Pic of the Day 31 January, 2009
La Casse Déserte
Stage 9, from Briançon to Digne, 1936 Tour de France. On the descent from the Izoard, Antonin Magne (right - France) chases in pursuit of Sylvère Maes (Belgium). Another chaser, Julien Berrendero (Spain), can be seen in the background over Magne's left shoulder.
With it's towering rock spires, large scree field, and 20 degree
structural incline, the Casse Déserte ("Broken Desert") is used as an
analog in the study gully formation on Mars.
>From "Le Miroir des Sports" No.397, 21 July 1936.
(click pic for MUCH larger image)
http://www.wooljersey.com/
The view remains little changed today, although a major scree flow in 1980 covered the road and resculpted the slope to the lower left.
http://www.alpesgeo2003.fr/
Aldo Ross Middletown, Ohio, USA "studying the formation of gullies in the massive snow drift outside