mistry of nature

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10 Mysterious Geological Wonders

• And frequently very beautiful wonders of nature.

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The Wave (between Arizona and Utah - USA)

• A red-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.

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Antelope Canyon (Arizona - USA)

• The most visited and photographed slot canyon in
  the American Southwest, the Antelope Canyon is
  located on Navajo land 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.

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• The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tse'
  bighanilini, 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.

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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, its 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."

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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.

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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 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.

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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 geologicalformation but impresses mainly for
  the deep blue colored water of its inside lake.

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Giants Causeway (Ireland)

• An area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt
  columns, the Giants Causeway is a result of an
  ancient volcanic eruption. Located on 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.

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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.

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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 15
  meters 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 wheatbelt.

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Chocolate Hills (Philippines)

• Composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped
  hills of about the same size spread over an area
  of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi),
  this highly unusual geologicalformation , 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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