You
May Think These Images Are from the Movie Avatar Or Perhaps Some Other Distant
Earth-Like Planet It's Hard To Believe These Places Exist On Our Own Planet
Here Are Unbelievable Places That Actually Exist
Richat Structure Mauritania
Also
Known As The I Of Africa The Richat Structure Is A Strange Formation In The
Desert Rock Near The Small Town Of Donek In Mauritania The Inverse Dome Is 25
Miles In Diameter And Has Exposed Various Layers Of Rock That Appear Like
Concentric Rings It's One Of The Easiest Natural Structures To See From Space
But Amazingly It's Very Hard To See From Ground Level And If You Were There You'd
Probably Be Unable To Notice Anything Different About It From The Surrounding
Land Quite How It Was Formed Has Been The Subject Of Scientific Debate Ever
Since It Was First Discovered In The 1930s The First Assumption Was That It's
An Impact Crater From A Meteorite But The Lack Of Evidence Of Any Superheated
Rocks Has Ruled This Out Instead It's Been Formed By Millions Of Years Of
Erosion Of Softer Rock That Was Probably Deposited During A Time When The
Region Was Underwater Quite Why This Happened In Such A Circular Fashion Is
Still Unclear There Are Ridges And Valleys That Follow The Concentric Lines Of
The Richat Structure And Evidence Has Been Found That Humans Have Lived Here
For Hundreds Of Thousands Of Years Ancient Artifacts Have Been Unearthed That
Date Back To The Stone Age Such As Tools And Spears Strangely However None Have
Been Found At The Center Of This Depression Which Also Discounts Any
Possibility That This Was A Prehistoric Mine Of Some Sort With Such Delicate
Rock There Are Calls To Make The Structure A Protected Site To Ensure It Can Be
Studied For Years To Come And Hopefully Reveal Some Of The Secrets As To How
This Strange Place Came To Be
Fly Geyser Nevada
USA
Fly Geyser Looks Like It Would Be At Home On An Alien Planet But Amazingly It's
Only About 20 Miles North Of The Town Of Gerlach In Nevada Although You Might
Think This To Be A Natural Formation And Actually Is The Result Of Human
Activity When A Well Was Drilled In 1916 With A View To Irrigating Water Due To
The Geothermal Activity In The Region The Water Was Close To Boiling Point So
The Well Was Abandoned But A Calcium Carbonate Cone Began To Form Around The
Opening A Second Hole Was Dug In 1964 By An Energy Company But The Water Wasn't
Hot Enough For Their Needs So They Abandoned It Too And The Structure That
Formed Around It Is What We See Today It Has A Number Of Openings Which The
Water Shoots 5 Feet High Out Of And The Entire Structure Is Currently Between
25 And 30 Feet Tall Various Platforms And Pools Have Also Been Created Across
74 Acres The Water Is Unusually High Silica Content And The President Of Algae
That Thrive In The Conditions Are Responsible For The Multicolored Deposits
That Have Solidified Around It And Because It's Heated To A Temperature Of
Around 200 Degrees Fahrenheit It Produces Quartz Something That Usually Takes
10,000 Years To Happen In Other Geysers Even Though There Are A Couple Of Other
Geysers Nearby That Have Been Formed In A Similar Way None Are As Large Or As
Impressive As The Fly Geyser Is Therefore One-Of-A-Kind And Something You Won't
See Anywhere Else In The World
Naica Mine Mexico
What's
The Biggest Crystal You've Ever Seen Well However Large You Thought It Was It's
Nothing Compared To What A Team Of Miners Discovered Near Naica In Chihuahua
Mexico In 1910 A Cavern Was Found At A Depth Of 390 Feet Which Has Become Known
As The Cave Of Swords And To Their Astonishment It Was Full Of Gypsum Crystals
That Were Up To Three Feet Three Inches Long Ninety Years Later Another Mining
Crew Took Things A Step Further When They Were Drilling A New Shaft And Found
The Giant Crystal Cave Which Itself Was 980 Feet Beneath The Surface This Cave
Had Once Been Flooded With Hot Water Which Allowed Minerals To Depositing
Crystalline Structures The Largest Of The Crystals To Have Been Seen Was 39
