Sorting out natural stone stripes
Article Abstract:
Computer cellular automata explained the natural formation of remarkably regular stone stripes in arctic and alpine terrain. B.T. Werner and B. Hallet applied the cellular-automaton method, which simplified the physical laws governing the movements of individual grains in a system, to the pattern of stripes found on the slopes of Hawaii's Mauna Kea. The resulting model indicated that the stripes arose when nightly freezing of ice needles separated fine-grain material from coarse-grained. Cellular-automaton is thus a promising technique in the field of geomorphology.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1993
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Numerical simulation of self-organized stone stripes
Article Abstract:
Numerically-based, two-dimensional computer simulations explain the natural formation of stone stripes on bare arctic and alpine hillsides such as Hawaii's Mauna Kea. The numerical model shows that the puzzling regularity of these stripes arises from the nightly growth of needle ice. This recurrent freezing tends to move only the larger stones, which results in alternating rows of stones and fine-grained material. Soil texture, degree of hillslope and extent of ice growth produce feedback effects that govern the development of stripes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1993
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Measurement of tectonic surface uplift in a young collisional mountain belt
Article Abstract:
The dynamics of mountain formation was characterized by the quantitative analysis of tectonic surface uplift in Papua New Guinea's Finisterre mountains. Analysis of tectonic surface uplift rate (TSUR) from Papua New Guinea's Finisterre mountains indicated an uplift rate that ranged between 0.6 to 3.0 millimeters annually. The rate of TSUR in the Finisterre mountains was mediated by crustal thickening processes which contributes to the growth of the mountain range.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1997
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