Category: places

Covão Dos Conchos – A sinkhole in a lagoon that looks like a portal to the underworld

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

Covão dos Conchos is an artificial lake in the Serra da Estrela mountains in Portugal that is famous for its Bell-mouth spillway. The spillway was built in 1955 with the aim of diverting water from Ribeira das Naves to Lagoa Comprida. This sci-fi-looking spillway was little-known until photos of the hole went viral in 2016. Over the last 60 years moss and foliage has grown onto the mouth of the funnel, adding to its ethereal allure. The tunnel that collects the water is 1519 meters long. The sinkhole creates the illusion that the dam is broken.

info: wikipedia

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The Hungry Tree

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places

The Hungry Tree is a tree in the grounds of the King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland. The 80-year-old plane tree has become known for having partially consumed a nearby park bench. The tree was planted next to a cast iron bench dating from the early 1800s. Over decades the tree has grown to encompass the bench and is said to be “eating” the bench, which is how the tree’s name originated. The tree has been listed as one of the country’s “Heritage Trees” by the Tree Council of Ireland and it has been listed largely for its value as a curiosity and tourist attraction rather than its age or rarity.

William Murphy/CC BY-SA 2.0

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The Hanging Lake

by eMORFES, posted in photography, places

Hanging Lake in Colorado. Early tales of the discovery of the lake tell of a man searching for gold in the canyon. The man found a dead horse at the opening of a gulch (the possible origin of the name of Dead Horse Gulch). When he followed the gulch up through the steep hillside through the canyon he came around the back side of the lake. This is how he first saw the small bowl-like basin hanging onto the cliffs below.

Joshuahicks, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Ice Volcano in Kazakhstan

by eMORFES, posted in bizarre, places, science

“Iceberg” is located in the Kegen district of the Almaty region between the villages of Kegen and Shyrganak. Thanks to the fine particles of water that are sprayed high into the sky, the “iceberg” looks like a smoking ice volcano. The “volcano” appears every winter with the arrival of cold weather as a result of an underground spring.  When temperatures drop below zero, the water freezes  in the form of a volcano cone.

Wheeler Geologic Area known as “The City of Gnomes”

by eMORFES, posted in places

The Wheeler Geologic Area is a highly eroded outcropping of layers of volcanic ash, in the La Garita Mountains of Mineral County, in southern Colorado. The formations are named after Captain George M. Wheeler, who explored and surveyed this area in 1874 for the U.S. Army.

John Fowler from Placitas, NM, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Hall of Mosses

by eMORFES, posted in photography, places

The Hall of Mosses is a loop trail through a portion of the Hoh National Rainforest, Washington. A lush, atmospheric forest of moss-covered trees and ferns.

2 Brandon Kuschel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Siberia’s enormous hole in the ground is getting bigger

by eMORFES, posted in places

The Batagaika crater in eastern Siberia is the biggest permafrost crater in the world. According to research published in 2016, the crater wall has been growing by a yearly average of 20-30 meters per year over a ten-year observational period. The local Yukatian people report hearing ominous noises, leading some to call it a portal to the underworld. The depression is in the form of a one-kilometre-long and growing. The land began to sink due to the thawing permafrost in the 1960s after the surrounding forest was cleared. Flooding also contributed to the enlargement of the crater.
info source: wikipedia

NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Neversink Pit

by eMORFES, posted in places

Somewhere between a sinkhole and a cave, Neversink Pit in northern Alabama is a wet, limestone sinkhole formed when acidic water eroded the rock beneath the ground. The 162ft pit is 40 feet wide at the top. Ferns spill off the eerie ledges, and bats roost in the niches. This geological wonder attracts a stream of hikers, cave divers and photographers.

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The Salt Rocks of Iran

by eMORFES, posted in places, science

Salt domes are located in the Zagros Mountains, in southwestern Iran. Thick layers of minerals such as halite (common table salt) typically accumulate in closed basins during alternating wet and dry climatic conditions. Over geologic time, these layers of salt are buried under younger layers of rock. The pressure from overlying rock layers causes the lower-density salt to flow upwards. Salt rocks with orange, yellow, red and gray lines, which indicates the existence of metal elements,  are also called Rainbow Salt.

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Stuðlagil Canyon: A basalt column canyon towering over a turquoise glacial river

by eMORFES, posted in places

Stuðlagil  is a ravine in the Eastern Region of Iceland. It is known for its columnar basalt rock formations and the blue-green water that runs through it. It became an unexpected tourist sensation after being shown in a WOW air airline brochure in 2017. The rock formation is 30 meters tall.
The river Jökla runs through the ravine. The water level decreased by 7 to 8 meters due to the Kárahnjúkar Hydropower Plant, which opened in 2009.

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