The most beautiful tourist destinations on the planet

The most beautiful tourist destinations on the planet.


The Blue Hole, Belize

The Great Blue Hole is a gigantic sinkhole off the coast of Belize that measures 984 ft across and 407 ft deep. The blue hole was formed through karsting episodes of limestone where the limestone dissolves. The dissolution of limestone occurs differently during high and low sea levels, with the Great Blue Hole likely forming over the course of several glaciation cycles. Divers from around the world visit this UNESCO world heritage site to enjoy the natural wonder of the hole and diverse marine life.

Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA

Antelope Canyon is an eroded slot canyon near Page, Arizona. These incredible sandstone features are carved primarily during tremendous flash flooding events. Erosion along the slots are episodic yet powerful, with rainfall collecting within the slots and rushing down slope through narrow passages. The rainwater erodes the sandstone, creating a mixture of water and sand, the perfect tool to smooth the walls on either side of the canyon.

Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary, Geulhem, Netherlands

The Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary (previously the K-T boundary) represents one of the largest worldwide extinction events on record. Dating back to 66 million years ago, the K-Pg boundary represents the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and many of the world's terrestrial species. This extinction event killed three quarters of plant and animal species on earth and is marked by high levels of iridium, a rare element on Earth but a common element in asteroids. With one finger, as seen above, you can put your finger on the remnants of three quarters of the world's species. It's an incredible lesson in geology and our earth's history in that so much can happen in a few centimeters of sediment.

Crystal Cave, Mexico

The Crystal Cave in Mexico is a geologic wonder worthy of visiting. This cave boasts up to 40 ft long and 13 ft diameter selenite crystals (Gypsum) that each can weigh up to 55 tons. The crystals were able to grow to massive sizes due to the high but stable temperature of around 136 degrees Fahrenheit.  Underlying magma heated the overlying cave water causing the high temperatures and environment for gypsum to crystalize. Tourists can explore the cave with a guide and training.

Travertine Deposits, Pamukkale, Turkey

Pamukkale in Turkey is an incredible display of natural travertine deposits. Travertine is a type of limestone that is deposited by hot springs. The fibrous travertine forms from precipitation of calcium carbonate from solution. Pamukkale was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1988.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world at 4,086 square miles and at 12,000 ft elevation. This salt flat was formed during repeated flooding and drying of the region. During floods, rainwater brings minerals into the Salar, adding to the future salt deposits that form when the Salar dries. The Salar de Uyuni contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, as well as many other rare trace minerals.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

The Grand Canyon formed by the entrenchment of the Colorado River during the Laramie orogeny uplift of the region. This orogeny formed the Rocky Mountains and provided the mechanism for the Colorado River to erode down into the underlying rock. The Grand Canyon displays rock from about 200 million to 2 billion years old. This is truly one of the geologic wonders of the world and is a must see.

Read More

6 Geologic Wonders Of The Natural World

From subtle changes in geochemistry to massive volcanoes, the geologic wonders of the world never cease to amaze . Here we span the earth to find the best natural wonders of the world, both in their importance to geology and in their awesome beauty. If you yearn for adventure, get ready to add a few incredible sights to your bucket list.

We carry within us the wonders we seek without us.

Tibetan Plateau, China

Often called the "Roof of the World," the Tibetan Plateau stands at 16,400 ft in western China. The Tibetan Plateau is about half the size of the lower 48 states and is bounded by the Himalayan Mountains to the south. This grand plateau's geologic story is still in debate with one theory suggesting it's uplift was part of the under thrusting of the Indian continent beneath Eurasia. Another theory suggests this massively thick continental crust was formed from folds and thrusts of rocks, causing it to shorten and increase in height. This would be analogous to your car's hood if you were to get in an accident.

The Door To Hell, Turkmenistan

The Door To Hell is located on top of the natural gas field in Turkmenistan. Soviet geologists found and drilled for natural gas here in 1971 when the ground began to collapse to leave a large crater. To prevent inhalation of poisonous gas, the crater was set on fire, believing the natural gas would quickly be burned off and the fire would go out. However, the fire pit is still burning today with no signs of letting up from the seeping natural gas. There have been many failed attempts to put the fire out.

