1.
Halite
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Halite, commonly known as rock salt, is a type of salt, the mineral form of sodium chloride. The mineral is colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount. It commonly occurs with other evaporite minerals such as several of the sulfates, halides. Halite occurs in vast beds of sedimentary evaporite minerals that result from the drying up of enclosed lakes, playas, salt beds may be hundreds of meters thick and underlie broad areas. In the United States and Canada extensive underground beds extend from the Appalachian basin of western New York through parts of Ontario, other deposits are in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. The Khewra salt mine is a deposit of halite near Islamabad. In the United Kingdom there are three mines, the largest of these is at Winsford in Cheshire producing on average a million tonnes per year. Salt domes are vertical diapirs or pipe-like masses of salt that have been squeezed up from underlying salt beds by mobilization due to the weight of overlying rock. Salt domes contain anhydrite, gypsum, and native sulfur, in addition to halite and sylvite and they are common along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana and are often associated with petroleum deposits. Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Romania and Iran also have salt domes, salt glaciers exist in arid Iran where the salt has broken through the surface at high elevation and flows downhill. In all of these cases, halite is said to be behaving in the manner of a rheid, unusual, purple, fibrous vein filling halite is found in France and a few other localities. Halite crystals termed hopper crystals appear to be skeletons of the cubes, with the edges present and stairstep depressions on, or rather in. In a rapidly crystallizing environment, the edges of the cubes simply grow faster than the centers, halite crystals form very quickly in some rapidly evaporating lakes resulting in modern artifacts with a coating or encrustation of halite crystals. Halite flowers are rare stalactites of curling fibers of halite that are found in certain arid caves of Australias Nullarbor Plain, halite stalactites and encrustations are also reported in the Quincy native copper mine of Hancock, Michigan. Halite is often used both residentially and municipally for managing ice, because brine has a lower freezing point than pure water, putting salt or saltwater on ice that is near 0 °C will cause it to melt. It is common for homeowners in cold climates to spread salt on their sidewalks and driveways after a snow storm to melt the ice. It is not necessary to use so much salt that the ice is melted, rather. Also, many cities will spread a mixture of sand and salt on roads during, in addition to de-icing, rock salt is occasionally used in agriculture
2.
Dead Sea
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The Dead Sea, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and Palestine to the west. Its surface and shores are 430.5 metres below sea level, the Dead Sea is 304 m deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. With 34. 2% salinity, it is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean and this salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point and it lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years and it was one of the worlds first health resorts, and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics, the Dead Sea water has a density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating. The Dead Sea is receding at an alarming rate, multiple canals and pipelines were proposed to reduce its recession, which had begun causing many problems. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Water Conveyance project, carried out by Jordan, will provide water to neighboring countries, the first phase of the project is scheduled to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2021. In Hebrew, the Dead Sea is Yām ha-Melaḥ, meaning sea of salt, the Bible uses this term alongside two others, the Sea of the Arabah, and the Eastern Sea. The designation Dead Sea never appears in the Bible, in prose sometimes the term Yām ha-Māvet is used, due to the scarcity of aquatic life there. In Arabic the Dead Sea is called al-Bahr al-Mayyit, or less commonly baḥrᵘ lūṭᵃ, another historic name in Arabic was the Sea of Zoʼar, after a nearby town in biblical times. The Greeks called it Lake Asphaltites, the Dead Sea is an endorheic lake located in the Jordan Rift Valley, a geographic feature formed by the Dead Sea Transform. This left lateral-moving transform fault lies along the plate boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. It runs between the East Anatolian Fault zone in Turkey and the end of the Red Sea Rift offshore of the southern tip of Sinai. It is here that the Upper Jordan River/Sea of Galilee/Lower Jordan River water system comes to an end. The Jordan River is the major water source flowing into the Dead Sea, although there are small perennial springs under and around the Dead Sea, forming pools. The Mujib River, biblical Arnon, is one the larger sources of the Dead Sea other than the Jordan. The Wadi Mujib valley,420 m below the sea level in the southern of Jordan valley, is a biosphere reserve, other more substantial sources are Wadi Darajeh /Nahal Dragot, and Nahal Arugot
3.