Feet Long 13 Feet Wide And Thought To Weigh As Much As 55 Tons Which Makes It
The Largest One Ever To Have Been Found Conditions In The Cave Aren't Exactly
Inviting To People Though With Temperatures Reaching 136 Degrees Fahrenheit And
A 99% Humidity Humans Can Only Be In There For Up To Ten Minutes Without Full
Safety Equipment Even If You Were Prepared For This It's Not Possible To Visit
The Cave Currently After Our Robber Tried To Steal A Crystal And Ended Up
Suffocating And Dying It Was Shut Permanently And Allowed To Refill With Water
In The Hope That The Crystals Can Be Preserved And Continued To Grow Until
Improved Methods Of Exploration Become Available
The Gates Of Hell Turkmenistan
Not Only Is The Existence Of The Gates Of Hell
In Turkmenistan Hard To Believe But The Way It Was Formed Is Perhaps Even More
Difficult To Believe If You Had Visited This Place Near The Village Of Durvasa Fifty
Years Ago It Would Have Looked Just Like The Surrounding Karakum Desert With
Sands Stretching Out In Every Direction You Look In The 1970s The Country Was
Part Of The Soviet Union When The Authorities Were On A Campaign To Identify
All Areas Of Natural Resources That Could Be Mined And Used To Support The
Growing Population In 1971 Geologists Arrived In The Area And Believed The
Ground Below To Contain A Cavern That Was Full Of Oil So They Set Up A Test Rig
To Drill Down And Take Further Measurements But Soon Found There To Be A Large
Park Of Gas Just Beneath The Surface Now There Are No Official Russian Or Took
Men Records Of What Happened Next But According To The Sources Close To
Operations At The Time The Ground Collapsed Beneath The Rig And Swallowed The
Drill As Well As Several Top Soviet Scientists The Remaining Researchers Were
Now Faced With A Problem That Could Detect Large Quantities Of Methane Being
Released From The Hole They Had Just Created And Believe This To Be A Possible
Health Hazard Their Calculations Suggested That The Best Way To Deal With It
Was To Burn The Gas And That It Would Run Out Within A Few Weeks It Was Then
Decided To Throw A Grenade Into The Hole And The Gates Of Hell Was Born Someone
Calculated It Wrong Because Since That Day Almost Fifty Years Ago The Hole Is
Continually Burned The Crater Is Now Approximately 230 Feet Across And 66 Feet
Deep And Is Filled With Fires Boiling Mud And Ferocious Orange Flames Plans
Have Often Been Drafted To Try And Extinguish It For Good Especially
Considering Its Set Above One Of The Largest Natural Gas Deposits That Are
Anywhere On Earth But Such As The Scale Of The Problem That No One Yet Has
Found An Adequate Solution Now It's One Of The Most Popular Tourist Sites In
The Country Has Become An Area Of Biological Research Because Of The Organisms
That Have Been Found To Be Living In The Center Of The Crater It May Perhaps
Burn Out One Day Like The Scientists In The 1970s Thought It Would But Based On
Current Progress It Could Be Several More Decades Before It Even Seems To Begin
Slowing Down
Coño Crystallis Colombia
Nathanial Crystallis Is A Small Tributary
River That Feeds Into The Boy A Barrow River Of Colombia But Due To Its Unique
Plant Life It's Also Commonly Referred To As The Most Beautiful River In The
World The Fast Flowing Water Passes Through A Region That's On The Edge Of The Amazon
Rainforest The Andes And The Eastern Ilana's And Is Almost Perfectly Clear The
Riverbed Has Numerous Holes And Dips In It Because Of The Way The Rocks Caught
In The Current Erode The Bedrock And This Has Produced The Ideal Locations For
A Species Of Plant Called Macarena Glavin Guerra To Grow During The Summer
Months It Takes On A Gloriously Red Hue And Also Provides Shelter For Other
Species To Grow That Adds Yellows Greens Blues And Blacks Into The Mix It's No
Wonder That This Place Is Also Affectionately Known As The Liquid Rainbow And
Is So Unusual That Many Visitors Still Can't Believe That It's Real Even When
They're Standing Right Next To It
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