VizWorld.com

Click for Fullsize

An article at io9 covers a recent discovery from Ross A. Harley and his colleagues of a new continent off the coast of Scotland that now exists 2km under the water.  In discovering how it appeared and disappeared, they discovered a “thermal anomaly” they call “Mantle plume”, with the visualization above.

Basically, as you can see in the image at left, superheated rock in the Earth’s mantle (near the core of the planet) can sometimes create giant plumes of heat that push to the surface of the planet. When this happens, radical disruptions can occur — such as huge chunks of the seafloor rising suddenly above the surface of the ocean. And that’s what probably created this short-lived landmass.

via This lost continent off the coast of Scotland disappeared beneath the ocean 55 million years ago.

Science gis, historical

A great short film from Andrew S Allen tells the dramatized story of the Thomas Beale Cipher, a famous legend that encrypts the location of a huge cache of gold.  The film is part historical, part drama, and simply beautiful to watch.

Using pioneering animation techniques to create a look never seen on film before, this 10-minute award-winning film tells the true legend of history’s most challenging cipher. Professor White, cryptographer extraordinaire, is on the trail of the notoriously uncrackableThomas Beale cipher—a century-old riddle hiding the location of a fortune in gold that has tormented its pursuers since inception. But White is not alone—shadowyforces are tight on his tail.

Watch it below.

The Thomas Beale Cipher from Andrew S Allen on Vimeo.

Graphics animation, historical, short film