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Strange Wonders on

Earth

The RICHAT STRUCTURE, also known as the ‘Eye of the Sahara’, is a prominent geological circular feature in the Sahara desert in Mauritania. Visible from space, it has a diameter of almost 30 miles (@48.3 kms), and has become a landmark for shuttle crews. Initially interpreted as a meteorite impact structure, it is now argued to be a highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome that collapsed.(NASA)

Located in California’s Eastern Sierra, MONO LAKE is an oasis in the dry Great Basin that features stunning ‘tufa towers’, rock formations made of calcium carbonate that are formed by the interaction of freshwater springs and the alkaline lake water. The lake is also over one millions years old, making it one of the oldest lakes in North America.

(Flickr/Maureen)

The MOREAKI BOULDERS are huge spherical boulders scattered along Koekohe Beach in New Zealand. According to Maori legend, the boulders are eel baskets washed up from an enormous, sunken canoe. Scientists explain the boulders as calcite concretions formed about 65 million years ago.

(Wikimedia/ Pseudopanax) 

THE MARBLE CAVES (Cuevas de Mármol) are located on a peninsula of solid marble bordering Lake General Carrera, a remote glacial lake that spans the Chile-Argentina border, according to Atlas Obscura. The patterns that give the marbleized effect were caused by 6000 years of wave erosion.

(Flickr/jvieras) 

The CHOCOLATE HILLS are an unusual geological formation in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines. According to a survey, there are 1776 hills spread over an area of more than 20 square miles covered by green grass that turns brown (resembling chocolates) during the dry season.

(LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images) 

Massive beams of selenite dwarf explorers in the CAVE OF CRYSTALS in Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico, March 18, 2008. Some single gypsum crystals in this cave are 36 feet long (@11 metres) and weigh 121200 pounds (@54975.4 kilograms), some of the largest natural crystals ever found.(Carsten Peter/Speleoresearch & Films/National Geographic/Getty Images)

Located northwest of OSOYOOS in British Columbia in Canada, SPOTTED LAKE contains extremely high concentrations of minerals. Most of the water in the lake evaporates over the summer, leaving behind all the minerals in 'spots’.

(Roberta Olenick/All Canada Photos)

A 'petrified' waterfall? THE HIERVE EL AGUA, located in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, are actually natural mineral formations that have built up over thousands of years as a result of the mineral-laden water. As the water scurries over the cliffs, the excess minerals are deposited, much in the same manner that stalactites are formed in caves.

(Wikimedia/Alejandro Linares Garcia) 

Gateway to the underworld? Located in Florence, Oregon near Cape Perpetua, THOR’S WELL is a gaping sinkhole in Cook's Chasm with waves that can reach a height of 20 feet (@6.1 metres). While beautiful, the natural wonder can be dangerous. Sharp rocks are everywhere and a strong surge of water could suck you down into the abyss.

(Flickr/Bill Young) 

Is it a desert? Comprised of large, white, sweeping dunes, LENÇÓIA MARANHENSES in Brazil looks like a desert but it's not. Located just outside the Amazon Basin, the park is subject to rainfall at the beginning of the year, resulting in blue, green and black 'lagoons' surrounded by the desert-like sand.

(Flickr/Edwin Poon)

A popular tourist destination in the Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand, SPLIT APPLE ROCK is a geological rock formation, made of granite and in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. The cleft to produce two sides of the 'apple' was a natural occurrence, but it is not known when this happened.

(Flickr/Christian Michel)

Located in the Waiotapu geothermal area in the North Island of New Zealand, CHAMPAGNE POOL is a 900 year old hot spring that bubbles with carbon dioxide like a glass of sparkling wine. The bubbles are carbon dioxide. The distinctive orange colour around the edge is caused by the minerals orpiment and realgar, both sulphides of arsenic.(Flickr/Christian Michel)

At RED BEACH in Panjin, China (about 300 miles [@483kms] northeast of Beijing), a unique variety of alkali-tolerant seaweed will turn from green to a vibrant crimson red in the fall, to the delight of tourists who flock to the wetland.

(AFP/AFP/Getty Images)

A large submarine vertical cave measuring 984 feet (@300 metres) in diameter and 407 feet (@124 metres) deep, the GREAT BLUE HOLE (also known as Lighthouse Reef) is believed to be the largest of its kind. Made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world, the site draws divers from all over.

(Flickr/Eric Pheterson)

Near the city of Morondava in western Madagascar lies a surreal forest of majestic baobab trees, jewels of the island country’s landscape. Tourists flock to this famed road, a protected zone, where the BAOBAB, often called the ‘UPSIDE DOWN TREE’, reaches a height of up to 80 feet tall (@24.4 metres) and are up to 800 years old.

