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The classical natural wonders are huge and hard to miss – vast canyons, giant mountains and the like. Many of the most fantastic natural phenomena,
however, are also least easy to spot. Some are incredibly rare while
others are located in hard-to-reach parts of the planet. From moving
rocks to mammatus clouds and red tides to fire rainbows, here are seven
of the most spectacular phenomenal wonders of the natural world.
1) Sailing Stones
(Images via: f8BeThere and Ian Parker)
The mysterious moving stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley
have been a center of scientific controversy for decades. Rocks
weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds
of yards at a time. Some scientists have proposed that a combination of
strong winds and surface ice account for these movements. However, this
theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by
side and moving at different rates and in disparate directions.
Moreover, the physics calculations do not fully support this theory as
wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some
of the stones.
2) Columnar Basalt
(Images via: Centripetalnotion, Habitas and Strahlen)
When a thick lava flow cools it contracts vertically but cracks
perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric
regularity – in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable
hexagonal extrusions that almost appear to be made by man. One of the
most famous such examples is the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of
Ireland (shown above) though the largest and most widely recognized
would be Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. Basalt also forms different but
equally fascinating ways when eruptions are exposed to air or water.
3) Blue Holes
(Images via: AEAdvisor, BelizeDiving and ScienceRay)
Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation that
get their name from the dark and foreboding blue tone they exhibit when
viewed from above in relationship to surrounding waters. They can be
hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to explore some of them
they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea life due to
poor water circulation – leaving them eerily empty. Some blue holes,
however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered,
preserved in their depths.
4) Red Tides
(Images via: Carleton, CleanWaterNetwork and UMN)
Red tides are also known as algal blooms – sudden influxes of massive
amounts of colored single-cell algae that can convert entire areas of
an ocean or beach into a blood red color. While some of these can be
relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that
cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals. In some cases, even
humans have been harmed by red tides though no human exposure are known
to have been fatal. While they can be fatal, the constituent
phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers.
5) Ice Circles
(Images via Panoramio, CrystalLinks, CropCircleAnswers and DailyMail)
While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of
conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed
by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular
motion. As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam
wear relatively evenly at the edges of the ice until it slowly forms
into an essentially ideal circle. Ice circles have been seen with
diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters
and groups at different sizes as shown above.
6) Mammatus Clouds
(Images via: John Olson and the DNR)
True to their ominous appearance, mammatus clouds are often
harbingers of a coming storm or other extreme weather system. Typically
composed primarily of ice, they can extend for hundreds of miles in each
direction and individual formations can remain visibly static for ten
to fifteen minutes at a time. While they may appear foreboding they are
merely the messengers – appearing around, before or even after severe
weather.
7) Fire Rainbows
(Images via: Lisa Andriani-Gonnelli, Unwired and UMN)
A circumhorizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at a rare confluence of
right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds. Crystals
within the clouds refract light into the various visible waves of the
spectrum but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground
below. Due to the rarity with which all of these events happen in
conjunction with one another, there are relatively few remarkable
photos
of this phenomena. (Exceptional thanks to Lisa for her extraordinary image!).
https://webecoist.momtastic.com/2009/01/18/nature-phenomena-wonders-natural-world/
