Fifteen stunning and unique landforms
Danagir Kuwan Wadi (Ethiopia)
Some people call this the cruelest place in the world. Kuanggan Valley is located in the Danakil Depression in the Afar region of Ethiopia. It is a volcano buried under a 1-kilometer-thick salt layer. On the ground it appears as colorful springs and fumaroles, sulfur and other mineral deposits on the peculiar salt landscape.
Crystal Cave (Mexico)
Crystal Cave (Naica Mine, Chihuahua, Mexico) is a cave in the Naica Mine, Mexico, approximately 100 km from the mine's parent rock. Below 1,000 feet (300 meters). The cave is filled with huge clear gypsum crystals, some of which are the largest ever discovered in the world.
Taklimakan Desert (China)
The Taklimakan Desert is the largest pure sand desert in the world and a model of cold desert climate. Its coldness is comparable to that of Siberia. In winter, the lowest temperature is below minus 20 degrees. During the 2008 winter storm in China, the Taklimakan Desert was completely covered with a layer of snow up to 4 centimeters thick for the first time, and some observation points measured its lowest temperature reaching minus 26.1 degrees.
Red River (Spain)
The Red River is located in southwestern Spain and its source is the Morena Mountains in Andalusia. Since ancient times, copper, silver, gold and other metal mines have been discovered on both sides of the river. Due to the large amount of mineral deposits, the water of the Red River is highly acidic (ph2), and the color of the water is red because there is a large amount of iron dissolved in the water.
Chocolate Hills (Philippines)
The Chocolate Hills are a unique geological formation in the Bohol region of the Philippines. According to the latest accurate survey, there are 1,776 hills distributed over an area greater than 50 square kilometers. They are covered with a green grass that turns brown during the dry season, like the color of chocolate, from which the mountains get their name.
The Mysterious Cave of Sarisarinama (Venezuela)
Stone Forest (China)
The Stone Forest is located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, China, about 85 kilometers from Kunming City. A famous representative of karst terrain. These tall stalagmite-like stone pillars rise from the ground and look like tall trees, forming a dense forest.
Kamchatka Ice Cave (Russia)
This seemingly bizarre ice cave is in the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. A stream of hot water flows beneath the glacial ice on the flanks of Mutrovsky volcano, resulting in the nearly one kilometer long tunnel. Because the glaciers on the Kamchatka volcano have begun to melt in recent years, the top of the ice cave is now so thin that sunlight can shine through it and illuminate the ice structures inside, making it look eerie.
The colorful Danxia landform (China)
It is hard for us to believe that such crazy mountain formations are real, but this bright color does exist. These mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Geopark in China. Layers of different colored sandstones and minerals were squeezed together for 24 million years and then bent by the action of tectonic plates.
Abandoned Mineshafts Under Yekaterinburg (Russia)
These photos were taken from the depths of the abandoned mineshafts under Yekaterinburg, Russia. Layers of carnallite inlay the tunnel walls to create these brightly colored masterpieces. Carnallite is a mineral used in fertilizers. To date, a small number of these carnallite mines are still in use, but most of the passages are now closed and are not open to the public without special government permission.
The Gate of Hell in the village of Darvaza (Turkmenistan)
At first glance, it looks like a thrilling scene from a science fiction movie. But this burning hole in the heart of the Karakum Desert is not the result of an enemy from outer space attacking Earth. In fact, it is a large crater created by geologists more than 40 years ago. The fire inside has been burning ever since.
Spotted Lake (Canada)
During the hot summer months, Spotted Lake in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, U.S.A. begins to evaporate and crystallize minerals in the lake, creating a white color in the lake. A circle-like structure on the edge of the shallow pool reflects the minerals in the water, showing blue and green.
Pamukkale Hot Spring (Turkey)
The platform is filled with water into a pond. The light blue spring water is like emerald embedded in the white jade platforms, and the white cotton-like stones are The steps are covered with clear water gauze and shine in the sun. Being there feels like stepping on the ladder to heaven, or dreaming about the fairyland of Jade Yuqiong Tower. This strange sloping land is 2,700 meters long and 160 meters high.
Kauai (United States)
Kauai, Hawaii is the fourth largest island in Hawaii and is sometimes called the "Garden Island". It is the oldest and northernmost island in the Hawaiian Islands. The island is surrounded by rolling valleys, verdant peaks and staggered cliffs. Hundreds of years of development have created tropical rainforests, criss-crossing rivers and cascading waterfalls.
The Richat Structure (Mauritania)
The "Richat Structure" is a peculiar concentric landform located in the small town of Oudan in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania. The earliest astronauts traveling in space noticed this conspicuous ammonite concentric landform in space because it happened to be in the barren Sahara Desert. This concentric structure has a diameter of 50 kilometers.