Weird Geography Facts

IsUaClone2

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Another interesting fact: When you think of volcanoes in the USA you think of the Hawaii, Alaska and the Cascades in the Pacific NW. However, somewhat recently in geological terms, Sunset Crater in Arizona (a few miles northeast of Flagstaff) erupted between the years 1000 and 1100 AD. Sunset Crater is a small National Monument and worthy of a visit.
Should Yellowstone be included? I think it has a bigger caldera than any others mentioned and it's still active.
 
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cedarstrip

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Arkansas is the only state where you can travel to every state that borders it by traveling south, yes, including Missouri.
You need to explain this one. Washington, Michigan, Maine, minnesota, all seem to work as well
 

Bipolarcy

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You need to explain this one. Washington, Michigan, Maine, minnesota, all seem to work as well
You can't get to Idaho from Washington by traveling south without going through another state first. Maine only borders one state, Michigan and Minnesota only three and four respectively.

Maybe I misspoke and the unique thing about Arkansas is the number of bordering states that you can get to by traveling south. Let's count them. There's Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. I read this trivia fact a while back and maybe I remembered it wrong.
 
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mred

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You can't get to Idaho from Washington by traveling south without going through another state first. Maine only borders one state, Michigan and Minnesota only three and four respectively.

Maybe I misspoke and the unique thing about Arkansas is the number of bordering states that you can get to by traveling south. Let's count them. There's Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma. I read this trivia fact a while back and maybe I remembered it wrong.
Or maybe it's the fact that Arkansas is the only state completely bordered by other U.S. states where that is the case. The other states cheat by bordering Canada.
 

jackrabbit

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Should Yellowstone be included? I think it has a bigger caldera than any others mentioned and it's still active.
Even though Yellowstone has lots of geothermal heat and activity the last actual lava produced was over 70,000 years ago.

But like many volcanoes the lack of 'recent' volcanic eruptions does not not Yellowstone won't erupt in the future.

In fact there is a 2nd 'active' super volcano in the USA, the Long Valley Caldera. It last erupted 750,000 years ago but is still considered active with plenty of underground activity.
 

jackrabbit

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Even though Yellowstone has lots of geothermal heat and activity the last actual lava produced was over 70,000 years ago.

But like many volcanoes the lack of 'recent' volcanic eruptions does not not Yellowstone won't erupt in the future.

In fact there is a 2nd 'active' super volcano in the USA, the Long Valley Caldera. It last erupted 750,000 years ago but is still considered active with plenty of underground activity.
Oh Yellowstone does frequently have hydrothermal explosions. They had one I think in the Norris Geyser Basin this fall. Closed a large part of that area for several weeks.
 

jackrabbit

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How 'wide' is TX? If you look at longitude, the farthest east city in Texas on I-10 is Orange. TX at 93.7366. Ames is at 93.6319. Then El Paso on the west end of I-10 in TX is at 106.4850. Casper, WY is close longitude wise at 106.2981. Sorry NE but you're now in the great state of Iowa.
 

ZJohnson

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On the road...
Similarly, I seem to recall that the place with the highest annual rainfall is just a few miles from the place with the least annual rainfall. I don't remember the details, but I think it is in Kauai, Hawaii.
I know Mt. Waialeale is one of the wettest places on earth, but I am pretty sure Death Valley is the driest in the US.
 

VeloClone

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Alaska is way bigger when you get there than you can possibly imagine. I drove half way across the state and it took me a couple days stopping and staying in a few towns.
I have been planning a trip to Alaska and thought about taking a day trip from my brother's place in Anchorage to Denali since they are so close to each other on the map. Actually it is a 4.5-5 hour drive one way.
 
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