[joe_blank]

https://anvaka.github.io/peak-map/#11.19/52.2305/8.9095

This is one of my favorite spots on the map. The mountainrange is dividing a big part of the north from southern region called Westphalia. Only one river breaks through it allowing for an easy way across the mountains. The citys name at that spot is Porta Westfalica which is Latin and means "gate to Westphalia". I think this visualization illustrates the reason behind the name very well.

[tverbeure]

Not as nice, but similar is the Delaware Water Gap between New Jersey and Pennsylvania:

https://anvaka.github.io/peak-map/#12.1/40.9711/-75.13641

[has2k1]

Thank you, very interesting geography. Any theories on how the river broke through the mountain range, i.e. the timeline for the erosion?

From my speculative chair, it looks like the river existed before the ranges.

[glennon]

This is a water gap, a feature which is commonly formed from a river older than the mountain range. In combination with that older river, in this case, the specific location was caused by "subrosion (a general expression applied to karst processes influencing the course of a river) and..meltwater channels at low altitudes" (Rohde 1994, Martini et al 2002-page 285).

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_gap

-- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/97814443042...

-- Rohde P, 1994. Weser und Leine am Berglandrand zur Ober- und Mittelterrassen-Zeit E&G Quaternary Science Journal 44(1): 106–133, DOI 10.3285/eg.44.1.10.

[DonHopkins]

This makes me want to play with Chaim Gingold's Earth Primer!

http://www.earthprimer.com/

Earth Primer is a science book for playful people. Discover how Earth works through play—on your iPad. Join a guided tour of how Earth works, with the forces of nature at your fingertips. Visit volcanoes, glaciers, sand dunes. Play with them, look inside, and see how they work.

Earth Primer defies existing genres, combining aspects of science books, toys, simulations, and games. It is a new kind of interactive experience which joins the guided quality of a book with open ended simulation play.

Features:

• Discover how Earth works through play.

• The forces of nature are at your fingertips— make volcanoes, shape sand dunes, form glaciers, sculpt mountains, push around tectonic plates, paint with wind, heat up magma—and more!

• 20 different tools to unlock.

• Richly interactive geological simulations.

• Sandbox mode.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Gingold

https://www.wired.com/2015/02/a-sandbox-for-the-anthropocene...

https://vimeo.com/116182914

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtsf3nRFfwk

[joe_blank]

If memory serves me right, the mountains are a result of the last big ice age. Everything north was completely covered in a glacier. So the river beeing older does not seem unlikely.

[vanderZwan]

Go slightly west from there and you'll see why the Dutch have a reputation for reclaiming land from the sea.

[DonHopkins]

Now why would you mention that, Meneer van der Zwan? ;)

[vanderZwan]

I haven't the faintest[0], monsigneur "I'm pretty sure I've read articles about pie menus being designed by someone with your name during my interaction design master" ;)

(Also, oh wow, it's actually you!)

[0] https://www.cbgfamilienamen.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba_lcnaa...

[DonHopkins]

Wow, how close did it guess your actual location?

Did you know you can enter your first name into Wolfram Alpha and it will guess your age, based on US birth statistics. So it's a shot in the dark with Dutch names.

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=kees&assumption=%7B%22...

A better example, it guesses "Gertrude" is probably 86 years old:

https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=gertrude

[vanderZwan]

It's completely off, haha, since I emigrated. But my grandfather did indeed come from Scheveningen, which lies inside that one hotspot. There are basically a handful of last names that up to a few generations ago were as good as unique to that fishing village, and Van der Zwan is one of them. I try not to think too much about the genetic implications of that fact.

(now I wonder how you knew that "Kees" is a Dutch name)

[giancarlostoro]

I may be really biased because I'm from Puerto Rico, but I do like how Puerto Rico looks:

https://anvaka.github.io/peak-map/#8.61/18.2865/-66.3545