{"id":2143,"date":"2025-10-31T10:46:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2025-11-01T08:59:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T07:59:58","slug":"halloween-special-earths-crazy-structures-rfr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/?p=2143","title":{"rendered":"Halloween Special: Earth\u2019s Crazy Structures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(4 min read)<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to get scared scared again and sheer power of Mother Nature<\/a> already has impressed us. Now we take a look at crazy structures that shows us Mother Nature\u2019s creativity and let us stun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hverfjall (on the left) looks like a crater but its a tuff ring (phreatomagmatic eruption). On the right, Europe departs from America<\/a>. Crazy things are going on… (near Reykjahl\u00ed\u00f0, image by Andreas Richter)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Blood Falls<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We start Halloween-like with the Blood Falls<\/a> at the Tayler Glacier in Antarctica. They look like a big bleeding wound but the color comes from iron-rich red-colored water falling down the glacier edge. The clear water turns red after contact with fresh air\u2026 but, maybe, something haunted is happening there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Door to Hell<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hell has many entries but this one is quite impressive: Darvaza<\/a> (officially called the “Shining of Karakum”) is a 70 meters spanning gas crater that was formed when gas explorers accidentally drilled into a gas cavern, which then collapsed. The explorers lighted the leaking methane in the hope of extinguishing it but it continues to burn since 1971 until now with a constant funnel of gas but recently the fires got smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the way, such gas craters can be found in other locations as well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Great Blue Hole<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It could be the flush to hell but the Great Blue Hole<\/a> in the “Belize Barrier Reed Reserve System” is at least a UNESCO World Heritage Site<\/a>. It is a 318 meters spanning circular underwater sinkhole and its dark blue water makes it seeming endless. At the end it\u2019s just 124 meters deep. Nevertheless it allows a sneak peek into Earth\u2019s history back to 153,000 years ago by analyzing sediment layers and their fossils and stalactites, but also a rich fauna and flora can be found there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the way, such sink holes can be found in other locations as well.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Batagaika Mega-Slump<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We continue to get bigger. The officially called Batagaika crater<\/a> is not a real crater but a depression which means that the surface began to sink due to the thawing permafrost. It started in the 1960s when all the surrounding forest was cut down. Now we have a tear-off edge that is up to 100 meters deep. The depression started as a small line and is constantly growing with a current length of more than one kilometer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rainbow Mountains<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s have a beautiful and not frightening Interludium and visit rainbow mountains. You can find some in China<\/a> (called “Zhangye National Geopark”) as well as in Peru<\/a> (called “Vinicunca”). They are beautifully striped in various colors such as red, orange, yellow and green but also blue. This is caused by oxidized iron and minerals in sandstone respective claystone that has been compressed and eroded over million of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By the way, such colorful mountains can be found in other locations as well, for example the Candy Cane Mountains<\/a> are also feast for the eyes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

World\u2019s Largest Mirror<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely worth a look is the great salt lake<\/a> (called “Salar de Uyuni”) in Atacama desert in Bolivia. With 10,582 square kilometers it’s the largest salt flat in the world created by a lake 35,000 years ago. This lake then dried up and left a layer of salt crust behind. The mirror effect happens when a thin layer of water appears after a rare rain event which happens only few times a year. The salt flat consists of more than 10 billion tons of sodium chloride which contains large amounts of lithium\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what could be even bigger and more stunning as all what we have seen before? Let’s end with a bang:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eye of Africa<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Known as the Richat Structure<\/a> (called “Guelb er Richat”) the Eye of Africa in Mauritania is a 40 kilometer spanning geological feature which is large enough to be seen from space. It is not quite clear how this structure was created, either by uplifted earth worn down over time by wind and water, with different rates of erosion on the varying rock types forming concentric ridges or an eroded and collapsed geological dome, formed 100 million years ago. It seems to be clear that it wasn’t created by an asteroid impact (because there isn\u2019t enough melted rock among the rings to support this theory) or a volcanic eruption (because also missing eruption material). May be it\u2019s the sunken Island of Atlantis<\/a>, based on Plato\u2019s allegory<\/a>? We still don\u2019t know, research continues and in the meantime we just can enjoy the creativity of Mother Nature and get stunned by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hope that you will enjoy discovering the astonishing sites of Mother Nature while having a digital trip to the mentioned sites. Is there more crazy stuff out there? For sure, and that\u2019s why we all should stay open for the unexpected! GEONATIVES wishes a happy Halloween!<\/p>\n\n\n

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One more thing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For sure human mankind has also created tons of crazy structures but we don\u2019t want to create an endless list of tombs, dams and open-cast mining. But here is one stunning example in the Chinese Taklamakan dessert: If you start here<\/a> you find a gigantic rail track southbound. Follow them and turn left at the next warship mockup<\/a>, passing some artillery launch sides<\/a> you will find a aircraft carrier-shaped target<\/a>. But if you follow the rails you find more moving targets<\/a> as well as mock ups<\/a> to the left and right of the tracks. Do you find all the battleships<\/a>? I think they only want to play Battleship<\/a>, nothing to get scared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to get scared scared again… this time by the Mother Nature’s crazy structures that shows us it\u2019s creativity and let us stun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14],"tags":[68,76],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-oddities","tag-china","tag-halloween"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2158,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.geonatives.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}