Wikipedia:Main Page history/2011 May 28

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An air photo of Inyo Craters

The Mono–Inyo Craters are a north–south-trending volcanic chain in Eastern California that stretch 25 miles (40 km) from the northwest shore of Mono Lake to south of Mammoth Mountain. The chain is located in Mono County in the U.S. State of California. Eruptions along the narrow fissure system under the chain began in the west moat of Long Valley Caldera 400,000 to 60,000 years ago. Mammoth Mountain was formed during this period. Multiple eruptions from 40,000 to 600 years ago created Mono Craters and eruptions 5,000 to 500 years ago formed Inyo Craters. The area has been used by humans for centuries. Obsidian was collected by Mono Paiutes for making sharp tools and arrow points. Mono Mills processed timber felled on or near the volcanoes for the nearby boomtown Bodie in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Water diversions into the Los Angeles Aqueduct system from their natural outlets in Mono Lake started in 1941 after a water tunnel was cut under Mono Craters. Mono Lake Volcanic Field and a large part of Mono Craters gained some protection under Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area in 1984. Resource use along all of the chain is managed by the United States Forest Service as part of Inyo National Forest. (more...)

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  • In the news

  • American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron (pictured) dies at the age of 62.
  • Leaders of the G8 countries meet at the 37th G8 summit in France.
  • Irish writer John Banville wins the Franz Kafka Prize.
  • Ratko Mladić, a former Bosnian Serb Army commander, is arrested in Serbia pursuant to 1995 war crimes charges.
  • Three people are killed in three explosions outside government buildings in Fuzhou, Jiangxi, China.
  • Mac Defender poses the first major malware threat to Macintosh users.
  • NASA's Spirit rover mission on Mars formally ends after six years of planetary exploration.
  • On this day...

    May 28: Republic Day in Armenia and Azerbaijan

    Flag of Azerbaijan

  • 1754French and Indian War: Led by 22-year-old George Washington, a company of colonial militia from Virginia ambushed a force of 35 Canadiens in the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
  • 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (flag pictured), one of the first democratic republics in the Muslim world, was proclaimed in Ganja by the Azerbaijani National Council.
  • 1974 – After widespread loyalist opposition and a two-week general strike, the power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement between Northern Ireland and a cross-border Council of Ireland collapsed.
  • 1987West German Mathias Rust flew his Cessna 172 through the supposedly impregnable Soviet air defense system and landed in Red Square in Moscow.
  • 1998 – The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission carried out five underground nuclear tests, becoming the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and publicly test nuclear weapons.
  • More anniversaries: May 27May 28May 29

    It is now May 28, 2011 (UTC) – Refresh this page

    Today's featured picture

    Deadvlei, Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia

    Dead Acacia erioloba trees in Deadvlei, a white claypan inside Namib-Naukluft Park in the Namib Desert of Namibia. Deadvlei is surrounded by the highest sand dunes in the world, averaging 350 metres (1,150 ft) high. About 900 years ago, drought caused the dunes to block the Tsauchab river, which in turn killed the trees. However, because the desert is so dry, they do not decompose.

    Photo: Ikiwaner

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