Mineral
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A mineral is a naturally occurring chemical compound, usually of crystalline form and abiogenic in origin. A mineral has one specific chemical composition, whereas a rock can be an aggregate of different minerals or mineraloids, the study of minerals is called mineralogy. There are over 5,300 known mineral species, over 5,070 of these have been approved by the International Mineralogical Association, the silicate minerals compose over 90% of the Earths crust. The diversity and abundance of species is controlled by the Earths chemistry. Silicon and oxygen constitute approximately 75% of the Earths crust, which translates directly into the predominance of silicate minerals, minerals are distinguished by various chemical and physical properties. Differences in chemical composition and crystal structure distinguish the various species, changes in the temperature, pressure, or bulk composition of a rock mass cause changes in its minerals. Minerals can be described by their various properties, which are related to their chemical structure. Common distinguishing characteristics include crystal structure and habit, hardness, lustre, diaphaneity, colour, streak, tenacity, cleavage, fracture, parting, more specific tests for describing minerals include magnetism, taste or smell, radioactivity and reaction to acid. Minerals are classified by key chemical constituents, the two dominant systems are the Dana classification and the Strunz classification, the silicate class of minerals is subdivided into six subclasses by the degree of polymerization in the chemical structure. All silicate minerals have a unit of a 4− silica tetrahedron—that is, a silicon cation coordinated by four oxygen anions. These tetrahedra can be polymerized to give the subclasses, orthosilicates, disilicates, cyclosilicates, inosilicates, phyllosilicates, other important mineral groups include the native elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, and phosphates. The first criterion means that a mineral has to form by a natural process, stability at room temperature, in the simplest sense, is synonymous to the mineral being solid. More specifically, a compound has to be stable or metastable at 25 °C, modern advances have included extensive study of liquid crystals, which also extensively involve mineralogy. Minerals are chemical compounds, and as such they can be described by fixed or a variable formula, many mineral groups and species are composed of a solid solution, pure substances are not usually found because of contamination or chemical substitution. Finally, the requirement of an ordered atomic arrangement is usually synonymous with crystallinity, however, crystals are also periodic, an ordered atomic arrangement gives rise to a variety of macroscopic physical properties, such as crystal form, hardness, and cleavage. There have been recent proposals to amend the definition to consider biogenic or amorphous substances as minerals. The formal definition of an approved by the IMA in 1995, A mineral is an element or chemical compound that is normally crystalline. However, if geological processes were involved in the genesis of the compound, Mineral classification schemes and their definitions are evolving to match recent advances in mineral science
4.
Sedimentary rock
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Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earths surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle in place. The particles that form a rock by accumulating are called sediment. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension. The sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earths crust is extensive, sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust consisting mainly of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata, forming a structure called bedding, sedimentary rocks are also important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores. The study of the sequence of rock strata is the main source for an understanding of the Earths history, including palaeogeography, paleoclimatology. The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such as pedology, geomorphology, geochemistry, sedimentary rocks have also been found on Mars. Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of rock fragments that were cemented by silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, clay minerals, and mica, any type of mineral may be present, clastic sedimentary rocks, are subdivided according to the dominant particle size. Most geologists use the Udden-Wentworth grain size scale and divide unconsolidated sediment into three fractions, gravel, sand, and mud and this tripartite subdivision is mirrored by the broad categories of rudites, arenites, and lutites, respectively, in older literature. The subdivision of these three categories is based on differences in clast shape, conglomerates and breccias), composition. Conglomerates are dominantly composed of rounded gravel, while breccias are composed of dominantly angular gravel, composition of framework grains The relative abundance of sand-sized framework grains determines the first word in a sandstone name. Naming depends on the dominance of the three most abundant components quartz, feldspar, or the lithic fragments that originated from other rocks, all other minerals are considered accessories and not used in the naming of the rock, regardless of abundance. Clean sandstones with open space are called arenites. Muddy sandstones with abundant muddy matrix are called wackes, six sandstone names are possible using the descriptors for grain composition and the amount of matrix. Mudrocks are sedimentary rocks composed of at least 50% silt- and clay-sized particles and these relatively fine-grained particles are commonly transported by turbulent flow in water or air, and deposited as the flow calms and the particles settle out of suspension
5.
