Fault Line - A GeoJournal

           Following up on last week's theme of "holy guacamole, Idaho has earthquakes!?" I found a news article which discusses the role that plate tectonics played in the 6.5 magnitude quake that struck central Idaho in March of 2020. It was the strongest quake to hit the state since the  early 80s, when Idaho played host to a 6.9 magnitude earthquake that left destruction in its wake. One doesn't really think about earthquakes affecting Idaho all that often, since we're so far from California and its famous San Andreas fault line, but the truth is, according to this article, that "mid-plate tectonic activity" is actually quite common in Idaho and in regions throughout the Northwest.      Apparently the most common earthquake in this part of the country is of the basin and range variety, but neither the 1983 nor the 2020 quake match this description, running as it does from North to South rather than East to West. Some geologist hypothesize that this i

      So one thing I never considered when I was planning my move to Idaho was Earthquakes. I thought about mountains, and rockslides, and avalanches, and the potential for complete destruction by a supervolcano mere miles from my home. But earthquakes? Never even entered my mind. When I think of Earthquakes, I generally think of California, which sits atop the San Andreas fault and so has earthquakes all the time. I've personally experienced one there, as well as a couple in Alaska and, surprisingly, one in Houston, Texas, which was powerful enough to crack the foundation of my school. Thus, when I thought about moving to a place as mountainous as Idaho, it should have registered that earthquakes were a potential danger. But it never did.      Looking at Eastern Idaho, I see a large section of mountain range which, though it is petering out compared to the soaring peaks which one gets further South in Utah and Colorado, still has the power to strike one with awe. This is clearly t

      What similarities exist between Eastern Idaho and Luxor, Egypt? At first you might say "not very much, why are you asking such a stupid question?" but actually there is one thing: thousands of acres of twisting, shifting sand dunes. Yes, our own humble stretch of Idaho has its own little dune desert (well, not so little given that it's around 10,000 acres) to rival the great sprawling sand seas of Northern Africa! And just about ten minutes North of Rexburg, too.     The majority of the sediment that makes up these dunes is Quartz sand, much of which was transported thousands of miles by wind before settling in glacial lakes which used to cover this part of the country. The sediment settled at the bottom of the lakes, which eventually dried up as the climate warmed, leaving behind miles of loose sand which blew together over centuries to form large dunes, some up to 400 feet tall. The grains of sand are well-sorted by the wind and water which have affected them, and