(ALINE RANAIVOSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Hidden in a remote area of Russia's Komi Republic, in the northern Ural Mountains, the mysterious Manpupuner rock formations tower over 200 feet (@61 metres) over the northern Siberian landscape. The seven gigantic stone pillars were sculpted by the weathering effects of ice and wind. In 2013, Red Bull athlete Stefan Glowacz became the first man to climb the Seven Giants. (Klaus Fengler/Red Bull Content Pool)

The main feature of the Purnululu National Park in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, the BUNGLE BUNGLES are distinctive beehive-shaped karst sandstone domes that have been eroded by the combined effects of wind and rainfall over a period of 20 million years. The spectacular range was only 'discovered' by a film team in 1983.

(Flickr/Jon Connell) 

DEVILS TOWER is a geological feature that protrudes more than 1200 feet (@366 metres) above the surrounding prairie plains near the Black Hills. Geologists believe it formed from an intrusion of igneous material, which is the forcible entry of magma into or between other rock formations, according to the National Park Service, although there is disagreement about how that process took place. (Flickr/Kimon Berlin)

The 800 foot (@245 metres) SPIDER ROCK is the most distinctive geologic feature at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona and one of the tallest freestanding spires in the world. It is considered a sacred site by the Navajo people and is off-limits to climbers and visitors.

(Flickr/Ken Lund) 

Located on the uninhabited island of Staffa, FINGAL’S CAVE has a unique, cathedral-like structure and hexagonal columns, according to the National Trust for Scotland. The cave was immortalized by Mendelssohn in his Hebrides Overture, after he visited the island in 1829.

(Flickr/dun_deagh)

It is estimated that 300 of the planet’s estimated 700 mud volcanoes are found in Gobustan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. These mysterious gurgling wonders are unpredictable: a build up of pressurized gas in the cone can be released without warning, triggering a jet of fire, and drawing a torrent of fast-flowing mud from the volcano. (Wikimedia/Peretz Partensky)

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the PUERTO PRINCESA SUBTERRANEA RIVER NATIONAL PARK in the Philippines features a spectacular limestone karst landscape with an underground river. A distinguishing feature of the river is that it winds through a cave before flowing directly into the South China Sea. It includes major formations of stalactites and stalagmites, and several large chambers. (Mike Gonzalez)

The WAITOMO GLOWWORM CAVES, located just outside the main Waitomo township on the North Island of New Zealand, are naturally illuminated by thousands of glowworms. Glowworms or Arachnocampa luminosa are tiny, bioluminescent creatures that produce a blue-green light and are found exclusively in New Zealand.

(Image courtesy of Waitomo Glowworm Caves/Discover Waitomo) 

The DEVILS POSTPILE formation, located in extreme north eastern Madera County in eastern California, is a rare sight in the geologic world and ranks as one of the world's finest examples of columnar basalt. Its columns tower 60 feet high (@18.2 metres) and display an unusual symmetry.

(Wikimedia/pychap) 

The HORNOCAL MOUNTAINS in northern Argentina are known for their vibrant colours, part of the limestone formation called Yacoraite that extends from Peru to Salta, through Bolivia and the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Though beautiful, the mountains retain an air of mystery. Not many tourists visit because the narrow, gravel road that leads to the area is inaccessible by bus. (Flickr/MM)

Called the ‘GATEWAY TO HELL' because it is one of the hottest and harshest places on Earth, the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a vast desert basin, characterized by two active volcanoes, the bubbling Erta Ale living lava lake (one of only four in the world), geysers, acid ponds and impressive expanses of yellow mounds of sulphur, salt and mineral deposits. (Flickr/Achilli Family | Journeys)

A general view of the ZHANGJIAJIE NATIONAL PARK in Zhangjiajie, China. Zhangjiajie is home to striking sandstone and quartz cliffs and its mountain formations are famously known for as the inspiration for the fictional world 'Pandora' in the film, ‘Avatar’.

(Lintao Zhang/Getty Images) 

The 41,170 acre Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a remote desolate area of steeply eroded bad lands in San Juan County in New Mexico, and features some of the most unusual scenery found in the region, including strange rock formations and fossils.

(Flickr/Bureau of Land Management) 

The VALLEY OF GEYSERS is a massive geyser field in Kamchatka, Russia, and has the second largest concentration of geysers in the world. Discovered only in 1941, the site consists of at least 20 big geysers, some gushing every 10-12 minutes, others erupting once every 4-5 hours.

(Flickr/Einar Fredriksen) 

The CROOKED FOREST is a grove of oddly-shaped pine trees located outside Nowe Czarnowo, West Pomerania, Poland. This grove of approximately 400 pines was planted around 1930, when its location was still within the German province of Pomerania. Each tree is bent near the base at 90 degrees.

(Wikimedia Commons/Asbb)

THE DOOR TO HELL is a natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan and is known for its natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971.

(Flickr/Tormod Sandtorv) 

Rising 1583 feet (@483 metres) above the high-desert plain on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, SHIPROCK is an icon of the volcanic Southwest. The formation is sacred to the Navajo people, and climbing it has been illegal since 1970.

(Flickr/Doc Searls) 

Located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona, ANTELOPE CANYON is the most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. It features sculptural, pastel-coloured shapes of sandstone, created by forces of water, wind, and climate extremes over millions of years.

