# Mysterious places on earth



## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

Mysterious places on earth 


By Joanne Garrett; photo editing by Jake Clifford and Connie Ricca


Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia









Salar de Uyuni is a magical place: When covered by water, the world's largest salt flat becomes a mirror, and anyone walking across it appears to be walking on clouds. The salt crust, which covers 10 583 square kilometres in southwestern Bolivia at 11,995 feet above sea level, is nearly flat, which makes it ideal for calibrating the altimeters of satellites. Salar de Uyuni's origins lie in prehistoric lakes; it is a major breeding ground for several species of flamingos.


Eye of Africa, Mauritania









The Eye of Africa — whose official name, the Richat Structure, seems so mundane in comparison — was spotted in central Mauritania by astronauts on early space missions. In the expanse of the Western Sahara Desert, the formation has a diameter of about 48 kilometres. At first, scientists thought a meteorite had hit the Earth, causing this impression. But now it is believed to be a symmetrical uplift that erosion has revealed. No one has explained yet why it is circular.


The Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland









Volcanic activity 60 million years ago created these rugged, symmetrical rock formations, seemingly steppingstones that lead into mists and legend.



Middle East desert floor drawings









The secrets of these stone structures are only now being unravelled, probably because it is nearly impossible to get the entire picture at ground level. But with views from airplanes and satellites, archeologists have discovered thousands of these "floor drawings" of stones in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The wheels measure from 25 metres to 70 metres across and could be at least 2,000 years old


Racetrack Playa, Calif.









It's best to gaze in wonder at the sliding rocks on this dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park. Racetrack Playa is almost completely flat, four kilometres from north to south and two kilometres from east to west, and covered with cracked mud. The rocks, some weighing hundreds of pounds, slide across the sediment, leaving furrows in their wakes, but no one has actually witnessed it. 



Spotted Lake, Canada









Many minerals are found in high concentrations in Spotted Lake; that causes the phenomenon that gives the lake its name. Spots form during summer when much of the water evaporates, leaving the minerals, which harden and form walkways among the spots. The water's colour is determined by the unique combination of minerals.



Pamukkale, Turkey









Cotton Castle, Pamukkale's translated name, is a wildly popular tourist site. Seventeen hot-water springs in the area spill out water in temperatures ranging from 95 degrees to 212 degrees, which contains a high concentration of calcium bicarbonate. The water flows off a cliff, cools and hardens into calcium deposits that form terraces. These terraces are as white as cotton and bright enough to be easily seen from the town of Denizli, which is on the opposite side of the valley, 19 kilometres away. The terraces, which continue to grow, hold pools of water.


more: http://travel.ca.msn.com/photogallery.aspx?cp-documentid=30979927&page=10


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## Peregrin Tuk (Oct 20, 2007)

nice thread!...i will search for more places!


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

Goblin Valley State Park, Utah









Goblins? Hoodoos? The names fit these mysterious-looking rock formations in Goblin Valley State Park in southern Utah, which is surrounded on three sides by Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Sandstone erosion made the shapes; the small, spherical shapes of the goblins combine with the hoodoos, rock pinnacles in the shape of mushrooms, to give the landscape an eerie edge.




Mono Lake, Calif.









Mono Lake, which covers more than 181 square kilometres, has no fish. It is believed the lake could be one million to three million years old, and it is among the oldest lakes in North America. One thing that has changed here as the landscape makes the transition from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Great Basin Desert is the appearance of tufa, unusual rock formations that crowd the shore. The tufa towers are limestone and grow underwater; they are exposed because the lake grew more shallow when water diversions started in 1941.



Great Blue Hole, Belize









In 1971, Jacques Cousteau boldly sailed his ship, Calypso, to the Great Blue Hole, investigated and declared it one of the 10 best diving sites in the world. It's a large underwater sinkhole near the centre of Lighthouse Reef, about 100 kilometres from Belize City. So much for the mystery. The circular hole is nearly 305 metres across and 125 metres deep, boasting underwater caves, fantastic coral formations and many species of tropical fish darting through the clear water.


more: http://travel.ca.msn.com/photogallery.aspx?cp-documentid=30979927&page=12


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## marcopolo123 (Nov 11, 2010)

wow. this is inspiring to visit more such queer places!


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## Lazy Traveler (Mar 16, 2011)

Yellow Fever said:


> Spotted Lake, Canada
> 
> 
> 
> ...


like egg yolks...


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

Shilin Stone Forest, China











An old local saying says, "If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time." The Shilin Stone Forest covers 96,000 acres with large and small stands of stone "trees." They actually are karst formations that stand on the earth like stalagmites and looking like petrified trees. Believed to be more than 270 million years old, the stone trees emerged as limestone eroded. Legend says this is the birthplace of Ashima, who was forbidden to marry the man she loved, drowned and turned to stone in the forest. The Torch Festival celebrates her each year.