Fumaroles Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA

The Yellowstone Fumaroles in Wyoming are an incredible display of color and geochemistry. A fumarole releases gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, among others. Fumaroles deposit an array of minerals with the combination of acidic gases and high temperatures.

Mount Roraima, Brazil/Guyana/Venezuela

Mount Roraima is an amazing geologic wonder located primarily in Venezuela . Roraima is a spectacular example of a tepui, a flat tabletop like mountain made of Precambrian quartz arenite (pure quartz) sandstone that rises 9,000 ft into the air. This juxtaposition of low-lying rainforests and the elevated tepui produces the world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls. Underlain by the ancient Guiana Shield, Mount Roraima is one of the oldest geological formations on earth, estimated to be approximately 2 billion years old.

Giants Causeway, Ireland

The Giants Causeway columns formed 50 to 60 million years ago when lava repeatedly flowed and cooled as it came into contact with the sea. The pillars are polygonal shaped due to the cooling of the layers of lava and the atomic structure and natural fracturing of basalt. There are 40,000 basalt pillars, each with 5 to 7 irregular sides. This process is similar to the mud cracks seen when mud dries after heavy rains.

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, USA

Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii's most active shield volcano has produced the world's largest mountain. Although Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world at 29,035 ft, the highest peak of Hawaii, Mauna Kea, is 33,500 ft tall. This takes into account the ~20,000 ft below water that it had to grow to even reach the ocean's surface. Hawaii's hot spot has produced an incredible amount of basalt and continues to erupt daily. This is one of the few places you can walk right up to lava and wonder at its destructive power.

Read More

World's Largest Volcano Tamu Massif - Mapped For Clues To Earth's Interior

The largest volcano in the world, Tamu Massif , eluded the aforementioned title for quite some time as geologists worked to determine whether the shield volcano was in fact a single volcano or a complex of volcanoes. Recently team of scientists at the University of Houston led by William Sager published a study determining that Tamu Massif was in fact the largest single volcano known on Earth.

The University of Houston team began mapping the volcano's surface on board the JOIDES Resolution research ship and was able to determine that the extensive basalt volcano did erupt from a single source nearby the center of Tamu Massif. The lava flows that formed Tamu Massif, broadly termed the Shatsky Rise, are similar to mid-ocean ridge processes that create new oceanic crust.

It would not be surprising if you've never heard of this volcano, as it's incredible volume is hidden on the bottom of the ocean floor and spread out over 400 miles by 280 miles. The super volcano is located about 1,000 miles due east of Japan and was formed at a triple junction in the late Jurassic to early Cretaceous, approximately 145 million years ago.

The volcano is roughly the size of New Mexico and over 4 km above the Pacific sea floor.

Tamu Massif Tells Scientists About Earth's Mantle

The sheer volume of Tamu Massif and the required lava to create it presents interesting opportunities to understand the Earth's mantle. To put this volcano into perspective, it is approximately 50 times larger than Mauna Loa, Hawaii's biggest active volcano. Tamu Massif is only about 25% smaller than Olympus Mons , one of the largest volcanoes on the planet Mars .

The bathymetric map below provides a scale reference to Olympus Mons on the bottom right at the same scale as Tamu Massif. The white and blue lines denote Multi-Channel Seismic (MCS) reflection profiles that allow geophysicists to understand the structure of the volcano beneath the surface by bouncing sound waves through the volcano's interior and measuring the sound waves as they return.

Geologists do not fully understand how these massive basaltic volcanoes form and many times have to piece together a geologic history from just a few cores and 2D seismic lines. Sager's group was able to determine the volcano is made up of successive large lava flows from the center of the volcano. The physical attributes of this lava allowed it to flow for great distances and create slopes of only a couple of degrees.

Previously, scientists were suspicious that volcanoes of this size could form on Earth, where nothing to the same scale has been identified in the past. The volcano has characteristics that would suggest a source from the deep mantle as well as a shallow mantle sourced from plate tectonism.

The massive flows are characteristic of commonly seen flood basalts seen throughout the world. IODP core suggests that the formation of Tamu Massif was partially the result of explosive submarine volcanism.

