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Hamilton Pool
Hamilton Pool Preserve is a recreational destination located in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin. Reservations are required to visit, and it is open for hiking and sight-seeing. Hamilton Pool is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool is located about west of Austin, Texas off Highway 71. Since the 1960s, Hamilton Pool has been a popular summer swimming spot for Austin visitors and residents. Hamilton Pool Preserve consists of of protected natural habitat featuring a jade green pool into which a waterfall flows with water temperatures reaching 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The pool is surrounded by large slabs of limestone that rest by the water's edge; large stalactites grow from the ceiling high above. The ceiling and surrounding cliffs of the grotto are home to moss, maidenhair fern and cliff swallows. The Ashe juniper (cedar) uplands of the preserve are home to the endangered g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Travis County, Texas
Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is named in honor of William Barret Travis, the commander of the Republic of Texas forces at the Battle of the Alamo. Travis County is part of the Austin–Round Rock– Georgetown Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located along the Balcones Fault, the boundary between the Edwards Plateau to the west and the Blackland Prairie to the east. History Pre-Columbian and colonial periods Evidence of habitation of the Balcones Escarpment region of Texas can be traced to at least 11,000 years ago. Two of the oldest Paleolithic archeological sites in Texas, the Levi Rock Shelter and Smith Rock Shelter, are in southwest and southeast Travis County, respectively. Several hundred years before European settlers arrived, a variety of nomadic Native Am ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texas Parks And Wildlife Department
The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state's parks and historical areas. Its mission is to manage and conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas and to provide hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation opportunities for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The agency maintains its headquarters at 4200 Smith School Road in Austin. History In 1895, the Texas Legislature created the Fish and Oyster Commission to regulate fishing. The legislature added the Game Department to the commission in 1907. The Legislature created the State Parks Board as a separate entity in 1923. In 1963, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was formed through merger of the State Parks Board and the Game and Fish Commission. In 1983, the Texas legislature passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, giving the department the authority ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protected Areas Of Travis County, Texas
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although the mechanisms for providing protection vary widely, the basic meaning of the term remains the same. This is illustrated by an explanation found in a manual on electrical wiring: Some kind of protection is a characteristic of all life, as living things have evolved at least some protective mechanisms to counter damaging environmental phenomena, such as ultraviolet light. Biological membranes such as bark on trees and skin on animals offer protection from various threats, with skin playing a key role in protecting organisms against pathogens and excessive water loss. Additional structures like scales and hair offer further protection from the elements and from predators, with some animals having features such as spines or camouflage servin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterfalls Of Texas
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ways, but the most common method of formation is that a river courses over a top layer of resistant bedrock before falling on to softer rock, which erodes faster, leading to an increasingly high fall. Waterfalls have been studied for their impact on species living in and around them. Humans have had a distinct relationship with waterfalls for years, travelling to see them, exploring and naming them. They can present formidable barriers to navigation along rivers. Waterfalls are religious sites in many cultures. Since the 18th century they have received increased attention as tourist destinations, sources of hydropower, andparticularly since the mid-20th centuryas subjects of research. Definition and terminology A waterfall is general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tree Of Life (film)
''The Tree of Life'' is a 2011 American experimental coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and featuring a cast of Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Jessica Chastain, and Tye Sheridan in his debut feature film role. The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the known universe and the inception of life on Earth. After several years in development and missing its planned 2009 and 2010 release dates, ''The Tree of Life'' premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d'Or. It ranked number one on review aggregator Metacritic's "Top Ten List of 2011", and made more critics' year-end lists for 2011 than any other film. It appeared in the 2012 ''Sight & Sound'' critics' poll of the world's top 250 films as well as BBC's poll of the greatest American films ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predators (film)
''Predators'' is a 2010 American science fiction action film directed by Nimród Antal, written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch and starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and Laurence Fishburne. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment of the ''Predator'' franchise. The film follows an ensemble cast of characters including Royce (Adrien Brody), a mercenary who appears in an unidentified jungle among other proficient killers. They find that they have been abducted and placed on a planet that acts as a game reserve for two warring tribes of extraterrestrial killers, and actively look for a way to return to Earth. Producer Robert Rodriguez had developed a script for a third installment as early as 1994, although it was not until 2009 that 20th Century Fox greenlit the project. According to Rodriguez, the title ''Predators'' is an allusion to the second film in the ''Alien'' franchise, ''Aliens'' (1986). The title also has a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teeth (2007 Film)
