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Roll Overs:
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Pictures by Andreas Koppelt, München. Copyright (c) Andreas Koppelt, München.
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Various
From Wikipedia:
The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the world, and the second driest overall, behind some specific spots within the McMurdo Dry Valleys [in Antarctica]. It is the only hot true desert to receive less precipitation than polar deserts, and the largest fog desert in the world. The area has been used as an experimentation site for Mars expedition simulations due to its similarities to the Martian environment.
Click here for a fantastic slide show of Atacama. It's the first thing on the page. This is a small sample of the strange and amazing things found in the Atacama.
The MetBul lists 3350 meteorites from Antofagasta, Chile, which is on the coast but abuts the Desert. There are many enumerated series. For example, Sierra Gorda, Sierra Gorda 001, Sierra Gorda 002, ..., Sierra Gorda 211.
Perhaps the most famous meteorite from this area is Imilac.
  
Matthias writes:
Photo 1: Abandoned rail car.
Photo 2: Original rail-bed nail from the legendary historic Imilac rail route. 321 grams.
Photo 3: Mano del Desierto.
Photo 4: Scale cube, not precisely trustable. Pure silver with patina. 9.5 x 9.5 x 9.5 mm. Weight 8.390 grams.
The friend from whom I acquired the piece told me that his first attempt to get a silver cube for his collection failed because the molten silver contracts while cooling. The second attempt succeeded fairly well. He asked a silversmith to rasp a piece of solid silver down but he didn't quite achieve the exact measurements. So, I'm lucky enough to have scale cube which makes the pieces of my collection appear a bit bigger.
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matthias
2/29/2024 5:07:30 PM |
That's a very good idea, John. Especially for iron meteorites. Together with the fake-Scalecube that would make 30, 40% : -) |
JL
2/29/2024 9:57:01 AM |
I've always placed my meteorites in a bowl of water, to make them look bigger. :-} |
matthias
2/26/2024 4:45:19 PM |
In any case: a bit larger ; - ) |
jl
2/26/2024 1:16:12 PM |
oops--1.28% larger. |
John lutzon
2/26/2024 12:10:37 PM |
Barren but beautiful. Throw a air conditioner in that Caboose car along with food delivery, and in 6 mo's, I'll bring back baskets of goodies. Parts of that U.S. plank road still exist. 1.95% larger Matthias. Thank you. |
Paul Swartz
2/26/2024 11:27:53 AM |
In 1915 a road for automobiles was built between Yuma, AZ., and San Diego, CA. Most of it was made of wooden planks held together with spikes, similar to the one in your pictures, and steel straps. Here's a story about it with photos:
https://azdot.gov/adot-blog/plank-road-was-once-way-between-yuma-and-san-diego
When I was a kid in the 50's and 60's my parents took my brother and me on summer vacations to San Diego. We lived in Tucson so the 2-lane asphalt highway went through Yuma and we always stopped in the sand dunes to check out the Old Plank Road. As the years went by fewer and fewer sections were visible. On one occasion I liberated a spike from the rotting wood. It is currently on display in my Collection of Odd Things. The Old Plank Road disappeared under the sand dunes decades ago and the 2-lane highway was superseded by a 4-lane divided freeway. The 2-lane highway is now disappearing under the dunes, as we all shall some day. |
matthias
2/26/2024 3:28:32 AM |
O yes indeed, there're 2 Andis. M*nchen is okay, and the copyright holder is ... ... ... in fact Andreas Koppelt. Sorry! |
Andreas Gren
2/26/2024 3:00:52 AM |
Nice Pictures Matthias, but I'm not the copyright holder. Think it's Andreas Koppelt from Munich. Greetings from Hamburg |
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