Re: Mysterious Steps, Explained at Last--> fractal landscapes

What idiot suggested these formations were caused by erosion? Early
geologists thought they were a result of crystal GROWTH similar to many
cave deposits. Their claims to be first to recognize this is BS. Will E.
"Roger Bagula" <rlbagula@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:44BE756C.7040306@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/science/18find.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
At Mammoth Hot Springs, in Yellowstone National Park, the mineral-rich
waters flow over a surreal landscape of stepped terraces and ponds.

Dynamics of Precipitation Pattern Formation at Geothermal Hot Springs
(Physical Review Letters)

Nigel Goldenfeld, John Veysey and Nicholas Guttenberg/University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Computer simulation of a hot spring landscape.

Geologists have long been at a loss to explain the rocks? unusual shapes,
but physicists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say they
have figured out the answer.

Unlike most water-washed surfaces, the primary geological process shaping
the Mammoth Hot Springs landscape is not erosion. The rocks there are
actually growing ? at the rate of one to five millimeters a day ? as
calcium carbonate in the water precipitates to form the mineral
travertine.

The key to understanding the process, the physicists say, is ignoring the
details of mineralogy and geochemistry.

?You don?t really need to know things,? said Nigel Goldenfeld, a professor
of physics at the University of Illinois. ?We approached the problem as
condensed matter physicists, as a problem in pattern formation.?

Just as the branching patterns of trees and rivers are similar because of
the underlying mathematics, the shapes at Mammoth Hot Springs, Dr.
Goldenfeld and his collaborators suspected, could be explained by general
equations, not geology.

The main factors are the flow of water and the material it deposits. The
minerals grow into a bump and then a dam, which alters the flow. ?You get
this dynamic interplay,? Dr. Goldenfeld said.

When the scientists wrote down the equations and ran computer programs
mimicking the process, the result was artificial landscapes that looked
remarkably like Mammoth Hot Springs. Similar fractal structures form in
caves, where the mineralogy is different but the general dynamics the
same. Dr. Goldenfeld and two graduate students, Pak Yuen Chan and John
Veysey, described the findings in the June 27 issue of Physical Review
Letters.


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