West, Texas

The town of West, Texas (which is actually on the east side of Texas but not quite in "East Texas") was in the news on April 17th, 2013 after a massive explosion occurred in the town.  The fertilizer plant that had been on fire most of the day exploded when the 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate inside the building ignited.  Many buildings in the town suffered substantial damage as a result and the following investigations revealed a number of violations at the plant.  It also registered as a 2.1 on the Richter scale which, you can see on a seismograph and check out at the USGS site.

The following gif shows a before image from October, 2012 and an after image from April 18, 2013 (one day after the blast):

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:     31°49'N  97°05'W  

More info from sources referenced: Wikipedia

Check back in two weeks to head to Iran.

Kenedy Ranch, Texas

The Kenedy Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world at 235,000 acres (951 sq km)!  On the southeastern portion of the ranch are cattle, windmills, mudflats, and a field of travelling dunes.  The dunes form a banner dune field, and the dunes themselves are barchans.  Particular things to note are the dune scars that appear as abruptly terminating vegetation where dunes have overtaken the small shrubs that grow in the area.  The 'S' shaped dune in the northwest shows this very well.  These dunes likely formed from a blowout, which allowed the sediments to begin migrating across the area.  Two converging longshore currents, as well as a predominant southeasterly wind "feed" sediment to the dune system and keep it moving in a NW trending direction.

My good friend Michael Hill who recently graduated from Texas A&M Kingsville has been studying and presenting research on this area for years.  It was his knowledge and experience that made this post possible.

The animation below shows the years: 1995, 2003, 2008, 2011

gif of dune movement

Dune field, mudflats, and barrier island

Geologist Michael Hill at the dune field, July 2012

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:     27°00'00.00"N     97°40'00.00"W

More info: Kenedy Ranch

Michael has given me permission to share his poster which can be found here and he can be reached for questions regarding his research at: michael.hill@students.tamuk.edu

Check back in two weeks to see a before and after from 2012's most talked about hurricane.

Angleton, Texas

So, like the recently discovered Higgs Boson particle, I too had my own elusive and greatly searched for geographical breakthrough.  It begins like this:


Years ago when Google Earth first added the time-slider tool, which makes my entire blog possible, I realized that one of the best uses for this tool would be for tracking geomorphological change.  I, and others like me, had found various changes like landslides and sinkholes, but the evidence pointed to an opportunity for more undiscovered geographical features.  I theorized that the most elusive of these was the formation of an oxbow lake.  My research took me to many of the world's major rivers such as the Amazon and the Nile.  However, satellite imagery in these areas was lacking and lead to inconclusive research.  I headed to the United States where satellite imagery and aerial photographs date farther back and are regarded as some of the most complete in the world.  I checked the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, being large and powerful.  Unfortunately, these rivers are artificially repaired and protected, so data had to be thrown out.  I began searching smaller rivers left and right, but finding this elusive oxbow lake formation was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.
But then, while focusing in a random area south of my home, I found an oxbow lake that looked promising.  I slid the time-slider backwards and behold, I had discovered the elusive oxbow lake formation!  I contacted my colleague and showed him my discovery.  He agreed, this was without a doubt the formation of an oxbow lake on the Brazos River!

For those who don't appreciate satire: That was me telling you that I found an oxbow lake in various stages of formation.  It took me a long time to find so I want you to acknowledge my hard work.  That is all.

Dec 1944

Jan 1995

Feb 2004

Jan 2006

Feb 2010

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:      29°15'34.29"N     095°34'08.85"W

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxbow_lake

Check back next week to see my first Hawaii post!

Burnet, Texas

If you've been following this blog, you've most likely realized by now that I do a lot of Texas posts.  Well, being a native Texan, I've spent a good chunk of time looking around Texas on Google Earth and following Texas news so I feel like I can always find good material there.  Currently, with the fires and extreme drought this past year, I've been waiting for images from this summer and fall to make their way into public availability.  These past two months have really given me a lot to work with so I may have multiple Texas posts.  That being said, I'll try not to overload y'all with Texas imagery.

With the drought being slightly alleviated but still ongoing, Lake levels have been falling all over the state.  Some lakes more than others have really been affected.  Lake Buchanan is one in particular that has fallen significantly.  This graph from lakesonline.com shows the levels for the 2011 and 2012.

After that especially steep summer drop, the lake has leveled off around 988 ft. 

I thought I'd try and provide topo maps for some of my posts from now on so here's the topo for Lake Buchanan followed by the Google Earth imagery.

TOPO

January 31, 2008

October 17, 2011

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:     30°49'25.35"N     98°24'35.90"W

More info: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45378438/ns/us_news-life/#.TxMjV0THBM6
http://buchanan.lakesonline.com/Level.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Buchanan_(Texas)

Check back next week to see the effects of an earthquake in a large, southern-hemisphere city.

Bastrop, Texas (II)

Man, I've been looking forward to this post for a while.  I wanted to do this back in November but was limited by available imagery.  However,  imagery became available in December so I finally got what I wanted and am proud to present to you:

The before and after of the Bastrop County Complex Wildfire!

So when this fire first broke out,  my attention was caught immediately because Bastrop State Park is one of my favorite parks in Texas.  A bad combination of drought, heat, and extreme winds helped this fire quickly became the most destructive in Texas history.  According to Wikipedia, 1,645 homes were burned across over 34,000 acres and two people were killed.  Just looking at this picture from Wikipedia's page on the event gives an idea of the magnitude of this fire:

"Oh, hello Mr. Apocalypse. ...So you vacation in Bastrop too?"

I decided to see if those clouds were tall enough to register on the Doppler RADAR and low and behold, I was able to save this gif:

That's a roughly 4-hour span where at least three smoke plumes can be seen southeast of Austin.  Two other fire plumes from other fires can be seen north-northwest of Houston.

