View allAll Photos Tagged tectonics
The tectonic plate/land mass containing Southeast Queensland moved over a hot-spot between 30 and 23 million years ago, when volcanic formation appears to have been the most active.
In the Fassifern district the Main Range Volcano erupted probably from a line of craters in the centre of the valley around 24 million years ago.
It was built up by numerous basalt lava flows, but there were also some flows of trachyte that were more resistant to erosion, forming vertical plugs of hard rhyolite and trachyte, which remained as peaks after the surrounding soft rocks are eroded away.
These rocks contain many dark minerals rich in calcium, magnesium, and iron, and weather to deeper, reddish brown soils of reasonable fertility which has been the basis of these productive farmlands.
www.qld.gsa.org.au/Boonah%20Rocks%20and%20Landscapes%20le...
You can see one of these odd outcrops here, on the side of the mountain, the remnants of an ancient volcano.
We call it the Pulpit, or Pulpit Rock.
It has been popular with climbers, but it is on private land.
Permission can be obtained from farmers, but has been a little bit taken for granted by inconsiderate groups climbers, making lots of noise, damaging property, leaving rubbish behind, even the odd accident here and there, leaving the poor landowner in the unexpected position to be sued ... so farmers are now restricting stranger access, and can you blame them, I say…
Here is one rock climber's blog of his climb there.
Grant Edser at the Pulpit
www.rockclimbing.com/photos/Sport/Grant_Edser_at_the_Pulp...
No edits..
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PS, Has anyone tried the links I included?
I used to be able to click on them, to check if they'd take you to a related site that I'd found, and it would work just fine…but now, if i do that, it just wants to edit my commentary :(( ..
I just copied & pasted these links in my browser to see if I could get around this new glitch, and it comes up as an error…
This was also a great way to store these links for my own future reference..
Will have to "Provide Feedback"..
Not happy..
Seems this New Beta version is still not an Alpha experience !
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Öxarárfoss, Saturday July 2015; Water falling from the solid wall of rocks in the Þingvellir National Park. The rocks and cracks mark the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and they are the resul of the continental drift between the North American and Eurasian Plates. NIKON D7100; Exposure: 1/15 sec at ƒ / 27; Focal length: 25 mm; Lens: 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6; ISO: 100
The sunset of tectonic ice plates as the days get longer, what was panes of glass become frosted patterns as the air bubbles grow inside each plane.
Þingvellir National Park in Iceland. The whole area lies on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an enormous fissure which stretches between the Eurasian and the North American continental plates, extending over 16,000 kilometers (9,950 miles).
Þingvellir (Icelandic): anglicised as Thingvellir (or, mistakenly, Pingvellir is a place in the administrative district of Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the Reykjanes peninsula and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is at the northern end of Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.
Alþingi (Althing in English), the Icelandic Parliament, was established at Þingvellir in 930, and remained there until 1798. Þingvellir National Park (or Thingvellir National Park) was founded in 1930, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Althing. It was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland
Iceland's first national park is where Iceland's parliament was formed back in 930 A.D. The park sits atop the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that separates the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
This is the half-frozen-into-slush surface of the Salmon River with the Bitterroot Mountains in the background.
Namtso was born in the Paleogene age, as a result of Himalayan tectonic plate movements. The lake lies at an elevation of 4,718 m (15,479 ft), and has a surface area of 1,920 km2 (740 sq mi). This salt lake is the largest lake in the Tibet Autonomous Region (U-Tsang). However, it is not the largest lake on the Tibet Plateau. That title belongs to Lake KokoNor (Qinghai Lake) (more than twice the size of Namtso); which lies more than 1,000 km (620 mi) to the north-east in Amdo.
Namtso has five uninhabited islands of reasonable size, in addition to one or two rocky outcrops. The islands have been used for spiritual retreat by pilgrims who walk over the lake's frozen surface at the end of winter, carrying their food with them. They spend the summer there, unable to return to shore again until the water freezes the following winter. This practice is no longer permitted by Chinese authorities.
The largest of the islands is in the northwest corner of the lake, and is about 2,100 m (6,900 ft) long and 800 m (2,600 ft) wide, rising to just over 100 m (330 ft) in the middle. At its closest point it is about 3.1 km (1.9 mi) from the shore.