Crystallization
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Crystallization is the process where a solid forms where the atoms or molecules are highly organized in a structure known as a crystal. Some of the ways which crystals form are through precipitating from a solution, crystallization is also a chemical solid–liquid separation technique, in which mass transfer of a solute from the liquid solution to a pure solid crystalline phase occurs. In chemical engineering crystallization occurs in a crystallizer, crystallization is therefore related to precipitation, although the result is not amorphous or disordered, but a crystal. The crystallization process consists of two events, nucleation and crystal growth which are driven by thermodynamic properties as well as chemical properties. These stable clusters constitute the nuclei, therefore, the clusters need to reach a critical size in order to become stable nuclei. Such critical size is dictated by different factors. The crystal growth is the subsequent size increase of the nuclei that succeed in achieving the critical cluster size, crystal growth is a dynamic process occurring in equilibrium where solute molecules or atoms precipitate out of solution, and dissolve back into solution. Supersaturation is one of the forces of crystallization, as the solubility of a species is an equilibrium process quantified by Ksp. Depending upon the conditions, either nucleation or growth may be predominant over the other, many compounds have the ability to crystallize with some having different crystal structures, a phenomenon called polymorphism. Each polymorph is in fact a different thermodynamic solid state and crystal polymorphs of the compound exhibit different physical properties, such as dissolution rate, shape, melting point. For this reason, polymorphism is of importance in industrial manufacture of crystalline products. Additionally, crystal phases can sometimes be interconverted by varying factors such as temperature, there are many examples of natural process that involve crystallization. Geological time scale process examples include, Natural crystal formation, Stalactite/stalagmite, usual time scale process examples include, Snow flakes formation, Honey crystallization. Crystal formation can be divided into two types, where the first type of crystals are composed of a cation and anion, also known as a salt, the second type of crystals are composed of uncharged species, for example menthol. The formation of a solution does not guarantee crystal formation. A typical laboratory technique for crystal formation is to dissolve the solid in a solution in which it is partially soluble, the hot mixture is then filtered to remove any insoluble impurities. The filtrate is allowed to slowly cool, crystals that form are then filtered and washed with a solvent in which they are not soluble, but is miscible with the mother liquor. The process is repeated to increase the purity in a technique known as recrystallization
6.
Gypsum
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Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer, and as the constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard chalk. Mohs scale of hardness, based on scratch Hardness comparison. It forms as a mineral and as a hydration product of anhydrite. The word gypsum is derived from the Greek word γύψος, plaster, because the quarries of the Montmartre district of Paris have long furnished burnt gypsum used for various purposes, this dehydrated gypsum became known as plaster of Paris. Upon addition of water, after a few tens of minutes plaster of Paris becomes regular gypsum again, causing the material to harden or set in ways that are useful for casting, Gypsum was known in Old English as spærstān, spear stone, referring to its crystalline projections. Gypsum may act as a source of sulfur for plant growth, which was discovered by J. M. Mayer, american farmers were so anxious to acquire it that a lively smuggling trade with Nova Scotia evolved, resulting in the so-called Plaster War of 1820. In the 19th century, it was known as lime sulfate or sulfate of lime. Gypsum is moderately water-soluble and, in contrast to most other salts, it exhibits retrograde solubility, when gypsum is heated in air it loses water and converts first to calcium sulfate hemihydrate, and, if heated further, to anhydrous calcium sulfate. As for anhydrite, its solubility in saline solutions and in brines is also dependent on NaCl concentration. Gypsum crystals are found to contain water and hydrogen bonding. Gypsum occurs in nature as flattened and often twinned crystals, and transparent, selenite contains no significant selenium, rather, both substances were named for the ancient Greek word for the Moon. Selenite may also occur in a silky, fibrous form, in case it is commonly called satin spar. Finally, it may also be granular or quite compact, in hand-sized samples, it can be anywhere from transparent to opaque. A very fine-grained white or lightly tinted variety of gypsum, called alabaster, is prized for ornamental work of various sorts, in arid areas, gypsum can occur in a flower-like form, typically opaque, with embedded sand grains called desert rose. It also forms some of the largest crystals found in nature, up to 12 m long, Gypsum is a common mineral, with thick and extensive evaporite beds in association with sedimentary rocks. Deposits are known to occur in strata from as far back as the Archaean eon, Gypsum is deposited from lake and sea water, as well as in hot springs, from volcanic vapors, and sulfate solutions in veins. Hydrothermal anhydrite in veins is commonly hydrated to gypsum by groundwater in near-surface exposures and it is often associated with the minerals halite and sulfur
7.
