- The Big Bend Unit presents a dramatic landscape sculpted 15,000 to 12,000 years ago by the Okanogan Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The unit is comprised of basalt cliffs, rolling hills peppered with basalt haystack rocks, low buttes that overlook the Columbia River, riparian draws, permanent and seasonal creeks, and rugged slopes filled with Ponderosa pine.
- Magnesium (Wikipedia)
Magnesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic table) it occurs naturally only in combination with other elements and it almost always has an oxidation state of +2. It reacts readily with air to form a thin passivation coating of magnesium oxide that inhibits further corrosion of the metal. The free metal burns with a brilliant-white light. The metal is obtained mainly by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine. It is less dense than aluminium and is used primarily as a component in strong and lightweight alloys that contain aluminium.