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Mysterious World Wonders In Photographs (Breathtaking Photos)

Thursday, November 7, 2013 17:26

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(N.Morgan) In my never ending search for beauty, I came upon some truly remarkable photographs of natural wonders from around the world. From the odd to the extraordinary, these photos cover all of it and much, much more.

Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand

The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders. These boulders are grey-colored septarian concretions, which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on the beach by coastal erosion

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni is a magical place: When covered by water, the world’s largest salt flat becomes a mirror, and anyone walking across it appears to be walking on clouds. The salt crust, which covers 10 583 square kilometres in southwestern Bolivia at 11,995 feet above sea level, is nearly flat, which makes it ideal for calibrating the altimeters of satellites. Salar de Uyuni’s origins lie in prehistoric lakes; it is a major breeding ground for several species of flamingos.

Eye of Africa, Mauritania

The Eye of Africa — whose official name, the Richat Structure, seems so mundane in comparison — was spotted in central Mauritania by astronauts on early space missions. In the expanse of the Western Sahara Desert, the formation has a diameter of about 48 kilometres. At first, scientists thought a meteorite had hit the Earth, causing this impression. But now it is believed to be a symmetrical uplift that erosion has revealed. No one has explained yet why it is circular.

The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland

The Giant’s Causeway (known as Clochán an Aifir or Clochán na bhFomhórach in Irish^[1] and tha Giant’s Causey in Ulster-Scots)^[2] is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.

It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant’s Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.^[3] The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 ft) thick in places.

Middle East Desert Floor Drawings

The secrets of these stone structures are only now being unravelled, probably because it is nearly impossible to get the entire picture at ground level. But with views from airplanes and satellites, archeologists have discovered thousands of these “floor drawings” of stones in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The wheels measure from 25 metres to 70 metres across and could be at least 2,000 years old; other stone structures are far older. What were they used for? Did they carry special meaning? That is still yet to be discovered.

Racetrack Playa, Calif.

Even NASA cannot explain it. It’s best to gaze in wonder at the sliding rocks on this dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. Racetrack Playa is almost completely flat, four kilometres from north to south and two kilometres from east to west, and covered with cracked mud. The rocks, some weighing hundreds of pounds, slide across the sediment, leaving furrows in their wakes, but no one has actually witnessed it. Is it the wind? Something to do with ice? Will it ever be explained?

Spotted Lake, Canada

Spotted Lake is very highly concentrated with numerous different minerals. It contains some of the highest quantities (in the world) of magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium sulphates. It also contains extremely high concentrations of eight other minerals as well as some small doses of four others such as silver and titanium.

Most of the water in the lake evaporates over the summer, leaving behind all the minerals. Large “spots” on the lake appear and depending on the mineral composition at the time, the spots will be different colors. The spots are made mainly of magnesium sulfate, which crystallizes in the summer. In the summer only the minerals in the lake remain, and they harden to form natural “walkways” around and between the spots.^[2]

Pamukkale, Turkey

Cotton Castle, Pamukkale’s translated name, is a wildly popular tourist site. Seventeen hot-water springs in the area spill out water in temperatures ranging from 95 degrees to 212 degrees, which contains a high concentration of calcium bicarbonate. The water flows off a cliff, cools and hardens into calcium deposits that form terraces. These terraces are as white as cotton and bright enough to be easily seen from the town of Denizli, which is on the opposite side of the valley, 19 kilometres away. The terraces, which continue to grow, hold pools of water. Soakers are welcome; shoes are not, to protect the deposits.

Split Apple Rock, New Zealand

Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in The Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

Made of granite, it is in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. It is a popular tourist attraction in the waters of the Tasman Sea approximately 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Marahau.^[1]

The rock sits in shallow water at low tide and is accessible by wading. It is also a point of interest for the many tourist boats and pleasure craft which operate along the shores of the Abel Tasman National Park.

