Tag: Nature

Lake Powell – Blue waters and red rock vistas

Lake Powell is a man-made reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. The Lake was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the 1972 creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular summer destination of public land.  The lake also stretches up the Escalante River and San Juan River where they merge into the main Colorado River. This provides access to many natural geographic points of interest such as the Rainbow Bridge, the Hite Crossing Bridge, Cathedral in the Desert and San Juan goosenecks. The sparkling blue waters of Lake Powell are magnificently framed by towering rock formations and soaring red cliffs which surround the area for as far as the eye can see.
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ALAN SCHMIERER / CC0

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Iconic Wanaka Tree – A crooked willow tree that stands in a lake

“That Wanaka Tree” – a willow growing just inside the lake – is a tourist attraction in its own right, featuring on many tourists’ Instagram feeds. The tree had its lower branches, including one branch that dips into the water, cut by vandals in 2020. The lone tree is at the foothills of Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand, a World Heritage Site and symbolises hope and endurance.

“That Wanaka Tree”, a willow growing off the shores of Lake Wanaka, against a mountainous background. Tom Hall / CC BY

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Striking geology – Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness is located in northwestern  New Mexico, between Chaco Canyon and the De-Na-Zin Wilderness. The wilderness has multicolored badlands, sandstone hoodoos (fairy chimneys), petrified wood and it’s rich with fossils, hills and occasional instances of pińon-juniper, sagebrush and scrubland vegetation.

By Bob Wick Link

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3 of the Best Hocking Hills State Park Caves

Hocking Hills State Park is a state park in Ohio, United States. Within the park are over 25 miles of hiking trails, rock formations, waterfalls, and recess caves.
In the southernmost reaches of Hocking Hills is Ash Cave, the largest, most impressive recess cave in the state. The horseshoe-shaped cave measures 700 feet from end to end, 100 feet deep from the rear cave wall to its front edge with the rim rising 90 feet high. The cave was named after the huge pile of ashes found under the shelter by early settlers.

Ash cave J. Todd Poling/CC BY 2.0

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Underwater river flowing under the ocean in Mexico

Underwater rivers are formed when the fresh top water meets the exposed salty groundwater. The different density levels in the two waters causes them to layer. Undersea rivers are similar to the rivers we see on land. They have banks on either side, They carve valleys into the sea floor and follow meandering paths. These rivers were unknown until the 1980s, when sonar mapping of the seafloor began to reveal them.
Angelita in Yucatan, Mexico, looks like any ordinary swimming hole. It’s not until you dive almost 100 feet that the underwater river becomes exposed.

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Mind Blowing Cocoons in Rainforest

Incredible examples of art in nature.

Rainforest Expedition’s Troy Alexander spotted the bizarre maypole-in-miniature in the Southern Peruvian Amazon. Alexander posted a photograph of his discovery to /r/whatsthisbug, a subreddit devoted to identifying insects and their handiwork.

Seriously, who makes egg cases like this? Just under 2cm across, Southern Peruvian Amazon from whatsthisbug

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Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls is located on Multnomah Creek in Oregon, US. Spanning two tiers on basalt cliffs, it is the tallest waterfall in the state of Oregon at 620 ft (189 m) in height. The falls drops in two major steps, split into an upper falls and a lower falls. The two drops are due to a zone of more easily eroded basalt at the base of the upper falls. Underground springs from Larch Mountain are the year-round source of water for the waterfall, augmented by spring runoff from the mountain’s snowpack and rainwater during the other seasons. According to legend from the Multnomah tribe (from whom the falls take their name), the waterfall was formed after a young woman sacrificed herself to the Great Spirit to save Multnomah village from a plague by jumping from the cliff. After her death, water began to flow from above the cliff, creating the waterfall. Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million stopping by each year.
info: wikipedia

By Another Believer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Sargasso Sea: The only sea without a land boundary

The Sargasso Sea is a region of the North Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents that swirl around the Bermuda forming a vast whirlpool called the North Atlantic gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water. The sargassum originates in the nutrient-rich zones close to the coast of the Americas, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. All of the currents deposit the marine plants which they are carrying into this sea, yet the ocean water in the Sargasso Sea is distinctive for its deep blue color and exceptional clarity. It is also a body of water that has captured the public imagination, and so is seen in a wide variety of literary and artistic works and in popular culture. The Sargasso Sea is frequently (but erroneously) depicted in fiction as a dangerous area where ships are mired in weed for centuries, unable to escape.
info: wikipedia

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Elephant Foot Glacier

Romer is a land-locked freshwater fjord at the northern end of King Frederick VIII Land, near Greenland’s northeastern coast. The Lake is famous for its impressive Elephant Foot Glacier, a wide piedmont glacier with a strikingly shaped 5.4 kilometers (3 mi) wide terminal lobe flowing into the lake from the SE in its central part.
info wikipedia

By Hedwig Storch – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Hamilton Pool Preserve

Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool is located about 23 miles (37 km) west of Austin, Texas. The pool is surrounded by large slabs of limestone that rest by the water’s edge. Large stalactites grow from the ceiling high above. The ceiling and surrounding cliffs of the grotto are home to moss, maidenhair fern and cliff swallows. The Ashe juniper (cedar) uplands of the preserve are home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.
info source: wikipedia

By Trey Perry – http://perrygraph.com/collections/austin/products/hamilton-pool, CC BY 3.0, Link

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