Natural Wonders: travnja 2015

petak, 10. travnja 2015.

Natural wonders - Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach is a 7 km stretch along Whitsunday Island, Australia. The island is accessible by boat from the mainland tourist ports of Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour, as well as Hamilton Island.
The beach was awarded Queensland's Cleanest Beach in Keep Australia Beautiful's 2008 Clean Beach Challenge State Awards. In July 2010, Whitehaven Beach was named the top Eco Friendly Beach in the world by CNN.com. Dogs are not permitted on the beach and cigarette smoking is prohibited.
Whitehaven Beach is known for its white sands. The sand consists of 98% pure silica which gives it a bright white color. Local rocks do not contain silica so it has been suggested that the sands were brought to the beach via prevailing sea currents over millions of years.

Naturalt wonders - Parícutin

Parícutin (or Volcán de Parícutin, also accented Paricutín) is a cinder cone volcano in the Mexican state of Michoacán, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. The volcano is unique in the fact that its evolution from creation to extinction was witnessed, observed and studied. It appears on many versions of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Parícutin is part of the Michoacán–Guanajuato volcanic field, which covers much of west central Mexico. It is part of the Ring of Fire.

Natural wonders - Rainbow Mountains

Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park
The Zhangye Danxia landform is also known as the eye candy of Zhangye. Many artists admire this masterpiece as it appears like a perfect painting on canvas. This 400-square-kilometer attraction is located in in Linze and Sunan counties in Gansu Province in central north China.
It is composed of lots of precipitous cliffs, most of which are several hundred meters high. All of these cliffs are smooth and sharp, standing in the plains and riversides, looking grand and magnificent, vigorous and virile. Even the low pinnacles look powerful.
Across the Danxia landform zone, a kaleidoscope of numerous red rocky outcrops resemble weird and wonderful shapes like castles, cones, towers, as well as humans, creatures, birds and beasts. They are as vivid and organized as the Millennium Castle and, especially with their peaks peeping through the mist and clouds, produce mirage-like scenery of fantastic mountains and pavilions.
The formation of Zhangye Danxai Landform dates back to 6 million years ago. The Danxia geological structure was formed by the erosion of red sandstone, forming the isolated peaks and steep outcrops. Its special geological structure, combined with long-term weathering, freeze-thaw peeling, and wind and water erosion gave rise to its present appearance.
Geologists believe that Danxia topography is formed as a result of movement in the earth’s crust. This makes rock layers appear in different colors, textures, shapes, sizes, and patterns. The combination of differences in density and erosion creates towering peaks, cave holes and stone halls.
Danxia formations are green, yellow, blue and many other colors, though their appellation comes from the red rocks of Mount Danxia in Guangdong. Experts say that they are the result of red sandstone and other rocks undergoing metamorphic processes for millions of years.

Natural wonders - Fly geyser

Fly Geyser, also known as Fly Ranch Geyser is a man-made small geothermal geyser located in Washoe County, Nevada approximately 32 km north of Gerlach. Fly Geyser is located near the edge of Fly Reservoir and is only about 1.5 m high, but 3.7 m wide, counting the mound on which it sits in 2013.
Fly Geyser is not an entirely natural phenomenon; it was accidentally created by well drilling in 1964 exploring for sources of geothermal energy. The well may not have been capped correctly, or left unplugged, but either way dissolved minerals started rising and accumulating, creating the travertine mound on which the geyser sits and continues growing. Water is constantly released, reaching 1.5 m in the air. The geyser contains several terraces discharging water into 30 to 40 pools over an area of 30 hectares. The geyser is made up of a series of different minerals, but its brilliant colors are due to thermophilic algae.

Natural wonders - Lake Hillier

Lake Hillier - Western Australia

Lake Hillier is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. It is particularly notable for its pink colour.
The length of the lake is about 600 metres. The lake is surrounded by a rim of sand and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalyptus trees with a narrow strip of sand dunes covered by vegetation separating it to the north from the Southern Ocean.
The most notable feature of the lake is its pink colour. It is such a significant distinguishing feature of the archipelago that air passengers often take note of it. The colour is permanent, and does not alter when the water is taken in a container. Although the source of the pink colour has not been definitively proven in the case of Lake Hillier, the pink colour of other salt lakes (e.g., Pink Lake) in the region arises from a dye created by the organisms Dunaliella salina and Halobacteria. Another hypothesis is that the pink colour is due to red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts. Despite the unusual hue, the lake exhibits no known adverse effects upon humans. From above, the lake appears a solid bubble gum pink, but from the shoreline it appears more of a clear pink hue. The shoreline is also covered in salt crust deposits.

Natural wonders - Puerto Vallarta (hidden beach)

Located in the Marieta Islands, about 20 nautical miles from Puerto Vallarta, lies an idyllic beach paradise hidden underneath a hole in the ground. Called the “Hidden Beach” or “Playa de Amor” (Beach of Love), this one-of-a-kind natural wonder has remained untouched by human hands for many years. Within its natural cavernous shell, crystal-clear turquoise waters peacefully lap against its powdery white shores, out of sight and out of reach from the rest of the world. Only recently when its photos spread virally across the internet did it become one of the most popular beaches in Mexico.

Natural wonders - Lake Natron

Lake Natron is a salt and soda lake in the Arusha Region of northern Tanzania. The lake is close to the Kenyan border and is in the Gregory Rift, which is the eastern branch of the East African Rift. The lake is within the Lake Natron Basin, a Ramsar Site wetland of international significance.
The lake is fed principally by the Southern Ewaso Ng'iro River, which arises in central Kenya, and by mineral-rich hot springs. It is quite shallow, less than three metres deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The lake is a maximum of 57 kilometres long and 22 kilometres wide. The surrounding area receives irregular seasonal rainfall, mainly between December and May totalling 800 millimetres per year. Temperatures at the lake are frequently above 40 °C.

Natural wonders - Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers. It is located in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters above mean sea level.
The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and the exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.

Natural wonders - Pamukkale

Pamukkale, meaning "cotton castle" in Turkish, is a natural site in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey. The city contains hot springs and travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. It is located in Turkey's Inner Aegean region, in the River Menderes valley, which has a temperate climate for most of the year.

Natural wonders - Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the American Southwest. It is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew.
The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí (advertised as "Hasdestwazi" by the Navajo Parks and Recreation Department), or "spiral rock arches." Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.

Natural Wonders