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Internet allows virtual Giza tour in 3D

Vicarious travellers and students of history can take a virtual stroll through the vast necropolis build by the ancient Egyptians in the Giza Plateau, thanks to a 3D Internet project launched this week.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 2

When continents collide: A new twist to a 50 million-year-old tale

Fifty million years ago, India slammed into Eurasia, a collision that gave rise to the tallest landforms on the planet, the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Geologists solve mystery of the Colorado Plateau

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of scientists led by Rice University has figured out why the Colorado Plateau – a 130,000-square-mile region that straddles Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico -- is rising ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 27, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

New research suggests strong Indian crust thrust beneath the Tibetan Plateau

For many years, most scientists studying Tibet have thought that a very hot and very weak lower and middle crust underlies its plateau, flowing like a fluid. Now, a team of researchers at the California Institute ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 06, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Astronomers find coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth

The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 31, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (46) | comments 19

Researchers discover important woolly rhino fossil

A paper to be published on September 2, 2011 in the authoritative magazine Science reveals the discovery of a primitive woolly rhino fossil in the Himalayas, which suggests some giant mammals first evolve ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Lava rocks from three continents and oceanic plateau traced to same lava plume

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Sylhet Traps lava flows of the Shillong Plateau in northeastern India lie some 340 miles to the east of the Rajmahal Traps at the bend of the Ganges River as it flows south to the Bay ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Archaeologists to raise ancient Egyptian ship

Egyptian and Japanese archaeologists on Thursday began to unearth an ancient boat belonging to King Khufu and buried near the Giza pyramids for more than 4,500 years.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Jun 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Soot packs a punch on Tibetan Plateau's climate

(PhysOrg.com) -- In some cases, soot – the fine, black carbon silt that is released from stoves, cars and manufacturing plants – can pack more of a climatic punch than greenhouse gases, according ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Three-toed horses reveal the secret of the Tibetan Plateau uplift

The Tibetan Plateau is the youngest and highest plateau on Earth, and its elevation reaches one-third of the height of the troposphere, with profound dynamic and thermal effects on atmospheric circulation ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Apr 24, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Massive Southern Ocean current discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- A deep ocean current with a volume equivalent to 40 Amazon Rivers has been discovered by Japanese and Australian scientists near the Kerguelen plateau, in the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 26, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (19) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Female lizard turns the table: Why exaggerated coloration makes her a good mate

Most nature lovers know that the more colourful a male fish, reptile, or bird, the more likely it is to attract a female and to have healthy offspring. Females, on the other hand, tend to be drably coloured, perhaps to avoid ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 27, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

First complete image created of Himalayan fault, subduction zone

An international team of researchers has created the most complete seismic image of the Earth's crust and upper mantle beneath the rugged Himalaya Mountains, in the process discovering some unusual geologic ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 1

Ancient raindrops reveal a wave of mountains sent south by sinking Farallon plate

(PhysOrg.com) -- Analyzing the isotope ratios of ancient raindrops preserved in soils and lake sediments, Stanford researchers have shown that a wave of mountain building began in British Columbia, Canada ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 17, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New research helps to identify ancient droughts in China

Drought events are largely unknown in Earth's history, because reconstruction of ancient hydrological conditions remains difficult due to lack of proxy. New GEOLOGY research supported by China's NNSF and MS&T uses a micr ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Plateau

In geology and earth science, a plateau ( /pləˈtoʊ/ or /ˈplætoʊ/; plural plateaus or rarely plateaux), also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau. A volcanic plateau is a plateau produced by volcanic activity.

Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including, upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers. Magma rises from the mantle causing the ground to swell upward, in this way large, flat areas of rock are uplifted. Plateaus can also be built up by lava spreading outwards from cracks and weak areas in the crust, an example of such a plateau is the Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States of America. Plateaus can also be formed due to the erosional processes of glaciers on mountain ranges, in this case the plateaus are left sitting between the mountain ranges. Water can also erode mountains and other landforms down into plateaus.

Plateaus are classified according to their surrounding environment, common categories are: intermontane, piedmont, and continental plateaus.

For more information about Plateau, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.