August: On & Off Earth
Growing up in Richmond, we occasionally took a road trip to visit family west of Lexington. That meant driving Rt. 250, prior to the construction of I-64. Along that fairly straight but rolling drive, we were always on the lookout for the first cresting of a hill when we could see the mountains far off in the distance. I had a flashback to those days recently in Louisa because it is in Louisa where you can first see those Blue Ridges.
The bands and layers of ancient rock beneath Virginia (and most of the east coast) trend from southwest to northeast. That trend a result of collisions between the Americas and Europe and Africa throughout Earth’s long history. The more durable rock standing higher as ridges. Clever trail and road builders of the past put their trails and then roads along those ridges.
Geologist, collaborating with physicists in the 1950’s had a series of ‘light bulb’ moments that revealed why Earth’s surface was shaped like it is and why earthquakes and volcanoes, mostly, happen where they do. We know, all too well, that there are exceptions to the quakes along plate boundaries rule. This August, on the 23rd at 1:51pm we will ‘celebrate’ the 15th anniversary of the magnitude 5.8 quake that shook, shifted and changed Louisa.
To form our local ridges required moving, tilting and breaking rock from its flat seafloor ‘birth’ location to its current, on average, 38° angle. Friction between those rock bands is usually enough to keep things stable but heat and pressure, ever present not too far below our feet, wins out every 100 years or so and contacts between layers slip and things get shaky!! The Quail Fault was revealed! I sure hope we can remember ‘our’ earthquake without a new shake reminder.
After eleven months of drought, July, even without a hurricane, has improved ground and surface water levels. June wasn’t mushroom season but July certainly was. Will August continue the wet, stormy trend or shift back to hot and dry? Either way requires a little pre-planning but the long hours of August sun still beckon us all to get out for the last real month of summer.
With an additional 2 minutes of darkness every day in August, a night sky peek should also be a consideration. Solar eclipse chasers will be set up in Greenland, Iceland, Spain and the Mediterranean on the 12th for the fleeting daytime darkness of the moon’s shadow racing across Earth. We will be just out of the partial eclipse view zone. Total eclipse viewers will actually see the stars of Cancer and Leo as the backdrop during the magical 2+ minutes of darkness. We won’t see the eclipse but can set up lawn chairs and watch for Perseid meteors in the dark, moonless sky that night.
Two weeks later, on the night of the 27th/28th, with clear skies, we can see the Full Sturgeon moon dip into Earth’s shadow for a near total Lunar eclipse. The moon will enter our shadow at 10:33pm and be 96% covered at 12:13am, exiting the shadow just before 2am. Even though not total, the moon will be dark enough to have a copper color. Venus remains the Evening Star in the west for a couple of hours after sunset.
Whether you go west to the mountains or east toward the Atlantic or just cruise the ridges of Louisa, enjoy August and the long vistas that are part of the rural beauty of our county and state. Change, the only true constant on Earth, has seemed to pick up the pace and continues rumbling our way. Grandiose claims and promises of future benefits for all but currently only ‘enjoyed’ by a handful of local power brokers seems very unlikely to improve the ridge-top views for anyone. Beneficial improvement for all requires awareness and participation from all. This forest dweller does not view anti-rural growth as a benefit for all.
Today On Earth
