Nazca type lines in the USA

[D H]

It's about 8 miles south of Naturita Colorado.

And, as far as I can tell, Amateur-1 has discovered farming.

Farming or grazing. Those are contour strips.

 

Amateur-1, this is the semi-arid Colorado plateau, not the Nazca Desert. Those Nazca lines would only last a few years on the Colorado plateau. Vegetation and rainfall would erase them in no time. Look at your images. The nearby mountains and hills are covered with scrub forest. The contour buffer strips between the grazing land or fields are filled scrub vegetation.

 

That land is not flat. Farmers and ranchers would lose what meagre topsoil there is if they didn't follow good conservationist agricultural practices. Fields follow contour lines of the terrain, with unfarmed contour buffer strips separating the farmed areas. Grazing is similar. That scrub vegetation is not very nutritious. Cutting down that scrub vegetation allows more grass to grow, but also allows erosion to occur. Ranchers use a bush hog to create contours strips of grazing land, leaving contour buffer strips of uncut vegetation to reduce erosion.

[insane_alien]

well, it's definitely recent since it follows road 16Z exactly and 16Z is frequently used by climbers going to the nearby cliffs.

 

Probably someone got bored with a tractor and cleared some topsoil. besides, apparently the area experiences flooding and it gets impassible due to the mud. I doubt this would have survived 100 years never mind a couple of hundred.

 

modern art, not ancient art.

[imatfaal]

fantastic contrast on the bing maps

 

i think this link should take one there. Edit OK it doesn't. Ooops - will see if I can get a link

 

There does seem to be a bit of artistic flair in the lines, would be an amazing site from a light aeroplane - I haven't spotted any others yet.

 

If I am understanding DH and i_a's explanations correctly the farmer has left the green scrub to protect the land from wind and rain erosion, while he grows grass in the cleared sections. Would he then graze cattle on the grass - looks like a terribly difficult shape to harvest (says the complete city boy )

Edited February 22, 2012 by imatfaal