The Balaa gorge sinkhole is a waterfall in Lebanon. The waterfall drops 255 metres (837 ft) into the Balaa Pothole, a cave of Jurassic limestone. The cave is also known as the Cave of the Three Bridges. The three natural bridges, rising one above the other and overhanging a chasm descending into Mount Lebanon.
Eucalyptus pauciflora, commonly known as snow gum, is a species of tree native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark in shades of white, gray, and occasionally red and white flowers. The bark sheds, giving it an attractive mottled appearance in various colors.
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a geological depression that has resulted from the divergence of three tectonic plates in the Horn of Africa. Τhe Danakil Depression is the hottest place on Earth in terms of year-round average temperatures. It is also one of the lowest places on the planet (100 m below sea level, and without rain for most of the year. Among the geological points of interest to tourists are the hydrothermal system of Dallol and the Yellow Lake.
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
“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.
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
Continue reading “Wheeler Geologic Area known as “The City of Gnomes””
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
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
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.
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.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