Ove se stijene pomiču za nekoliko milimetara godišnje. Ispod ovog mirnog krajolika aktivne su ogromne tektonske sile koje stvaraju rasjed između lijeve sjevernoameričke ploče i desne euroazijske.
These rocks are moving few millimeters a year. Under this quiet landscape, enormous tectonic forces are active forming the rift between North American plate on the left and Euroasian plate on the right
System of cracks at Thingvellir in Iceland. Iceland lies on the mid-Atlantic ridge, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates separate. In this area is a system of cracks that together form a separation zone, as the plates gradually pull apart. This pool fills one of the larger cracks.
Europe, The Netherlands, Zuid Holland, Rotterdam, Katendrecht, High ruise, Facade Katendrechts Hoofd (uncut)
After the Rotterdam harbour activities were moved to the outer ring of the Rotterdam agglomeration in the 80s, the Katendrecht quarter is, at last, undergoing a massive redevelopment.
There are now terraced houses and apartment buildings and a school, on the southern edge (the Maashaven side) of Katendrecht, the place where the Hanno freight terminal was. Shown here is the facade of one of the highrises near the tip of Katendrecht: the Katendrechtse Hoofd (KDV architecten, 2010) And tectonics is meant in the architectural, not geologic sense ;-)
This is number 302 of the Urban Frontiers album and 75 of Facades.
The Sunsphere, located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a 266 ft (81 m) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 75 ft (23 m) gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.
Designed by the Knoxville-based architectural firm, Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications.
The World's Fair site later became a public park, the World's Fair Park, alongside Knoxville's official convention center and adjacent to the University of Tennessee's main campus. The Sunsphere remains standing directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater, the only other structure remaining from the 1982 World's Fair.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet (26.4 m) to represent symbolically the 865,000-mile (1,392,000 km) diameter sun. The tower's window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold dust and cut to seven different shapes. It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns that support the seven-story sphere. The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet (5,767.8 m3) and a surface of 16,742 square feet (1,555.4 m2).
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to the tower's observation deck. The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst. In the early morning hours on May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of the sphere's windows.No one was ever arrested for the incident.
The Sunsphere has been used as a symbol for Knoxville, appearing in postcards and logos. Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark. It featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere. On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police.
The Sunsphere is also featured in the logo for the Hard Knox Roller Girls women's flat-track roller derby league and their mascot, Sphere This also took its inspiration from the Knoxville landmark. The Sunsphere was highlighted in the seventh season episode of animated TV sitcom The Simpsons titled "Bart on the Road" and was renamed the wig sphere due to its use as a storage facility for wigs.
In 2011, a drawing of the Sunsphere – alongside images of iconic structures from Tennessee's three other large cities (the Memphis Pyramid, Nashville's AT&T Building, and the Tennessee Aquarium of Chattanooga) – was incorporated into the standard design of Tennessee's state-issued driver's licenses.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsphere
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Mobil Oil Canadian Tectonic Seminar.
At this stop we were studying outcrops of Upper Cretaceous Cardium Formation sandstone in the Bow River by the Kananaskis Dam (Foothills sub-province).
Towering in the background is Mount Yamnuska which is made up of Cambrian limestones carried 20km from the southwest on the McDonnell thrust and faulted over the Upper Cretaceous, marking the eastern boundary of the Rocky Mountain Front Ranges
It is a nice walk slowly.
No horses or carriages.
A 15-m walk - 800 meters downhill (Bab As Siq).
Siq - Following the path of pilgrims through the sheer-sided chasm that leads to an ancient world.
The entrance to Petra is made through a two-mile canyon. The best time to travel is between 7am and 8am, when the sun still does not hit the inside and the heat is bearable. Anyone who does not want to face the hike can rent a horse or cart.
Continuing the theme of going through Iceland images, here is another from a waterfall we came across in Þingvellir. For anyone visiting the country, I highly recommend taking a hike through the national park. It's beautiful and filled with so much natural beauty, formed by the continental drift of the tectonic plates.