Calcite
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Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate. The Mohs scale of hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison. Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite, aragonite will change to calcite at 380–470 °C, and vaterite is even less stable. Calcite is derived from the German Calcit, a term coined in the 19th century from the Latin word for lime and it is thus etymologically related to chalk. Calcite crystals are trigonal-rhombohedral, though actual calcite rhombohedra are rare as natural crystals, however, they show a remarkable variety of habits including acute to obtuse rhombohedra, tabular forms, prisms, or various scalenohedra. Calcite exhibits several twinning types adding to the variety of observed forms and it may occur as fibrous, granular, lamellar, or compact. Cleavage is usually in three directions parallel to the rhombohedron form and its fracture is conchoidal, but difficult to obtain. It has a defining Mohs hardness of 3, a gravity of 2.71. Color is white or none, though shades of gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, calcite is transparent to opaque and may occasionally show phosphorescence or fluorescence. A transparent variety called Iceland spar is used for optical purposes, acute scalenohedral crystals are sometimes referred to as dogtooth spar while the rhombohedral form is sometimes referred to as nailhead spar. Single calcite crystals display an optical property called birefringence and this strong birefringence causes objects viewed through a clear piece of calcite to appear doubled. The birefringent effect was first described by the Danish scientist Rasmus Bartholin in 1669, at a wavelength of ~590 nm calcite has ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of 1.658 and 1.486, respectively. Between 190 and 1700 nm, the refractive index varies roughly between 1.9 and 1.5, while the extraordinary refractive index varies between 1.6 and 1.4. Calcite, like most carbonates, will dissolve with most forms of acid, calcite can be either dissolved by groundwater or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Although calcite is fairly insoluble in water, acidity can cause dissolution of calcite. Ambient carbon dioxide, due to its acidity, has a slight solubilizing effect on calcite, calcite exhibits an unusual characteristic called retrograde solubility in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. When conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together or it can fill fractures. On a landscape scale, continued dissolution of calcium carbonate-rich rocks can lead to the expansion and eventual collapse of cave systems, high-grade optical calcite was used in World War II for gun sights, specifically in bomb sights and anti-aircraft weaponry
8.
Borax
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Soid Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Powdered borax is white, consisting of colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water. Borax has a variety of uses. It is a component of many detergents, cosmetics, and enamel glazes, in artisanal gold mining, the borax method is sometimes used as a substitute for toxic mercury in the gold extraction process. Borax was reportedly used by miners in parts of the Philippines in the 1900s. The term borax is used for a number of closely related minerals or chemical compounds that differ in their water content. Commercially sold borax is partially dehydrated, Borax was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet and was imported via the Silk Road to the Arabian Peninsula in the 8th Century AD. However, it is formulated as Na2·8H2O, since borax contains the 2− ion. In this structure, there are two four-coordinate boron atoms and two boron atoms. Borax is also converted to boric acid and other borates. When borax is added to a flame, it produces a green color. Borax is not used for purpose in fireworks due to the overwhelming yellow color of sodium. Boric acid is used to color methanol flames a transparent green, the English word borax is Latinized, the Middle English form was boras, from Old French boras, bourras. That may have been from medieval Latin baurach, borac, borax, or maybe directly from the Arabic, along with Spanish borrax and Italian borrace, the Arabic was بورق bauraq/bwrk, a word also used for borax. Traditional Arabic dictionaries say that it derives from the verb to glisten, which is also written بورق bwrq, but it seems to actually derive from the Persian būrah. The word borax is found in Arabic būraq, meaning white, which is from Middle Persian bwrk, another name for borax is tincal, from Sanskrit. The word tincal /ˈtɪŋkəl/ tinkle, or tincar /ˈtɪŋkər/ tinker, refers to crude borax, before it is purified, as mined from deposits in Tibet, Persia. The word was adopted in the 17th century from Malay tingkal and from Urdu/Persian/Arabic تنکار tinkār/tankār and these all appear to be related to the Sanskrit टांकण ṭānkaṇa
9.
Great Salt Lake
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The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U. S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere, and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around 1,700 square miles, for instance, in 1963 it reached its lowest recorded size at 950 square miles, but in 1988 the surface area was at the historic high of 3,300 square miles. In terms of area, it is the largest lake in the United States that is not part of the Great Lakes region. The lake is the largest remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric lake that once covered much of western Utah. The three major tributaries to the lake, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the each year. As it is endorheic, it has very high salinity, far saltier than seawater, which makes swimming similar to floating and its shallow, warm waters cause frequent, sometimes heavy lake-effect snows from late fall through spring. The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville. At its greatest extent, Lake Bonneville spanned 22,400 square miles, nearly as large as present-day Lake Michigan, and roughly ten times the area of the Great Salt Lake today. Bonneville reached 923 ft at its deepest point, and covered much of present-day Utah and small portions of Idaho, Lake Bonneville existed until about 16,800 years ago, when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho. With the warming climate, the lake began to dry, leaving the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake. While the lake was known by local Native Americans, it entered written history through the records of Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. No name was given to it at the time, and it was not shown on the map by Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, in 1824, it was observed, apparently independently, by Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost. Shortly thereafter other trappers saw it and walked around it, most of the trappers, however, were illiterate and did not record their discoveries. As oral reports of their findings made their way to those who did make records, Escalante had been on the shores of Utah Lake, which he named Laguna Timpanogos. It was the larger of the two lakes that appeared on Mieras map, other cartographers followed his lead and charted Lake Timpanogos as the largest lake in the region. As people came to know of the Great Salt Lake, they interpreted the maps to think that Timpanogos referred to the Great Salt Lake, on some maps the two names were used synonymously. In time Timpanogos was dropped from the maps and its association with Utah Lake was forgotten. Fremont led the first scientific expedition to the lake, but with winter coming on and that happened in 1850 under the leadership of Howard Stansbury
10.
