posted on Jul, 3 2011 @ 07:51 PM
If you have an ultraviolet flashlight, the lichen will glow. UV light is also used to detect the presence of uranium in rock (generally uranium oxide,
which glows green), so the lichen is most considered a nuance by rock hounds.
Most google earth resolution is so poor you can't detect much on the ground in the way of rocks, bits of debris, etc. Lately the resolution in some
area is good enough that I can see reflections in areas where I know crash debris is located. I spotted a small reflection where a camera/solar-cell
is located near the front gate of Groom Lake. But if you didn't know what was there, GE would have been useless.
Google earth is good for detecting man made objects at least a few meters across. To detect minerals, you would need multispectral imagery at the very
least.