This is one of the most iconic sections of the I-5 corridor (definitely one of the most photographed) and the pulsating artery of downtown Seattle. All that comes and goes to and from Seattle follows this very path, more than just a photogenic curve; this section of freeway is the life force of an entire urban structure. This stretch of freeway serves as a chasm, between residential life and office high-rises, industry and family. This spot is more than just a beautiful happenstance of architecture and imagination… it is the very building block of the Emerald city, a fiery, ever moving, living urban tectonic.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, have a great week everyone
The national park lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Here we see the Eurasian plate on the left and the North American continental plate on the right.
Two humongous tectonic plates split in this spot, one of very rare places on the face of the Earth where one can actually see it.
In Almannagjá, where this image is taken, one can take a walk between two continents. But the National Park of Thingvellir is also the site of very important events in the history of Iceland.
Ah, the heart. 'Twas smashed a bit to reveal a lovely, gooey, caramely inside...Looks like it use to be one big continent and it's now several small ones, with caramel rivers and seas. :). **Macro Monday ***tasty snack
The separating of the North American and European tectonic plates is taking place here, leaving many walls, cliffs, and something Iceland has no shortage an iconic waterfall. Öxarárfoss was even featured on the cover of Nine Inch Nails' album, The Fragile.
Another view of another roof from the same Thai hotel balcony. At this rate, there could be enough roof tops for a set... The green forms the flat roof base, which has the clay tile pyramids spread across its length.
Many thanks to Sir Cam for his help in coming up with the title.
Taken from the Views from a Thai balcony and the My Thai - a cocktail of shots sets.
The Sunsphere, located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a 266 ft (81 m) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 75 ft (23 m) gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.
Designed by the Knoxville-based architectural firm, Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications.
The World's Fair site later became a public park, the World's Fair Park, alongside Knoxville's official convention center and adjacent to the University of Tennessee's main campus. The Sunsphere remains standing directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater, the only other structure remaining from the 1982 World's Fair.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet (26.4 m) to represent symbolically the 865,000-mile (1,392,000 km) diameter sun. The tower's window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold dust and cut to seven different shapes. It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns that support the seven-story sphere. The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet (5,767.8 m3) and a surface of 16,742 square feet (1,555.4 m2).
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to the tower's observation deck. The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst. In the early morning hours on May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of the sphere's windows.No one was ever arrested for the incident.
The Sunsphere has been used as a symbol for Knoxville, appearing in postcards and logos. Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark. It featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere. On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police.
The Sunsphere is also featured in the logo for the Hard Knox Roller Girls women's flat-track roller derby league and their mascot, Sphere This also took its inspiration from the Knoxville landmark. The Sunsphere was highlighted in the seventh season episode of animated TV sitcom The Simpsons titled "Bart on the Road" and was renamed the wig sphere due to its use as a storage facility for wigs.
In 2011, a drawing of the Sunsphere – alongside images of iconic structures from Tennessee's three other large cities (the Memphis Pyramid, Nashville's AT&T Building, and the Tennessee Aquarium of Chattanooga) – was incorporated into the standard design of Tennessee's state-issued driver's licenses.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsphere
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
The Sunsphere, located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a 266 ft (81 m) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 75 ft (23 m) gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.
Designed by the Knoxville-based architectural firm, Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications.
The World's Fair site later became a public park, the World's Fair Park, alongside Knoxville's official convention center and adjacent to the University of Tennessee's main campus. The Sunsphere remains standing directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater, the only other structure remaining from the 1982 World's Fair.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet (26.4 m) to represent symbolically the 865,000-mile (1,392,000 km) diameter sun. The tower's window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold dust and cut to seven different shapes. It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns that support the seven-story sphere. The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet (5,767.8 m3) and a surface of 16,742 square feet (1,555.4 m2).
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to the tower's observation deck. The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst. In the early morning hours on May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of the sphere's windows.No one was ever arrested for the incident.
The Sunsphere has been used as a symbol for Knoxville, appearing in postcards and logos. Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark. It featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere. On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police.
The Sunsphere is also featured in the logo for the Hard Knox Roller Girls women's flat-track roller derby league and their mascot, Sphere This also took its inspiration from the Knoxville landmark. The Sunsphere was highlighted in the seventh season episode of animated TV sitcom The Simpsons titled "Bart on the Road" and was renamed the wig sphere due to its use as a storage facility for wigs.
