Rocks From Above: Illustrated Geology Glossary (at 35,000 feet)

Glossary!

These are common geologic (and manmade/geographic features), as seen from 35,000 feet.

You can open any of these examples in Google Earth by clicking the Google Earth icon:

If you don't know the name of the feature you're looking for, go here: "What Was That?" (This is a tool that sorts features based on what they look like: mountains, rivers, valleys, piles of sand etc.)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Lake, Crater - A lake in the caldera of a volcano. It's unusual to fly over these types of lakes, unless you're in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

Lake, Salt/Alkaline - A lake with a high concentration of salt. You can usually identify them by the rings of white salts along their edges. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude higher than 35,000 feet, and so are each ~3 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

Lava Dome - A small, budging dome of slowly-oozing lava, usually found near active volcanic zones, like the Cascades. From above, they look like raised pimples on the landscape. {read more}

Scale: Images are taken from an altitude of ~35,000 feet, and so are each ~1 mile across.

Open these examples in Google Earth, or download all of the landforms here.

Lava Flow - An outflow of molten rock, usually from a volcano. The most fluid lava flows are basalt, which are dark black and easy to spot from above {read more}