** Disclaimer.

This is a fictional persona used for a science class project

Animation Links

Transform, Convergent and Divergent animations: 

http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es0804/es0804page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

*note: In my Google Earth example the convergent spot is two oceanic plates not one oceanic and one continental.

Collision: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/geo/animations/collisional_mountains.htm

Goodbye Forever

I have come to bid goodbye wardrobe warriors.

It is a sad day but I will be leaving my blog…forever. It has been fun but I met somebody while in the unforgiving Himalayan Mountains. I am going to start a new life with Jorge, my new husband, in his small mountain village. These will always be remembered as the best years of my life with you all but we must go our separate ways.

Go on your own adventure. Explore the world. Find your inspiration.

For the last time,

XOXO Babar Dagmar Auttenberg XIII 

Mountain Adventures

I’m back trend chums.

I’ve made my way north to the b-e-a-utiful Himalayas. I have found so many cozy clothes here I can’t wait to show you all. I also couldn’t help but notice I’ve stumbled across my 4^th type of plate boundary this trip! Did someone say collision? What is collision Ms. Auttenberg? Well random citizen, look no further. I will teach you my ways of tectonic plates.

Let’s take it back, about 220 million years back, to when India was an aimless floating island in the southern hemisphere of earth. Soon it began to move north, towards Asia. When India rammed into Asia about 50 million years ago, its advance slowed. The collision and decrease in the rate of plate movement mark the beginning of the Himalayan uplift (28°37'27.44"N 84°39'51.50"E). The Himalayan uplift is the reaction of two huge masses of continental lithosphere meeting head-on, neither one can sink because both plates are too buoyant. It is when this happens that the highest mountains in the world grow. At these boundaries rock is crumpled and raised. Huge slices of rock, numerous kilometers wide are pushed on top of one another, forming a towering mountain range. After the collision, the slow continuous convergence of these two plates over millions of years pushed up the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to their present heights. Most of this growth occurred during the past 10 million years. The Himalayas, soaring as high as 8,854 m above sea level, form the highest mountains in the world. 

Diagrams:

This is the most simple of all boundaries in my opinion and also not as much major activity occurs at them. Within this zone, shallow earthquakes are connected with high mountain ranges where powerful compression is taking place. Intermediate- and deep-focus earthquakes also occur and are known in the Himalayas. The last major earthquake was in 1934 at 27.55 N, 87.09 E at an 8 magnitude level. This is because the plates are still moving towards each other at about 2 cm per year which could soon cause a mega quake.

But enough of that, here are my wonderful discoveries from the mountain villages!

XOXO Babar Dagmar Auttenberg XIII

Island Living

Holy cow! (literally)

Welcome back style sidekicks! I was searching over every inch of India for new inspiration when the wind blew me over to the east to one of their island territories, Barren Island in the Andaman Islands (12°16'44.53"N , 93°51'58.61"E). I had major deja-vu that I just must share with you! I saw an active volcano (remember Iceland anyone?) except this one was associated with the subduction of the Indian Plate beneath the Burmese Plate along the Andaman Trench. Crazy how these two totally different methods can both produce one thing, right? Well this eruption took place on 16th February 2013. The ash reached 20,000 ft. high and extended 120 miles southwest! Wow!

It is of course common knowledge that when it’s an oceanic-continental conversion the denser oceanic will sink, but what about an oceanic-oceanic like what takes place here? Long story short, oceanic plates are created at mid-ocean ridges where molten rock rises from the mantle (under surface), cools and solidifies. As new molten rock erupts at the mid-ocean ridge, the newly created oceanic plate moves away from the ridge where it was made. The further the plate gets from the ridge that created it, the colder and denser it gets. When two oceanic plates collide, the plate that is older, therefore colder and denser is the one that will sink. So anyways the dense, leading edge of the oceanic plate pulls the rest of the other plate into the flowing “asthenosphere” and a subduction zone is created. The place where the two plates intersect a deep trench forms. As it drives deeper and deeper the increasing temperature and pressure cause the plate to give off gases that will actually melt the mantel and create magma. This magma is lover density than the rock around in so it burns its way through to the top where it erupts out of the ocean.

Here’s a picture for all you visual learners:

And the volcano itself:

Phew! That was a lot of info. So without further ado, my finds! Beautiful, am I right?

XOXO Babar Dagmar Auttenberg XIII

The Land of Fire and Ice

Hello apparel amigos!

I am currently in beautiful Iceland where there are glaciers and volcanoes galore! I was backpacking through the countryside when I saw firsthand the effects of a divergent plate boundary. I was minding my own business and tending to my travelling herd when I noticed the remnants of ash all around me. I was near the Grímsvötn volcano (64°33'23.48"N 17°41'52.17"W) when I observed this, leading me to believe it was left over from a 21^st of May 2011 eruption of ash that spread all the way to England. This ash was a result of the magma reacting with ice and water to create ash particles. This is the most active volcano in Iceland and last erupted lava in 2004, along with being responsible for the largest known lava flow in 1783.

Iceland is an exceptional volcanic island. It lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the chain of underwater volcanoes that runs through the North Atlantic Ocean, along which the Eurasian and North American plates are moving apart at about 2.5 cm per year. These are Divergent plates which means as the plates moved apart, excessive eruptions of lava constructed volcanoes and filled rift valleys that formed the island of Iceland. As the diagram below shows, this creation of space in the earth’s crust allows magma to more easily seep through and create volcanoes or for deep rifts to be created from separating land.

This next picture shows how most of these active volcanoes lie along this boundary:

A real life rift valley: 

Now here’s what you came here for! These are some of my treasures from my trip to the land of fire and ice! Off to the next place!

XOXO Babar Dagmar Auttenberg XIII

California Dreaming.

Greetings couture compañeros,

Last week I hopped a plane and left  my home town of Paris to travel over the Atlantic to sunny California. I was in San Diego finding some great SoCal pieces (pictures below) when I experienced my first ever

earthquake! It was a rainy afternoon on December 14^th, 2012 when a shocking 6.3 magnitude earthquake  off the coast of Catalina Island stuck everyone by surprise. I myself was in the middle of a relaxing seaweed wrap when the room began to shake. Being a licensed geologist among many other things, I couldn’t help but think about the two plates below my feet rubbing up against each other. California is a hotspot for sizmic acivities because of this; the Pacific plate and North American plate cozying up with one another causing the earth to tremble. Of over 100 active faults (these places of meeting) the producer of most of California’s earthquakes is called the San Andreas Fault. Here is a diagram of what the plates are doing and this point:

Because of this geographical occurrence, earthquakes here are regular, about 10,000 a year. But what’s that you say? You can’t feel all of them? Correct, you cannot. Most of these are of a magnitude so small you cannot sense them just standing on the earth’s surface. The plates only move about 56 millimeters per year, that’s about the same as the diameter of the top of the can of soda. 

After my near death experience with a falling lamp, I decided to see this boundary for myself. I headed out to the small town of Parkfield, CA to gather some clothes and visit the fault. Here is a picture of the official sign 

at the boundary:

Located at latitude: 35°53'39.00"N longitude: 120°25'13.93"W

My finds:

So anyways I’m resting up for my next adventure. See you all soon!

XOXO Babar Dagmar Auttenberg XIII