Spirit Island: a beauty in the Canadian Rockies

By GJThomson, CC BY 3.0, Link

Spirit Island is a tiny tied – connected to land only by a spit of beach materials – island in Jasper National Park. This landmark is the destination of boat trips across Maligne Lake. Spirit Island enjoys worldwide reputation, and is one of the most famous and photographed views of the Canadian Rockies. Winters are extremely harsh with the lowest recorded temperature of -50 degree Celsius. Average snowfall is six meters in a winter.
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Illusion of a ‘breathing forest’ in Canada

Photo Credit: Maxpixel

“The ground looks like it’s breathing in this Quebec forest,” wrote user Daniel Holland on twitter. According to the Forbes report, air is involved in this illusion, as strong wind plays a role in moving the trees and the topsoil. During a storm the ground becomes saturated with water, loosening the soil’s cohesion. As strong winds move the top of the tree, the force is transferred by the stem, acting as a lever, to the roots and the ground begins to move.

The wind caused the trees to sway, roots and all. In fact, the whole floor seems to rise and fall as if the earth itself was breathing. The phenomenon works best with spruce trees with their almost disc-shaped root system growing in the uppermost layers of the soil.

The tunneled sequoia trees

Tuolumne Grove is a sequoia grove located near Crane Flat in Yosemite National Park. The grove contains about twenty-five large giant sequoia specimens. The one-tenth-mile trail includes the “Dead Giant,” the first tree to be tunneled in the park. In 1878, the huge, already dead sequoia, 30 feet in diameter at the base, hollowed out for stagecoaches and later cars to drive through on the old Big Oak Flat Road. In 1993, park officials closed off car traffic due to damage to the grove’s ecosystem.

By Dcrjsr [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

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Scala dei Turchi: an unusual natural staircase in Sicily

By Carnby – Self-photographed, CC BY 3.0, Link

The Scala dei Turchi (Italian: “Stair of the Turks”) is a rocky cliff coast in southern Sicily, Italy. The Scala is formed by marl, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white color. It lies between two sandy beaches, and is accessed through a limestone rock formation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. The latter part of the name derives from the frequent raids carried on by Moors.
info: wikipedia
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Portraits painted on old paintbrushes

Artist Alexandra Dillon is a Los Angeles-based surrealist who paints on found objects. Her portraits on worn paintbrushes are especially charming. The results are beautiful and engaging faces, often reminiscent of Roman-Egyptian mummy portraits or Baroque painting.

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Gacially carved Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon in Iceland

By Andrés Nieto Porras from Palma de Mallorca, España (Fjaðrárgljúfur) [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

Fjaðrárgljúfur  is a canyon in south east Iceland about 100 m  deep and about 2 kilometres  long, with the Fjaðrá river flowing through it. The canyon has steep walls and winding water.  It is located near the Ring Road, not far from the village of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The canyon was created by progressive erosion by flowing water from glaciers through the rocks and palagonite over millennia. A waterfall flows down the western side of the canyon, visible from an observation platform at the end of a one-mile hike up the eastern edge.
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The natural Saturnia Thermal Baths in Tuscany

By © Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

The Terme di Saturnia are a group of springs located a few kilometers from the village of Saturnia in Italy. The springs that feed the baths, which are found in the south-eastern valley, cover a vast territory that stretches from Mount Amiata and the hills of Fiora and Albegna rivers. One legend, according to the Romans, was that the springs were formed by lightning bolts, thrown by Jupiter. The earth split apart to form hot springs that flowed in warm waterfalls.
The sulfurous hot springs, at a temperature of 37.5 °C, are well known for their therapeutic properties, offering relaxation and well being through immersion. The main thermal waterfalls are the Mill Falls – located at an old mill – a series of rock pools that have been turned white by the minerals in the water, which falls in a succession of cascades into the pools.
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