We skipped a couple of hours from the IAS2009 conference in Algero, Sardinia to look at the
'Grotto of Neptune' caves.
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At the start of the fieldtrip, illustrious leaders Nabil Gasmi and Gian Ori show our location
on the Chott-El-Djerid near Tozeur on a satellite image
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Jason Barnes and Jani Radebaugh on the Chott. Note the subaqueous ripples on the sand. Since the area is
dead flat, the current to make these ripples must have been wind-blown?
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Nebkhas on the Sebkha. Nebkhas are small coppice (lee) dunes, anchored by these halophyte plants
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Striking sunset over the flooded Chott. A rare shaft of rain is visible over the road
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No trip to the desert would be complete without camels
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Jani caresses the fine Saharan sands at the edge of the Grand Erg
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Jason with Yardangs
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A cafe near the yardangs has a tame falcon, perched on a desert rose
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Germari de Villiers and Gian debate the geological history of the area
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Me with large plates of gypsum
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The crew on the salt flats
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Yardangs and ruins of a Star Wars set
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Jason with the ruins - the result of the set being overrun by a barchan sand dune
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Some of Episode 1: A Phantom Menace was shot here
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The Phantom Menace set is rather better-preserved
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But is still at the mercy of the dunes - this barchan will in time overrun it
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Spectacular canyon at Tamergza, just next to the Algerian border
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Jani poses in front of an ephemeral river channel and ruins on the way to Tamergza
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Gian with an evaporite sequence that may be used for testing Mars drills
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Flights back didnt connect, so we had a day to kill in Rome
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