Yeliu Concretions

Concretions are places where the mineralization over time has produced a shape that is different than the surrounding rock. Sometimes the start of a concretion is a dead soft body animal that diffuses into the surrounding rock and then as the minerals replace the organic material the result is different than the surrounding rock. Fossils are usual the shell or bones of the dead animal that have no chance of diffusing after death.

At Yeliu there are plenty of concretions in the sandstone. The mineralization produces a more resistant rock that weathers out from the sandstone.

It's fun to guess what the animal was that produced the concretion, maybe a jellyfish? Sometimes in the middle of the concretion is the trace of the dead animal.

The ocean levels have changed many times in the past millions of year, so the mineralization can be done over and over. And being on the seacoast, the concretion can be the start of a strange potholes

But concretions are not particular to Yeliu, this one is from Yeliu.

but this second one is from Orcas Island in Washington State on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Yeliu Joints

Taiwan geologically is locate at the northern edge of the Philippines plate that is colliding with the Asian plate. This causes pressure between the two plates and the results of the pressure come to the surface at Yeliu. The pressure makes the rocks fracture and they fracture at right angles.

And this fracture extends in both directions.

And can produce a checkerboard effect. Because there thin layers of different materials the squares look like they are colored.

There are designs made my the erosion of thin layers.

From the mountain in the park, we can see the joints on a bigger scale along the seacoast.

How this contributes to the Yeliu structures was shown in a informational plaque .

The depression cause by the joint gives the seawater a start at the erosion process.

Yeliu Fossils

The Yeliu rocks are layers of the soft, yellow, erodible sandstone, topped by the the harder, black/gray limestone. Being both sedimentary rocks they can be dated by the fossils in each. Especially the limestone.

Taiwan started as a volcanic island maybe 20 million years ago. Dinosaurs died out about 70 million years ago. So the dinosaur fossils for sale in Taiwan usually are from Mainland China. From the fossils in the Yeliu, the formation can be dated. The fossils are all over the rocks, you have to be careful not to step on them.

 Notice how the presence of the fossil has shaped the erosion around it, the softer sandstone erodes faster than the fossil, so causes the local uplift. At Yeliu, they called these fossils, "sand pipes", I think in the US they are called "sand dollars".

The details is quite explicit. But then again the fossils are only less than 20 million years old!

I though this one was the carapace of a crab.

It is actually the presence of organic material in the limestone that causes the erosion to proceed from very small depression to a uniform distribution of big depressions.

Once the seawater gets a start it grows the hole.

Yeliu Geopark

There are many tourist attractions a day trip away from Taipei. We used public transportation (bus ride) to get to the Yeliu Geopark, about 100NT. Yeliu is on Taiwan's northern coast and is a fishing town with shrimpers in the harbor.

The big electric lights are used to attack the shrimp at night. Bu the big attraction in Yeliu Geopark where there are some spectacular examples of sea erosion a long the coast.

This pillar is about 15 feet tall, the black rock on top is more resistant to erosion from the sea water and the wind. This pillar is called the "Queen". There are maybe 100 such pillars. Some with their own names, all strange, this one is a "mushroom".

Here is an overview of the area.

 And as we climbed the mountain nearby, an even bigger overview.

Being on our own and not part of a tour, we got to chose our own place to eat. Being this close to the coast to the sea, the sea food is caught that day.

JiuFen Old Taiwan Stuff

There is another Museum in the tourist town JiuFen. Like the Museum of Clay Masks the admission was about $1, and you pay on the way out only if you think it was worth it! That's confidence!

A lot of the costumes and props were from the famous Taiwanese movie "City of Sadness" which is about the takeover of Taiwan by the KMT after WWII. 

This is instructional abacus for teaching the abacus, there are similar gigantic slide rules in the US for teaching slide rule.

How old is karioki? Well it at least goes back to the days of 8-track.

But maybe it goes back either further, this looks like an early rapper/hiphop machines.

Your basic bed, not mattress included.

And a windup clock, no electricity needed, just remember to wind it up.

And it all wouldn't work without the blessings of the Buddha.

Final picture, what is this?

JiuFen Museum of Clay Masks

One of the attractions of the tourist town JuiFen is the Museum of Clay Masks.

There must be about a thousand masks, all different, different personalities, traits, ghosts, ...

Where is Elmo?

Some just illustrate different human conditions.

And some are famous Deng Xiao Ping

I think this guy looks like William F. Buckley.

Who's this guy?

Trip to JiuFen

Yesterday we made a day trip to JiuFen. It is a small mining town on the North coast of Taiwan. It's an hour and half bus ride from Taipei, costs about 100NT($2).

The mining for gold at JiuFen has played out, now it is mostly a tourist town. Up in the mountains, the town is built on the slope.

On such a slope, each house is it's own project. There is no chance for a layout of houses all looking the same.

It was raining when we got there but there is one main street with shops on either side, The street is narrow enough that the awnings from each side reach to each other in the middle. There are unique foods and crafts along the way.

I had been to JiuFen almost 20 years ago, when we worked at the Taiwanese National Center for High Performance Computing. Our assistant director organized a trip for the IBM sales team to go to JiuFen. JiuFen is known for there tea shops, some say tea tastes better up in the mountain air, looking out over the scenery. Our assistant director was a tea connoisseur and this was a chance for him to explain the intricacies of tea and the tea ceremony. I remember his great disappointment when the IBMers ordered coffee! I searched for that tea shop, I think this is it.

But it might have been this one, both have great views of the seacoast(if it isn't raining).

The weather in Northern Taiwan(Taipei) has been pretty good, much warmer than last year. The cherry blossoms are coming out, even up in the mountains around JiuFen.

I have the feeling that the rocks around JiuFen are granite, because the pavement stones in JiuFen are granite. Even though it was raining the whole time, the granite pavement was not slippery.

Coolie Hats

Coolie Hat is the term I knew for this type of hat:

The more politically correct name is Asian Conical Hat for which there is a Wikipedia entry.

It is the typical hat worn by farmers to protect themselves from the sun. Being made of straw or bamboo it is light and cheap. My father use to wear a straw hat in his farm at the lake that made him look like a Mexican farm worker.

Besides being a protection against the sun, it also had value in keeping the skin untanned. Long before European explorers made it to the Orient, in most Asian cultures, white(untanned) skin was considered a beauty mark, more having to do with class distinction. If you didn't have to work in the field as a farmer, then your skin was untanned(white) and you were rich(or served the rich). The same goes for long fingernails, farmers do not have long fingernails.

The coolie hats come in various sizes and it Taiwan they are still seen everywhere on people who have to work in the sun.

But that doesn't mean you can't improve on a good idea that has lasted for centuries. Here in the big city, Taipei, street sweepers use the coolie hat but have improved it with colors to make themselves visible to drivers.

But the best improvement I saw was this one.

Here the worker has taken the fabric from a discarded umbrella and fashioned it on top of the coolie hat. Now the hat protects from both the sun and the rain.