March 31, 2011

September 7, 2011

You'll all be happy to know that LUECKE is untouched.

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:      30°06'45.25"N     97°13'43.59"W

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastrop_County_Complex_fire

Check back next week to see the effects on a lake during extreme drought.

Bastrop, Texas

So the other day I went to look and see if there were any updated satellite images from the Bastrop State Park wildfire in Texas.  Unfortunately, no images have been loaded on to Google Earth yet as far as I'm aware.  However, while searching I found something else that caught my eye, and rightly so considering...

October 21, 2005

...that's about a 3/4 mile font size! This massive forest-text that spells out the name "LUECKE" apparently belongs to a man of the same name.  I'm not even sure how he managed to do this but that's some serious landscaping.  The entire name is 2.5 miles long and holds the record of largest text in the world.

January 22, 1995

So here's the same area before he etched it.  

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:     30° 05'01.59"N     97° 08'28.16"W

More info: http://www.minezone.org/blog/2006/03/23/big-luecke/

Check back next week to see some of the fastest anthropogenic development in history.

Friendswood, Texas

In March 1989 the Brio Industrial site in Friendswood, Texas was listed as a Federal Superfund site, giving Federal authority to come in and clean up hazardous waste that would endanger public health and the environment.
After irresponsible disposal practices of toxic waste, the groundwater became contaminated, resulting in illnesses, elevated miscarriage rates, birth defects, and the deaths of 3 young children. The surrounding neighborhood was quickly cleared out.
During the clean up, a large incinerator was built with the intention of burning the waste, but the San Jacinto South campus Science department was crucial in shutting down the incinerator before it was ever used, as it would endanger the health of people for miles all around.

All the official legal documents for the Brio Superfund site are located in the San Jacinto South campus library across the street, they are open for public viewing.

December, 1989

December, 2002

March, 2011

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:     29°34'30.55"N    95°12'33.52"W

More info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brio_Superfund_site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund

Check back next week to see the creation of a man-made island.

Pasadena, Texas

I've talked about the problem of subsidence before in my post about Brownwood, the sinking neighborhood.  What you're looking at here is a small creek running into a marshy lake (Mud Lake), that connects to an estuarine lake (Clear Lake), which then connects to Galveston Bay.  However, after subsidence lowers the area by ten feet in some places, the bay waters can expand farther inland creating a large and very slow moving bayou setting.

December, 1944

This was 55 years ago.

May, 2011

That creek isn't so little anymore.

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:   29°34'44.79"N    95°04'13.52"W

More info:  http://www.abnc.org/

Check back next week to see a tornado's path cut across a state.

I figured I'd show this diagram of the crazy drought we're having here in Texas:

Gilchrist, Texas

Hurricane Ike in 2008 was all kinds of bad for the Houston/Galveston area.  My house suffered some roof dammage and the yard was a mess of branches.  The worst part of the hurricane is the storm surge which Ike, as a category 2 hurricane, was not powerful enough to send all the way to my house.  Unfortunately, the little Bolivar peninsula across from Galveston Island has a towering elevation of... ...nearly 3 feet.  Considering the storm surge for Ike was over 17 feet, you can imagine things didn't end up well at all...

September, 2007

Pre-Ike

September, 2008

Post-Ike

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:   29°30'45.63"N   94°29'30.94"W

More info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivar_Peninsula#Hurricane_Ike

Check back next week to see how a stream becomes a bayou.

Baytown, Texas

The Subdivision of Brownwood was a neighborhood built on a peninsula right on the Houston Ship Channel.  After being inundated with storm surge waters from Hurricane Carla in 1961, and then slowly sinking because of subsidence caused by groundwater pumping over the next few decades; the subdivision slowly became engulfed by the waters.

December, 1953

December, 1978

In 1983, Hurricane Alicia moved through and destroyed much of the neighborhood.

December, 1989

In 1991, the city decided to tear down remaining homes and turn the land into a wetland restoration project.  It is now a nature center where people can walk around at their leisure.  You can even still find old toys and artifacts belong to the people wo originally lived there.

March, 2011

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:    29°45'04.42"N   95°03'08.37"W

More info:  http://www.baytownnaturecenter.org/bnc_information/history_of_site.html

Check back next week to see a curious pyramid...

Also, joining my blog team will be my friend Phillip.  He spends as much time on Google Earth as I do.  His first post will show up on September 1st.

Further notes: Tropical Storm Don formed in the GOM yesterday and is headed my way.  The next blog will still post next week since it is already finished and scheduled to automatically upload.

Daisetta, Texas

The town of Daisetta, Texas sits happily upon a salt dome.  Unfortunately, this means that it is at risk for sinkhole formation.  In 2008, a sinkhole opened up and swallowed some construction equipment and part of a facility.

November, 2006

March, 2010

It eventually filled in with water and formed a gross looking lake.

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:   30°07'15.19"N  94°38'51.26"W

More info:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsF_G5qLasM&feature=relmfu

Check back next week to see a neighborhood that sank underwater!

Bonus Picture!!!
I was looking at Google Mars (a feature of Google Earth) and saw this nifty looking landscape:

Pretty cool, eh?

Kemah, Texas

The town of Kemah lies on Galveston Bay where it connects to Clear Lake.  Today it is a popular tourist destination with restaurants and rides and a boardwalk in one of the biggest recreational boat harbors in the world.

December, 1944

December 1978

January 1995

March 2010

Note the creation of a large harbor as well as the appearance of a roller-coaster and other rides.

You can find it yourself on Google Earth using these coords:  29°32'50.95"N 95°01'05.19"W

More info:  http://www.kemah-tx.gov/

Check back next week to see a large Texas sinkhole!