorized the construction of the Old River Control Structure to prevent the shift from happening.' - 'Mississippi Meanders', August 31, 2006 Earth Observatory, Nasa

More 'aerial slices' of rivers: here and of islands: here

Petra = Streaky Bacon

A collection of photographs of some sights I enjoyed whilst on a recent trip to Petra.

'It's not eyeliner, actually. It's KOHL'

This Bedouin dude had sass, and some great eyeliner/KOHL. When he wasn't waxing lyrical about the importance of freedom and happiness in life he was blurting out the most incongruous phrases presumably learnt from tourists. "Lovely jubely" "Cheap in chips" etc. After he'd inquired about our origins and we'd replied "New Zealand" he yelled out "Aussie Aussie, OI OI OI!".

Definitely one of the chattier and wittier dudes we came across.

Aerial Slices: Islands and Ocean

North and South Malosmadulu Atolls are in the Maldives, an island republic in the northern Indian Ocean, southwest of India. The Maldives are made up of a chain of 1,192 small coral islands, which are grouped into clusters of atolls. It has a total area of 298 square kilometers and a population of about 330,000 - NASA Earth Observatory

Colours of Water | Marco von Middelkoop

See the publication here in its full screen entirety.

Cueva de los Cristales

An incomprehensible selection of found, oddly toned images of Mexico's Cave of the Crystals.