Death Valley
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Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. It is one of the hottest places in the world at the height of summertime along with deserts in Africa, Death Valleys Badwater Basin is the point of the lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. This point is 84.6 miles east-southeast of Mount Whitney, Death Valleys Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest reliably recorded air temperature in the world,134 °F on July 10,1913. This has been contested by other weather experts and it is located mostly in Inyo County, California. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi, the highest point in Death Valley itself is Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range, which has an elevation of 11,043 feet. Death Valley is one of the best geological examples of a basin and it lies at the southern end of a geological trough known as Walker Lane, which runs north into Oregon. The valley is bisected by a right lateral slip fault system, represented by the Death Valley Fault. The eastern end of the left lateral Garlock Fault intersects the Death Valley Fault, Furnace Creek and the Amargosa River flow through the valley but eventually disappear into the sands of the valley floor. Death Valley also contains salt pans, according to current geological consensus, at various times during the middle of the Pleistocene era, inland lakes formed in Death Valley. Lake Manly received water overflowing from a chain of other Pleistocene lakes, Death Valley has a subtropical, hot desert climate, with long, extremely hot summers and short, warm or mild winters, as well as little rainfall. As a general rule, lower altitudes tend to have higher temperatures, when the sun heats the ground, that heat is then radiated upward, but the dense below-sea-level air absorbs some of this radiation and radiates some of it back towards the ground. In addition, the valley walls trap rising hot air and recycle it back down to the valley floor. This process is important in Death Valley, as it provides its specific climate. The valley is surrounded by mountains, while its surface is flat and devoid of plants, so much of the suns heat can reach the ground, absorbed by soil. When air at ground level is heated, it begins to rise, moving up past steep, high mountain ranges, which then cools slightly, sinking back down towards the valley more compressed. This air is reheated by the sun to a higher temperature, moving up the mountain again, whereby the air moves up and down in a circular motion in cycles. This heated air increases ground temperature markedly, forming the hot wind currents that are trapped by atmospheric pressure and mountains, Death Valley holds temperature records because it has an unusually high number of factors that lead to high atmospheric temperatures. The depth and shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures, the valley is a long, narrow basin 282 feet below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges
11.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
12.
Simpson Desert
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The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km2 and is the worlds largest sand dune desert, the desert is underlain by the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest inland drainage areas in the world. Water from the basin rises to the surface at numerous springs, including Dalhousie Springs. As a result of exploitation by such bores, the flow of water to springs has been decreasing in recent years. It is also part of the Lake Eyre basin, the Simpson Desert is an erg which contains the worlds longest parallel sand dunes. These north-south oriented dunes are static, held in position by vegetation and they vary in height from 3 metres in the west to around 30 metres on the eastern side. The largest dune, Nappanerica, is 40 metres in height, the explorer Charles Sturt, who visited the region from 1844–1846, was the first European to see the desert. After he returned to Adelaide, it was discovered that the links in his surveyors chain had stretched, poeppel’s border post was too far west by 300 metres. In 1884, surveyor Larry Wells moved the post to its position on the eastern bank of Lake Poeppel. The tri-state border is now known as Poeppel Corner, in 1936 Ted Colson became the first non-indigenous person to cross the desert in its entirety, riding camels. Mr Simpson was the owner of the Simpson washing machine company, in 1984, Dennis Bartel was the first white man to successfully walk solo and unsupported west-to-east across the Simpson,390 km in 24 days, relying on old Aboriginal wells for water. In 2006 Lucas Trihey was the first non-indigenous person to walk across the desert through the centre away from vehicle tracks. He carried all his equipment in a cart and crossed from East Bore on the western edge of the desert to Birdsville in the east. In 2008, Michael Giacometti completed the first, and only, starting at Bedourie in Queensland, he walked solo and unsupported, towing all his equipment, food and water in a two-wheeled cart to Old Andado homestead. Also in 2008, Belgian Louis-Philippe Loncke became the first non-indigenous person to complete a crossing of the desert on foot and unsupported. In 1967, the Queensland Government established the Simpson Desert National Park, no maintained roads cross the desert. The Donohue Highway is an outback track passing from near Boulia towards the Northern Territory border in the north of the desert. There are tracks that were created during seismic surveys in the search for gas and these include the French Line, the Rig Road, and the QAA Line