A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tearing food, for defensive purposes, to intimidate other animals often including their own, or to carry prey or their young. The roots of teeth are covered by gums. Teeth are not made of bone, but rather of multiple tissues of varying density and hardness that originate from the embryonic germ layer, the ectoderm. The general structure of teeth is similar across the vertebrates, although there is considerable variation in their form and position. The teeth of mammals have deep roots, and this pattern is also found in some fish, and in crocodilians. In most teleost fish, however, the teeth are attached to the outer surface of the bone, while in lizards they are attached to the inner surface of the jaw by one side. In cartilaginous fish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hot Spot
''The Hot Spot'' is a 1990 American neo-noir film directed by Dennis Hopper, based on the 1953 novel ''Hell Hath No Fury'' by Charles Williams, who also co-wrote the screenplay. It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly, and features a score by Jack Nitzsche played by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal, Roy Rogers, Tim Drummond, and drummer Earl Palmer. Plot Drifter Harry Madox takes a job as a used car salesman in a small Texas town. In the summer heat, he develops an interest in Gloria Harper, who works at the car dealership. Dolly Harshaw, who is married to the dealership's owner, flirts with Harry and they begin a torrid affair. Harry learns that the bank staff are all volunteer firemen so he sets a fire to lure them away from the bank. While they are gone, Harry robs the bank, and then enters the burning building to save a man trapped inside. Despite this the town's sheriff suspects Harry of committing the robbery, but Dolly gives him an alibi and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persea Borbonia
''Persea borbonia'' or redbay is a small, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), native to the southeastern United States. It belongs to the genus '' Persea'', a group of evergreen trees including bays and the avocado. ''Persea borbonia'' has several common names including tisswood, scrubbay, shorebay, and swampbay. Description ''Persea borbonia'' can be present as either a small tree or a large shrub. It has evergreen leaves that are about 3 to 6 inches long with a lance shape. The leaves are arranged alternately and emit a spicy smell when crushed. The leaves vary in color from bright green to dark green. These trees are capable of producing fruit that is a small, blue or black drupe. Redbay is a perennial, with a non-herbaceous stem that is lignified. Distribution ''Persea borbonia'' grows in the coastal margins of the southeastern United States. It is endemic to the lowlands of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epipactis Gigantea
''Epipactis gigantea'' is a species of orchid known as the stream orchid, giant helleborine, and chatterbox. This wildflower is native to western North America from British Columbia to central Mexico. This is one of the most abundant orchids of the Pacific coast of North America. Description ''Epipactis gigantea'' is an erect perennial reaching anywhere from 30 centimeters to one meter in height. Its stems have prominently-veined, wide or narrow lance-shaped leaves 5 to 15 centimeters long and inflorescences of two or three showy orchids near the top. Each flower has three straight sepals which are light brownish or greenish with darker veining, each one to two centimeters long. The two top petals are similar in shape and reddish-brown with purple veins. The lowest petal is cup-shaped with a pointed, tongue-like protuberance and is brighter red-brown and more starkly veined, often with areas of yellow. The fruit is a hanging capsule 2 or 3 centimeters long which contains thousa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rockfall
A rockfall or rock-fallWhittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984. . is a quantity/sheets of rock that has fallen freely from a cliff face. The term is also used for collapse of rock from roof or walls of mine or quarry workings. "A rockfall is a fragment of rock (a block) detached by sliding, toppling, or falling, that falls along a vertical or sub-vertical cliff, proceeds down slope by bouncing and flying along ballistic trajectories or by rolling on talus or debris slopes." Alternatively, a "rockfall is the natural downward motion of a detached block or series of blocks with a small volume involving free falling, bouncing, rolling, and sliding". The mode of failure differs from that of a rockslide. Causal mechanisms Favourable geology and climate are the principal causal mechanisms of rockfall, factors that include intact condition of the rock mass, discontinuities within the rockmass, weathering susceptibility, ground and surface water, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ice Wedge
An ice wedge is a crack in the ground formed by a narrow or thin piece of ice that measures up to 3–4 meters in length at ground level and extends downwards into the ground up to several meters. During the winter months, the water in the ground freezes and expands. Once temperatures reach −17 degrees Celsius or lower, the ice that has already formed acts like a solid and expands to form cracks in the surface known as ice wedges. As this process continues over many years ice wedges can grow, up to the size of a swimming pool. Ice wedges usually appear in a polygonal pattern known as ice wedge polygons. The cracks can also be filled with materials other than ice, especially sand, and are then called sand wedges. Formation There are many theories that attempt to explain the origin of ice wedges but only one has been consistently supported by most prominent scientists: the thermal contraction theory. Thermal contraction theory The thermal contraction theory posits that during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