(Thinkstock) 

The GIANT’S CAUSEWAY is an area of about 40000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea.

(PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty Images) 

Located in Potosi, Bolivia, SALAR DE UYUNI is the world's largest salt flat. In the dry season, the salt plains are a completely flat expanse of dry salt, but in the wet season, it is covered with a thin sheet of water that is still drivable.

(FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images) 

DEALVLEI or DEAD VLEI (‘Dead Marsh’) is a clay pan. The pan was formed when the Tsauchab River flooded and allowed camel thorn trees to grow. However, the climate changed and the sand dunes encroached on the pan, blocking the river from reaching the area.  The trees are estimated to be approximately 900 years old, however they have not decomposed due to the dry climate. (Wikimedia/Texasranger92) 

An off-road vehicle moves among chalk Inselbergs at sunrise in the Egyptian White Desert. The desert in the Farafra Depression is known worldwide for its alien-like, wind-eroded rock formations called Inselbergs.

(Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images) 

The eerie, mysterious blood-red waterfall in Taylor Glacier, Antarctica looks straight out of a horror film, but the red flow is actually caused by a subterranean lake rich in iron.

(Peter Rejcek/National Science Foundation) 

The three crater lakes of Kelimutu volcano in Indonesia. The three lakes periodically vary in colour independent of each other. Geologists believe the three lakes change colour as a result of chemical reactions between the minerals in the lakes and volcanic gas.

(Google Earth) 

Located east of the Andes in Colombia, the CAŇO CRISTALES RIVER (sometimes called the 'Liquid Rainbow') bursts into vibrant colours for a few weeks between September and November. This is caused by an aquatic plant, called ‘MACARENIA CLAVIGERA’, which turns the river red, pink, yellow, orange, green and blue.

(Wikimedia Commons/Mario Carvajal) 

THE WAVE is a tumult of striped, fossilized dunes that look like petrified surf hidden away in Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, near the Arizona-Utah border. It is famous among hikers and photographers for its colourful, undulating forms, and the rugged, trackless hike required to reach it.

(Thinkstock) 

Part of the South China Karst, SHILIN (or 'Stone Forest') is a remarkable set of limestone formations in Yunnan Province, believed to be more than 270 million years old. Towering peaks and rocks rise from the ground, many looking like petrified trees and creating the illusion of a forest made of stone.

(Wikimedia/Brucke-Osteuropa) 

The Racetrack Playa in DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK is home to a mysterious geological phenomenon: hundreds of rocks scattered along the ground, many weighing up to several hundred pounds, seem to move all on their own, inscribing visible tracks as they slide across the playa surface, without human or animal intervention.

(Flickr/travis)  

Located in the northwest Indian Ocean, Socotra features a vast, craggy and alien-like landscape and is home to unique flora and fauna found nowhere else. The archipelago is especially known as the home to DRAGON’S BLOOD TREES (Dracaena cinnabari), trees looks like an upturned umbrella.

(Flickr/Rod Wadington) 

Located on an uninhabited rock island off the coast of Koror in Palau, JELLYFISH LAKE is one of 70 saltwater lakes that were once connected to the ocean. The isolated lakes became the perfect setting for a jellyfish explosion, which some speculate were trapped in the lake 12000 years ago after a rise in sea levels, post-Ice Age.

(Nadia Aly/Caters News Agency)

A town in the historic Capaddocia region of Turkey, Göreme features a spectacular landscape of 'fairy chimney' rock formations, entirely sculpted by erosion. Dwellings, troglodyte villages and underground towns, the remains of a traditional human habitat dating back to the 4th century, can also be seen here.

(Wikimedia/Brocken Inaglory) 

Perhaps Orkney's most famous landmark, the OLD MAN OF HOY is a 450 feet (@137 metres) sea stack on the island of Hoy. It was formed from old red sandstone and was first climbed in 1966, according to ‘Visit Scotland’. Created by the erosion of a cliff sometime after 1750, it is said to resemble a human figure.

(Flickr/Paul Stephenson)  

The monolith of ULURU (Ayers Rock) rises 340 metres (@1115.5 feet) above the ochre plain in the World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Uluru, the largest single rock in the world.

(Chris Jackson/Getty Images) 

A lava island in Lake Myvatn, a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland. Located not far from Krafla volcano, the lake was created by a large basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago, and the surrounding landscape is dominated by volcanic landforms.

(Wikimedia/Andreas Tille)

Forbidding conditions don't stop tourists from coming to a remote stretch of dunes in the Xiangshawan Desert in Inner Mongolia. Naturalists and curious travellers flock here to experience the desert's 'sounding sands’, a phenomenon that occurs when wind pushes sand down dunes and creates a sound like the humming of a car engine.

(Feng Li/Getty Images) 

YUEYAQUAN is a crescent-shaped lake in an oasis, south of the city of Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China. The depth of the lake, a popular tourist spot, had decreased over the years as sand encroached on the site but in 2006, the government started to fill the lake and restore its depth.

(Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)

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assembled by: A. Ballas