I hereby declare the Deccan Volcanics Western Ghat 2015 monsoon trekking season officially open!
That picture is of the steep slopes of Fort Rajgad about an hour's drive from Pune, taken a couple of years ago.
Last year the geology highlight of my treks into the Deccan Basalt countryside was this dyke with horizontal columnar joints near the summit of Fort Ghangad.
Columnar joints are cooling cracks which develop perpendicular to the cooling surface. In lava flows, the cooling surface is mostly horizontal and so the result is vertically oriented, often hexagonal shaped columnar joints. In this case, the cooling surface was the near vertical contact between the intruding hot magma and the colder older lava flow. The cooling cracks therefore are horizontal.
I will be posting more pictures from this year's trekking season. The Western Ghats in the monsoon and the winter are a sight to savor!
That picture is of the steep slopes of Fort Rajgad about an hour's drive from Pune, taken a couple of years ago.
Last year the geology highlight of my treks into the Deccan Basalt countryside was this dyke with horizontal columnar joints near the summit of Fort Ghangad.
Columnar joints are cooling cracks which develop perpendicular to the cooling surface. In lava flows, the cooling surface is mostly horizontal and so the result is vertically oriented, often hexagonal shaped columnar joints. In this case, the cooling surface was the near vertical contact between the intruding hot magma and the colder older lava flow. The cooling cracks therefore are horizontal.
I will be posting more pictures from this year's trekking season. The Western Ghats in the monsoon and the winter are a sight to savor!
Looking forward to the reports (we're wimps, whining about our recent rainy days ;-)
ReplyDeleteHa ha thanks... monsoons here are a blessing and really enjoyable!
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