Strange landscape in northern russia.

February 21, 2008 5:57 AM

Please help me re-locate an unusual geological formation on Google Earth. It is somewhere in northern Russia.

Yesterday this one patch of ice on the grass reminded me of a certain location in northern Russia which I came across on Google Earth a while back. There was a specific geological name for this type of formation, and it was caused by glaciers. At least that is what the information box said. In my vague memory, it seemed green, not white. It looked like the surface of an alien planet. Smooth, hilly, weird. It was near the northern border of Russia, but I don't remember east west or central. I wasn't zoomed in all the way, so it is probably fairly large. Thanks!

posted by proj08 to science & nature (5 comments total)

Were the formations moraines? photo from Google Earth
posted by iconomy at 6:35 AM on February 21, 2008

It could be an esker, a drumlin, or frost polygons. Smooth and hilly would make me think drumlins, or even possibly glacial loess.

Do you remember if it was caused by glaciers, or part of glaciers? Because there are a number of "glacial parts" that could also be it.
posted by barchan at 7:07 AM on February 21, 2008

Did it look something like this? I don't know what these "lumpy" formations are called, but they look similar to what you described. It's a screenshot of the southern coast of Mackenzie King Island in northern Canada, btw.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:32 AM on February 21, 2008

There's a lot of kettle holes in that area. But they're basically swarms of lakes and you don't mention water in your post.
posted by edd at 8:01 AM on February 21, 2008

Here is a
picture. it's actually pretty big- don't know why I couldn't find it last night. Thanks everyone.
posted by proj08 at 2:30 PM on February 21, 2008