The cleft to produce two sides of the ‘apple’ was a natural occurrence. It is unknown when this happened and therefore the cleaving of the rock has attracted mythological explanations.^[2]

Zlatni Rat, Croatia

Zlatni Rat (Golden Cape) is a narrow white pebble beach on a promontory near Bol, located 2 kilometres (1 mile) west of Bol harbour, on the southern coast of the island of Brač, Croatia. The shape of the beach shifts with the changes in tide, currents and wind, veering out into the sea 634 m long.^[1] A reliable afternoon westerly wind known as a Maestral, together with clear and somewhat cool water make the beach a destination for windsurfers.

The beach is bordered by a pine tree grove in which one can find remnants of a Roman villa rustica, including a swimming pool.

The westmost edge of the beach and several coves to the west of the main beach are clothing-optional.

The promontory is protected as a geomorphological phenomenon.^[1]

Goblin Valley State Park, Utah

Goblin Valley State Park is a state park of Utah, USA.

Its eminent feature is its thousands of hoodoos and hoodoo rocks, which are formations of mushroom-shaped rock pinnacles, some as high as several meters. The distinct shape of these rocks comes from an erosion-resistant layer of rock atop softer sandstone.

The park lies within the San Rafael Desert southeast of the east limb of the San Rafael Swell and north of the Henry Mountains. Utah State Route 24 passes about four miles east of the park. Hanksville lies 12 miles to the south.^[4]^[5]

Hiking is permitted in the park, which features three marked trails.

Mono Lake, Calif.

“In the middle distance there rests upon the desert plain what appears to be a wide sheet of burnished metal, so even and brilliant is its surface. It is Lake Mono.” So wrote Israel C. Russell in the Quaternary History of the Mono Valley in 1889. Much of the ancient saline lake hasn’t changed. Mono Lake, which covers more than 181 square kilometres, has no fish. It is believed the lake could be one million to three million years old, and it is among the oldest lakes in North America. One thing that has changed here as the landscape makes the transition from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Great Basin Desert is the appearance of tufa, unusual rock formations that crowd the shore. The tufa towers are limestone and grow underwater; they are exposed because the lake grew more shallow when water diversions started in 1941.

Great Blue Hole, Belize

The Great Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll 70 km (43 mi) from the mainland and Belize City. The hole is circular in shape, over 300 m (984 ft) across and 124 m (407 ft) deep.^[1] It was formed during several episodes of quaternary glaciation when sea levels were much lower. Analysis of stalactites found in Great Blue Hole shows that formation took place 153,000; 66,000; 60,000; and 15,000 years ago.^[2] As the ocean began to rise again, the cave was flooded.^[3] The Great Blue Hole is a part of the larger Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).^[4]

Shilin Stone Forest, China

The Stone Forest or Shilin (Chinese: 石 林; pinyin: Shílín) is a notable set of limestone formations located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China, near Shilin approximately 120 km (75 mi) from the provincial capital Kunming. The tall rocks seem to emanate from the ground in the manner of stalagmites, with many looking like petrified trees thereby creating the illusion of a forest made of stone. Since 2007, two parts of the site, the Naigu Stone Forest (乃古石林) and Suogeyi Village (所各邑村), have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the South China Karst.^[1] The site is classified as a AAAAA-class tourist site.^[2]

Mud Volcanoes, Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is in the first place in the world for the amount of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes broadly spread in Azerbaijan. There are about 350 of 800 volcanoes of the world in Azerbaijani Republic. Local people call them “yanardagh” (burning mountain), “pilpila” (terrace), “gaynacha” (boiling water) and “bozdag” (grey mountain) alongside its geographical name – mud volcanoes.

Moaning Cavern, Vallecito, Calif.

The sounds echoing through the cavern might be unnervingly like a human moan. But the sound is created by water dripping into holes in the bottom of the formation, which causes a drumming sound that echoes off the walls and is carried out of the Moaning Cavern’s natural entrance by the wind. Gold miners came upon this cavern in 1851 (it is near Angels Camp), but it has been known about for far longer; some of the oldest human remains known in the Americas were found here.

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