Being an ignorant American, I had never heard of Pic de Bugarach before, but evidently it's well known in Europe as a center of woo (kind of like Mount Shasta or Sedona here in the States). Just Google Pic de Bugarach and you'll see all kinds of references to UFOs, aliens, ley lines, vortexes, and ancient treasures of the Templars.
What really caught my eye, however, since I'm a geologist, was the following:
Pic de Bugarach has long been famous because rock samples taken from its peak are actually older than points measured at lower elevation. Scientists say that is because when the 1,230 meter mountain erupted its peak flipped upside down before crashing back down upon the mountain's base.
What dumb ass "scientists" say this?
The CNN video link in the story calls the mountain a "scientific anomaly" as if it's completely mysterious.
Even though I'm completely unfamiliar with the geology of Pic de Bugarach, I do know that mountains don't erupt and flip upside down. Especially one that looks like it's made of limestone and has caves (that's where the aliens hide).
Let's ignore the clumsy prose of the author of the Yahoo! News article and ask "How come rocks collected from the peak of Pic de Bugarach are older than than rocks collected at the base?" Well, to a geologist, that would be a classic indicator of a thrust fault - a place where horizontal compression of the crust, during mountain building, thrust a sheet of rock up and over younger strata. Happens all the time and is seen in mountain belts (modern and ancient) all over the world (even, on a small scale, here in the Hudson Valley).
Thrust fault emplacing older strata on top of younger strata
So, I did some "research" (a Google search) and quickly learned that I was, in fact, correct. Pic de Bugarach is a klippe - the erosional remnant of a thrust nappe formed when the Alpine Orogeny formed the Pyrenees. Jurassic limestones are thrust over younger Cretaceous rocks in the area.
This is very similar to a place I am a bit more familiar with, Chief Mountain in Montana. Chief Mountain is also the erosional remnant (klippe) of a thrust sheet.
So, just because you read it in a "news" article, doesn't mean it's true, boys and girls. Mountains don't just leap in the air and flip over. And aliens don't live in caves under a mountain in France.
Thank you for the information... It will save me a trip to France at the end of the year, and I will look for rescuing aliens here in my country, Colombia (we have plenty of them, camouflaged as all kinds of public servants...)
ReplyDeleteVery good explanation, great example of why we can't believe everything we read on the news
ReplyDeleteHaha...I love it!! Yes, thank you for the explanation!!
ReplyDeleteBTW....love your down to earth site as well!
Very helpful and proves that there's always an explanation to everything that happens. However, I still want to see a picture of an alien coming out of those caves. ha ha
ReplyDeleteThank you, I'm not a geologist nor a scientist but I was having a hard time understanding how the mountain flipped. My thought was it was created by a blast from a meteorite.
ReplyDeleteVery good!!! I feel sorry for all those people who are waisting their money believing in this media nonsense. They should be putting their time money and resources to better use. It shows how people will believe just about anything and how the media will say just about anything to make a buck. I for one will not hold my breath.
ReplyDeleteWell i was quite shocked when they said the mountain flipped over. I mean how in the world would a mountain flip over. And aliens living under...i just don't know what else to say.
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't CNN done an interview with YOU??!!?? Oh, er, oops I forgot...Aliens make for better news than pure scientific truth.
ReplyDeleteif the aliens were french , i think they would come out with white flags and say that they surrender, just a joke .
ReplyDeleteWell, this is what you get when geology isn't taught in public schools. LOL. Yea, we'll sit here in Ohio and watch the state of Wyoming flip over when Yellowstone erupts. What a treat.
ReplyDeleteLove your website.
Signed: fellow geology prof in Ohio
What does this place have to do with the Mayan calendar?
ReplyDeleteOf course mountains can flip over - recumbent folds. As you know only too well. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHere is an example http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1945620
In the photo the rocks are so folded that that early rocks are on top of later ones. There were some recent rock layers above but they have been weathered away. But as you so rightly say, not mysterious and whilst a bit unusual (and interesting) not at all rare.
It's back in the news and I read a similar story (or more likely an updated version of the same story) and it, too, had the explanation of a mountain flipping over. Trying to look more into the phenomenon I did the same "research" you did. Sadly the first thing I read was on wikipedia, where I was informed, once again, that the mountain indeed flipped over. I remembered from my single semester of geology in college that often strata appear on top of other younger strata through plate tectonics and buckling processes, I couldn't remember enough details and assumed that this wasn't the case here because it was a way more obvious solution that would have obviously been explored before giving up and assuming the mountain had flipped like a turned over beetle. Thankfully I stumbled on this website. I appreciate the logical confirmation, even if it is done through intuition and a knowledge of the scientific processes involved and not actual thorough research. My only complaint is the unprofessional tone of your blog (which has no due reason to maintain a professional tone).
ReplyDeleteUntil people pay me to blog, I don't give a shit if it sounds unprofessional.
Deletegood answer! I sometimes think a little expression is a good thing. Otherwise people lose the point. If you say "I don't think so," people don't take it the same as "I think that's shit."
DeleteSteve, thanks for taking the time to put a clear, understandable response on the web. I got here because Yahoo just published (Dec 19, 2012) essentially the same article again (by another "journalist" who plagiarized much of the original you were responding to here). I hope more will follow my comments leading to your web pages.
ReplyDeleteBut...but...but Steve, how could that have happened in the space of a mere 6,000 years, as that is how old we know the Earth to be. With that in mind, it's much more logical that space aliens are involved, as any home-schooled scientist would agree.
ReplyDeleteNow, now, my wife and I homeschool and our kids know YECs are full of shit. Not all who homeschool do so for religious reasons.
DeleteOr... maybe your an Alien telling us this just to throw us all off and keep us away from your upside down space cave... We're on to you
ReplyDeleteWell done, although I do not agree, I believe it is upside down.. Also if there are aliens they originated from earth as well..
ReplyDeleteIt suits perfectly the version of the facts given in the book Alien Interview. It is an
ReplyDeleteunderground alien amnesia station, still in operation though unattended. There are
supposed to be another two at unknown locations in the Mongolian steppes and the
Rwenzori range.
"These electronic monitoring points create force screens designed to detect and
capture IS-BEs (Inmortal Spiritual Being), when the IS-BE departs the body at death.
IS-BEs are brainwashed using extreme electronic force in order to maintain Earth's
population in state of perpetual amnesia. Further population controls are installed
through the use of long range electronic thought control mechanisms.