The Sundance Sea was an inland or epeiric sea covering much of western North America in the Jurassic period. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States. The sea receded (moved back) when highlands to the west began to rise.
The Sundance Sea did not occur at a single time; evidence suggests that it was a series of five successive marine transgressions. Each was separated by a period of erosion.The sea advanced and receded from the Middle Jurassic onwards. The terrestrial sediments of the Morrison Formation eroded from rising highlands to the west were deposited on top of the calcareous Sundance Formation as the sea retreated for the last time, late in the Jurassic.
The sedimentary rocks which formed in and around the Sundance Sea are often rich in fossils.
The Sundance Sea was rich in many types of animals. The oyster "Gryphaea" was very common, and shark teeth have been found. Fish, belemnites and to an extent ammonites swarmed in shoals. Crinoids and bivalvia dotted the seafloor. "Ophthalmosaurus", a large ichthyosaur, swam in the seas using its large, long jaws to catch belemnite 'squid'. "Pantosaurus", a plesiosaur the size of a seal, went after the easier-to-catch fish. The largest marine reptile in the Sundance Sea was "Megalneusaurus", a large pliosaur similar to "Liopleurodon". Its fossils have been found in Alaska and Wyoming, which were both covered by the Sundance Sea when it was alive.
During the periods of recession, dinosaurs and other Jurassic animals walked on the shores, leaving fossil footprints.
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway was a huge inland sea. It split North America into two halves for most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period. It was up to deep, wide and over long.
Sea level was high in the Cretaceous, and the middle part of North America sank down. A shallowly-subducting plate pulled on the bottom of the lithosphere, causing it to move down. The sea entered both north and south, and came and went during the course of the Cretaceous. Widespread carbonate deposition suggests that the Seaway was warm and tropical, with abundant calcareous algae. The shrunken, regressive phase of the Western Interior Seaway is sometimes called the Pierre Seaway.
The Western Interior Seaway was a shallow sea filled with abundant marine life. This included predatory marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs that grew up to 18 meters long. Other marine life included sharks such as "Squalicorax" and the giant shellfish-eating "Ptychodus mortoni" (believed to be 10 meters long). There were advanced bony fish such as the massive 5-meter long "Xiphactinus" – a fish larger than any modern bony fish. Other sea life included invertebrates such as molluscs, ammonites, squid-like belemnites, and plankton including coccolithophores that secreted the chalky platelets that give the Cretaceous its name, foraminiferans and radiolarians.
The Western Interior Seaway was home to early birds also, including the flightless "Hesperornis" which had stout legs for swimming through water and small wing-like appendages used for marine steering rather than flight; and the tern-like "Ichthyornis", an early avian with a toothy beak. "Icthyornis" shared the sky with large pterosaurs such as "Nyctosaurus" and "Pteranodon". "Pteranodon" fossils are very common and it was likely a major component of the surface ecosystem, though it was only found in the southern reaches of the Seaway.
On the bottom, the giant clam "Inoceramus" left common fossilized shells in the Pierre Shale. This clam had a thick shell paved with "prisms" of calcite deposited at right angles to the surface, giving a pearly luster in life. Paleontologists suggest that its giant size was an adaptation for life in the murky bottom waters, where a correspondingly large gill area would have allowed the animal to cope with oxygen-depleted waters.
Common Poorwill
The Common Poorwill ("Phalaenoptilus nuttallii") is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habitat is dry, open areas with grasses or shrubs, and even stony desert slopes with very little vegetation.
Hooded pitohui
The hooded pitohui ("Pitohui dichrous"), is a songbird of New Guinea with black and orange plumage.
This species and its two close relatives, the variable pitohui and the brown pitohui, were the first known poisonous birds. A neurotoxin found in the birds' skin and feathers causes numbness and tingling in those touching the bird.
The hooded pitohui gets its poison from part of its diet, the "Choresine" beetles of the Melyridae family. These beetles are also a likely source of the lethal batrachotoxins found in Colombia's poison dart frogs.
Common and widespread throughout New Guinea, the hooded pitohui is of 'Least Concern' on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
2014 Atlantic hurricane season
The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season was a below-average season in terms of named storms, and an average season in terms of both hurricanes and major hurricanes. It produced nine tropical cyclones, eight named storms, the fewest since the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes. It officially began on June 1, 2014, and ended on November 30, 2014. These dates historically describe the period each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The first storm of the season, Arthur, developed on July 1, while the final storm, Hanna, dissipated on October 28, about a month prior to the end of the season
This is the list of names used for named storms that form in the North Atlantic in 2014. The list is the same as the 2008 list except for Gonzalo, Isaias, and Paulette because Gustav, Ike, and Paloma were damaging and deadly storms in 2008, and their names were retired. In 2014 no storms were retired so the same exact list was used in 2020.
Tenpō
The "nengō" "Tenpō" means "Heavenly Protection".
Direct proof
A direct proof is a way of showing that something is true or false by using logic. This is done by combining known facts. No assumptions are made when doing a direct proof. Lemmas and theorems are used to prove direct proofs.
A statement that can be proved with a direct proof is usually in the form "if "p", then "q"." Here, "p" and "q" are facts. To solve a statement like this, every case where "p" is true must be considered.
For example, this statement can be solved with a direct proof: "if x and y are even integers, then x+y is an even integer." Since x and y are even, then we can say that "x=2m" and "y=2n," where "m" and "n" are integers. (This is a lemma.) We can also say that "m+n" is an integer, because adding two integers gives an integer. (This is another lemma.) Then we can say that "x+y=2m+2n=2(m+n)". Since "m+n" is an integer, we can say "2(m+n)=2k", where "k=m+n". We know that any integer times 2 is an even integer. We can then say that any two even integers added together give an even integer.
Direct proofs are used in mathematics, logic, and computer science. The opposite of a direct proof is an indirect proof (also called a "proof by contradiction".)
Death Valley Junction
Death Valley Junction (formerly, Amargosa and '"Death Valley'") is a tiny Mojave Desert community in unincorporated Inyo County, California, at the intersection of SR 190 and SR 127, just east of Death Valley National Park. The zip code is 92328, the elevation is , and the population fewer than 20. It contains the Amargosa Opera House and Hotel.
Melancholy
Criticism of Christianity