Read More

Spectacular Dirty Thunderstorm Surrounds Erupting Japanese Volcano

A violent eruption at Japan's Sakurajima Volcano has produced a spectacular display of volcanic lightning, lava and an ash plume reaching up to three miles into the air. This is not the first time Sakurajima has erupted violently, having erupted several times already in 2016 and is Japan's most active volcano.

Sakurajima, which translates to "Cherry Blossom Island, is a very active composite volcano, also known as a stratovolcano, on the southern edge of the Kyushu Island, Japan. In fact, the volcano was once its own island until connecting to the larger island through progressive lava flows in the major 1914 eruption. The Sakurajima Volcano sits within a shallow sea formed from an eruption 22,000 years ago that formed the Aira Caldera. The caldera formed as the major magma chamber ejected its magma through eruption and consequently the ground collapsed to fill in the empty magma chamber. Through time, the magma chamber will once again fill with magma and threaten a massive eruption. Thankfully, we are likely many thousands of years from that occurrence.

The recent eruption sent volcanic ash high into the air forming volcanic lightning, also known as a dirty thunderstorm, a process scientists don't yet fully understand. Volcanic lightning forms during the chaotic turbulent mixing of ash laden air often associated with strombolian volcanic eruptions. There is ongoing debate as to what creates the electrostatic charge, but the leading hypotheses are the electrostatic charge is formed from ash particles or ice particles within the plume.

In addition to the dirty thunderstorm, lava bombs were seen ejected from the top of the volcano, along with lava pouring down its sides. The Sakurajima Volcano is one of the most energetic and active volcanoes in Japan, erupting many times a year. Thankfully, the almost constant release in pressure helps alleviate pressure within the magma chamber and limits the volcano's ability to build up enough pressure to produce a massive volcanic eruption.

It's important to not underestimate, however, the extent of volcanism in Japan with 47 eruptions already occurring to date on the islands. Japan sits within the 'Ring of Fire,’ which denotes the ring of land surrounding the Pacific Ocean that is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The Pacific Ocean's crust is continually pulled apart by the East Pacific Rise and subducts underneath continental crust, forming a volcanic ring around the ocean.

The Ring of Fire accounts for 75% of the entire world's active and dormant volcanoes. One thing is certain, countries along the Pacific Ocean will continue to witness massive volcanic eruptions and earthquakes as lithospheric plates continue to collide, subduct and melt along the Pacific Ocean borders.

Read More

Incredible Photos Of Hawaii's Overflowing Lava Lake

Hawai’i is home to almost continuous volcanic eruptions, which range from gaseous splattering eruptions to a slow flood of magma. Recently Kilauea volcano has expelled more magma than usual, creating spectacular displays of lava lakes, creating several kilometers of new land, and lava overflowing into the Pacific Ocean.

The rising lava lake level can be seen from the nearby Jagger Museum at the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, especially at sunset and night when the lava lake gives off an incandescent glow. The lava lake is at one of the highest levels in recent times, but not quite as high as when it fully overflowed in May 2015, raising the lava lake rim by another 30 feet from cooled lava.

Kilauea volcano has been continuously erupting since 1983 and is one of the most active volcanoes by lava volume and continual eruption. On Kilauea, the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater and the Pu’u O’o crater are both erupting simultaneously. The Pu’u O’o crater recently started flowing into the Pacific Ocean for the first time since 2013 creating spectacular scenes where lava meets comparatively cold ocean water.

According to the United States Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, the lava lake at Halemaʻumaʻu Crater is within 5 meters of overflowing its banks. Below is a video of spattering from the lava lake on September 7, 2016.

As an added bonus to the recent increased volcanic activity, the big island of Hawai’i added over 5 acres to its shoreline in the recent month due to lava flows from Kilauea. The 61G lava flow entering the Pacific Ocean is supplied from lava tubes coming from Pu’u O’o crater. The lava flows through lava tubes, which can get large enough to drive a car through, flow 1200ºC lava directly into the ocean, creating steam and explosions.

However, the recently deposited lava is likely on unstable ground, much of what is deposited on the edges of the big island is eventually eroded and falls down the sides of the island into the ocean.

Read More