Geology/Changeable
People in most parts of the world have sayings to the effect that, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute". This, of course, merely recognizes that weather is changeable, if not from minute to minute, then from day to day. We've also learned that climate changes through time, from warm to ice age to warm again and much more, albeit much more slowly than the weather changes. Surely, there must be something we can rely upon! How about the continents? After all, surely they don't change other than building and wearing down a few mountains.
Not so! Starting in the 1960s, we learned that they can't even be depended upon to stay in place. The theory of plate tectonics with wandering continents is now so strongly supported that almost nobody denies it. As for our Chihuahuan Desert region, we've been around the block a number of times! After all, it wasn't all that long ago—in the big scheme of things—that we sat smack dab on the equator. Now there's a climate change, big time!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
