Ared-rock stunner on the border of Arizona and Utah,
The Wave is made of 190-million- year-old sand dunes
that have turned to rock. This little-known formation is
accessible only on foot via a three-mile hike and highly regulated.
Antelope Canyon (Arizona -USA)
The most visited and photographed slot canyon
in the American Southwest, the Antelope Canyon is located on
Navajol and near Page, Arizona. It 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 Tse' big hanilini,
which means "the place where water runs through rocks."
Lower Antelope Canyon is Hasdestwazi, or "spiral rock arches."
Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.
Great Blue Hole (Belize)
Part of the Lighthouse Reef System,
The Great Blue Hole lies approximately 60 miles off the
mainland out of Belize City. A large, almost perfectly circular
hole approximately one quarter of a mile (0.4 km)across,
it’s one of the most astounding dive sites to be found
anywhere on earth. Inside this hole, the water is
480 feet (145 m) deep and it is the depth of water which
gives the deep blue color that causes such structures
throughout the world to be known as "blue holes."
Crystal Cave of the Giants (Mexico)
Found deep inside a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico,
these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in
bedrock. A geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees,
and in some cases greater in circumference, they are a translucent
gold and silver in color and come in many incredible forms and
shapes. The Crystal Cave of the Giants was discovered within the
same limestone body that hosts the silver-zinc- lead ore bodies
exploited by the mine and it was probably dissolved by the same
hydrothermal fluids that deposited the metals with the gypsum
being crystallized during the waning stages of mineralization.
Eye of the Sahara (Mauritania)
This spectacular landform in Mauritania in the
southwestern part of the Sahara desert is so huge with a diameter
of 30 miles that it is visible from space. Called Richat
Structure --or the Eye of the Sahara-- The formation was originally
thought to be caused by a meteorite impact but now geologists
believe it is a product of uplift and erosion.
The cause of its circular shape is still a mystery.
Blue Lake Cave (Brazil)
Mato Grosso do Sul region in Brazil(and especially the quiet town of Bonito)
boasts many marvelous underground lakes: Gruta do Lago Azul,
Gruta do Mimoso, Aquário Natural. The world famous
"Gruta do Lago Azul” (Blue Lake Cave) is a natural monument
whose interior is formed by stalactites, stalagmites and a huge and
wonderful blue lake. The beauty of the lake is something impressive.
The Blue Lake Cave has a big variety of geological formation but
impresses mainly for the deep blue colored water of its inside lake.
Giants Causeway (Ireland)
An area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns,
the Giants Causeway is a result of an ancient volcaniceruption.
Locate don the north-east coast of Northern Ireland, most of
its columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with
four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about
12 meters (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 meters
thick in places. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the
causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder
in the United Kingdom.
Hell Gate (Uzbekistan)
Called by locals The Door to Hell, this place in Uzbekistan is
situated near the small town of Darvaz. When geologists were
drilling for gas, 35 years ago, they suddenly found an underground
cavern that was so big, all the drilling site with all the equipment
and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down
there because the cavern was filled with gas, so they ignited it so
that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then,
it has been burning. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas
has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite.
Wave Rock (Australia)
The Wave Rock is a natural rock formation located in
western Australia. It derives its name from the fact that it is
shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The total outcrop covers
several hectares; the "wave" part of the rock is about 15meters
high and approximately 110 meters long. One aspect of Wave Rock
rarely shown on photographs is the retaining wall about halfway
up the rock. This follows the contours and allows rainwater to be
collected in a dam. It was constructed in 1951 by the
Public Works Department, and such walls are common on many
similar rocks in the wheat belt.
Chocolate Hills (Philippines)
Composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills of about
the same size spread over an area of more than50 square
kilo metres (20 sq mi), this highly unusual geological formation,
called Chocolate Hills, is located in Bohol, Philippines.
There are a number of hypotheses regarding the formation of the hills.
These include simple limestone weathering, sub-oceanic volcanism,
the uplift of the seafloor and a more recent theory which maintains
that as an ancient active volcano self-destructed, it spewed huge
blocks of stone which were then covered with limestone and later
thrust forth from the ocean bed.
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