In 2011, a drawing of the Sunsphere – alongside images of iconic structures from Tennessee's three other large cities (the Memphis Pyramid, Nashville's AT&T Building, and the Tennessee Aquarium of Chattanooga) – was incorporated into the standard design of Tennessee's state-issued driver's licenses.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsphere
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Falling into the gap between the tectonic plates in Iceland.
This was taken in near complete darkness.........with a grad!
The Sunsphere, located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a 266 ft (81 m) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 75 ft (23 m) gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.
Designed by the Knoxville-based architectural firm, Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications.
The World's Fair site later became a public park, the World's Fair Park, alongside Knoxville's official convention center and adjacent to the University of Tennessee's main campus. The Sunsphere remains standing directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater, the only other structure remaining from the 1982 World's Fair.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet (26.4 m) to represent symbolically the 865,000-mile (1,392,000 km) diameter sun. The tower's window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold dust and cut to seven different shapes. It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns that support the seven-story sphere. The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet (5,767.8 m3) and a surface of 16,742 square feet (1,555.4 m2).
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to the tower's observation deck. The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst. In the early morning hours on May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of the sphere's windows.No one was ever arrested for the incident.
The Sunsphere has been used as a symbol for Knoxville, appearing in postcards and logos. Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark. It featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere. On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police.
The Sunsphere is also featured in the logo for the Hard Knox Roller Girls women's flat-track roller derby league and their mascot, Sphere This also took its inspiration from the Knoxville landmark. The Sunsphere was highlighted in the seventh season episode of animated TV sitcom The Simpsons titled "Bart on the Road" and was renamed the wig sphere due to its use as a storage facility for wigs.
In 2011, a drawing of the Sunsphere – alongside images of iconic structures from Tennessee's three other large cities (the Memphis Pyramid, Nashville's AT&T Building, and the Tennessee Aquarium of Chattanooga) – was incorporated into the standard design of Tennessee's state-issued driver's licenses.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsphere
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
View from Rens (Flims/Flem) on Crap Ner, Piz Grisch and Ofen.
Crap Ner which translates to black rock displays a dark grey color, when not covered by snow, that originates from the slate that he's formed of which differentiates him from the peaks around him.
These mountains are part of the UNESCO world heritage "Tectonic Arena Sardona". There are many occasions where you can see the diverse sediment layers and how they were folded when the mountains arose.
Flims/Flem, Surselva, Grison Switzerland.
The Zhangye National Geopark is located in Sunan and Linze counties within the prefecture-level city of Zhangye, in Gansu, China. Zhangye Danxia is known for the unusual colours of the rocks, which are smooth, sharp and several hundred meters tall. They are the result of deposits of sandstone and other minerals that occurred over 24 million years. The result (similar to a layer cake), was tilted by the action of the same tectonic plates responsible for creating parts of the Himalayan mountains. Wind, rain, and time then sculpted extraordinary shapes, including towers, pillars, and ravines, with varying colours, patterns, and sizes.(Wikipedia)
When you enter the Siq you feel the temperature drop and the sky disappear. Your world feels limited to the walkway. In some places it can be five metres wide but usually less than that. The walls rise up to two hundred metres from the ground. It can feel like a cold, dark and dead place but there are some birds in the region - Sinai Rosefinch, Laughing Doves, Mourning Wheatear, Fan-Tailed Raven, Blackstart, Black Redstart and Rock Pigeon. It is quite a walk and you do feel as if you are entering another realm. Sometimes it can be very busy so it is better to go when it is quiet.
al-Siq (Arabic: السيق) (translated: the shaft) is the main entrance to the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan. The dim, narrow gorge (in some points no more than 3 meters wide) winds its way approximately one mile and ends at Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh (The Treasury).
The Siq is a natural geological fault produced by tectonic forces and worn smooth by water erosion. The walls that enclose the Siq stand between 91–182 meters (300–600 feet) in height.[1]
The entrance to the Siq contains a huge dam, reconstructed in 1963 and again in 1991, designed to bar the mouth of the Siq and reroute the waters of Wadi Musa. The dam is a fairly true reconstruction of what the Nabataeans did to control Wadi Musa between the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. The entrance also contains the remnants of a monumental arch, of which only the two abutments and some hewn stones of the arch itself have survived. The arch collapsed in 1896 following an earthquake, but its appearance is known based on the lithograph works of David Roberts.[1]
The Siq was used as the grand caravan entrance into Petra. Along both walls of the fissure are a number of votive niches containing baetyli, which suggest that the Siq was sacred to the Nabatean people. In 1998, a group of statues were uncovered when digging was conducted to lower the road by more than six feet. Although the upper part is greatly eroded, it is still possible to recognize the figures of two merchants, each leading two camels. The figures are almost twice lifesize.[1]
Along the Siq are some underground chambers, the function of which has not yet been clarified. The possibility that they were tombs has been excluded and archaeologist find it difficult to believe that they were dwellings. The majority consensus is that they housed the guards that defended the main entrance to Petra.