Mud volcanoes, Azerbaijan










Take what you know about volcanoes and imagine mud volcanoes. Rather than hot lava, steam, ash and rocks, mud volcano eruptions involve cold mud, water and gas. Nearly 400 mud volcanoes, more than half of the world total, are found in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. The most common have several small cones or vents and average about four metres high. Just be aware: In 2001, a mud volcano about nine miles from Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, erupted with enough force to send flames hundreds of feet into the sky and spew tons of mud.



Moaning Cavern, Vallecito, Calif.










The sounds echoing through the cavern might be unnervingly like a human moan. But the sound is created by water dripping into holes in the bottom of the formation, which causes a drumming sound that echoes off the walls and is carried out of the Moaning Cavern's natural entrance by the wind. Gold miners came upon this cavern in 1851 (it is near Angels Camp), but it has been known about for far longer; some of the oldest human remains known in the Americas were found here.



Moeraki Boulders, New Zealand










The Moeraki Boulders are a big attraction, found on Koekohe Beach near Moeraki on New Zealand's coast. The huge, gray, spherical stones formed in sediment on the sea floor 60 million years ago and were revealed by shoreline erosion. Or, if you take the local Maori perspective, they are the remains of calabashes (gourds), kumaras (sweet potatoes) and eel baskets that washed ashore when the legendary canoe Araiteuru was wrecked. Either way, the boulders, some of which stand alone and some in clusters, can weigh several tons and measure three metres across.


http://travel.ca.msn.com/photogallery.aspx?cp-documentid=30979927&page=16


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## OldKool (Dec 20, 2010)

..nice


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## PRIMEVAL (Oct 4, 2011)

Eye of Africa (another photo)


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## PRIMEVAL (Oct 4, 2011)

Socotra Island, Yemen lies some 240 kilometres east of the Horn of Africa and 380 kilometres south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through the process of speciation, a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. It has been described as the most alien-looking place on Earth.


Socotra Dragon Trees (Dracaena cinnabari), Diksam Plateau by twiga_swala, on Flickr​


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## Yellow Fever (Jan 3, 2008)

^^ thanks for the photos! the eye of africa looks alot like the formation of a hurricane and the mushroom looking trees of the second pic are like the alien's flying saucers.


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## OtAkAw (Aug 5, 2004)

Mount Roraima, Venezuala-Brazil-Guyana


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## anakngpasig (Jul 29, 2005)

^^ must be the inspiration for the movie, "UP"?


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## manon (Jan 8, 2011)

*A Fairy Tale, Cappadocia, Turkey*

*a Fairy Tale Cappadocia, Turkey : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia
Love Valley *
for more photos : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.178138142227180.36774.123933584314303&type=1

Hot air balooning in Cappadocia: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.244221602285500.61423.123933584314303&type=1


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## OldKool (Dec 20, 2010)

wow Valley of Dicks!!


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## dochan (Jun 4, 2009)

lol... I was going to say that!!




PRIMEVAL said:


> Socotra Dragon Trees (Dracaena cinnabari), Diksam Plateau by twiga_swala, on Flickr​


What a wonder..


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## Manolo_B2 (Oct 26, 2007)

Hvar Island, Croatia


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## .D. (Apr 8, 2010)

lol valley of cocks :laugh:


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## Marbur66 (Mar 1, 2009)

Great thread!


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## Bez_imena (Oct 25, 2009)

Đavolja Varoš is a peculiar rock formation, located in south Serbia on the Radan Mountain near Kuršumlija. It features 202 exotic formations described as earth pyramids or "towers", as the locals refer to them. They are 2-15 m tall and 4-6 m wide at the base. These formations were created by strong erosion of the soil that was scene of intense volcanic activity millions of years ago. Most of the towers have "caps" or "heads" of andesite, which protect them from further erosion.


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## Bez_imena (Oct 25, 2009)

River Uvac, Serbia.


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## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

incredible photos...


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## ravoshing (Apr 11, 2019)

*Mysterious temple Padmanabhaswamy temple*

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple situated in the state Kerala of India is one of the most ancient and mysterious temples in the world. It is one of the richest temples but it is not famous for that. There is a mystery around it that makes it stand out among other temples. People always used to think that there is a lot of gold under the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. There are many vaults and chambers present that was never opened. After the search, it was said to have a total of 6 chambers. No one knew what was inside the chambers of Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

http://signinpay.com/mystery-of-padmanabhaswamy-temple/


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## Guajiro1 (Dec 23, 2012)

*Pumice Stone Field, Argentina*


Catamarca, Campo de Piedra Pómez by Iggy Travel Consulting, en Flickr


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

^^ Great, very nice photos


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