Þingvellir (Icelandic): anglicised as Thingvellir (or, mistakenly, Pingvellir is a place in the administrative district of Bláskógabyggð in southwestern Iceland, near the Reykjanes peninsula and the Hengill volcanic area. Þingvellir is a site of historical, cultural, and geological importance and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. It lies in a rift valley that marks the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is at the northern end of Þingvallavatn, the largest natural lake in Iceland.
Alþingi (Althing in English), the Icelandic Parliament, was established at Þingvellir in 930, and remained there until 1798. Þingvellir National Park (or Thingvellir National Park) was founded in 1930, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the Althing. It was later expanded to protect natural phenomena in the surrounding area, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Sangre de Cristo Range. View of the eastern flank. The range developed during the Laramide Orogeny about 80 to 40 million years. The uplift was the result of compression between tectonic plates as the Farallon Plate, once part of the Northern Pacific ocean floor, continued to be subducted far to the east beneath the North American Plate. Near Westcliffe, Custer Co., Colo.
The Sunsphere, located in World’s Fair Park in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, is a 266 ft (81 m) high hexagonal steel truss structure, topped with a 75 ft (23 m) gold-colored glass sphere that served as the symbol of the 1982 World's Fair.
Designed by the Knoxville-based architectural firm, Community Tectonics, the Sunsphere was created as the theme structure for the 1982 World's Fair. It was noted for its unique design in several engineering publications.
The World's Fair site later became a public park, the World's Fair Park, alongside Knoxville's official convention center and adjacent to the University of Tennessee's main campus. The Sunsphere remains standing directly across a man-made pond from the Tennessee Amphitheater, the only other structure remaining from the 1982 World's Fair.
In its original design, the sphere portion was to have had a diameter of 86.5 feet (26.4 m) to represent symbolically the 865,000-mile (1,392,000 km) diameter sun. The tower's window glass panels are layered in 24-karat gold dust and cut to seven different shapes. It weighs 600 tons and features six double steel truss columns that support the seven-story sphere. The tower has a volume of 203,689 cubic feet (5,767.8 m3) and a surface of 16,742 square feet (1,555.4 m2).
During the fair it cost $2 to take the elevator to the tower's observation deck. The tower served as a restaurant and featured food items such as the Sunburger and a rum and fruit juice cocktail called the Sunburst. In the early morning hours on May 12, 1982, a shot was fired from outside the fair site and shattered one of the sphere's windows.No one was ever arrested for the incident.
The Sunsphere has been used as a symbol for Knoxville, appearing in postcards and logos. Between 1993 and 1999, the Sunsphere was featured in part on the logo for the Knoxville Smokies minor league baseball club.
The 2002 AAU Junior Olympics mascot Spherit took its inspiration from the landmark. It featured red hair and a body shaped like the Sunsphere. On Sunday, May 15, 2000, nuclear weapons protesters scaled the tower and hung a large banner that said "Stop the Bombs." They remained on the tower for three days before surrendering to police.
The Sunsphere is also featured in the logo for the Hard Knox Roller Girls women's flat-track roller derby league and their mascot, Sphere This also took its inspiration from the Knoxville landmark. The Sunsphere was highlighted in the seventh season episode of animated TV sitcom The Simpsons titled "Bart on the Road" and was renamed the wig sphere due to its use as a storage facility for wigs.
In 2011, a drawing of the Sunsphere – alongside images of iconic structures from Tennessee's three other large cities (the Memphis Pyramid, Nashville's AT&T Building, and the Tennessee Aquarium of Chattanooga) – was incorporated into the standard design of Tennessee's state-issued driver's licenses.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsphere
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.