Natural wonders

[Safriz]

As the name suggests..Please posts pictures,videos and detailed information about natural wonders of the world.
Please note that we know about every nook and cranny of Europe and North America.It will be appreciated if members can posts natural wonders from the less known parts of the world.

Hell hole of Turkmenistan
YouTube - Darvaza Gas Crater - CentralAsia2008.com
In the hot, expansive Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, near the 350 person village of Derweze, is a hole 328 feet wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. Known as the Darvaza Gas Crater or the "Gates of Hells" by locals, the crater can be seen glowing for miles around.

The hole is the outcome not of nature but of an industrial accident. In 1971 a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole at an alarming rate. To head off a potential environmental catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight. The crater hasn't stopped burning since.

Though little information is available about the fate of the Soviet drilling rig, presumably it is still down there somewhere, on the other side of the "Gates of Hell."

 

[Jagganaut]

Om Parvat​

YouTube - OM PARVAT

Om Parvat (also Adi Kailash, Little Kailash, Jonglingkong Peak, Baba Kailash, Chhota Kailash) is a mountain in the Himalayan mountain range, lying in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, India, near Sinla pass. It is considered sacred by Hindus and its snow deposition pattern is said to resemble the Hindu sacred syllable 'AUM' (&#2384. Its appearance is distinctly similar to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Near Om Parvat lie Parvati Lake and Jonglingkong Lake. Jonglingkong Lake is sacred, as Mansarovar, to the Hindus. Opposite to this peak is a mountain called Parwati Muhar, whose snow shines like a crown in the sun. Om Namah Shivaye

 

[Jagganaut]

The Sahara Desert​

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YouTube - Sandstorm on the Dunes - Sahara Desert

The Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى‎, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert") is the world's largest hot desert. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,630,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The only larger desert in the world is Antarctica, classified as such due to very low precipitation rates. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel: a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that comprises the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.

Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres (590 ft) in height.

 

[Safriz]

Bio luminiscence off the Australian coast

 

[amjad_vantage]

K2 is the second highest mountain on earth located in Pakistan as part of the Himalayan mountain range. The summit reaches a peak of 28,251 feet (8,611 m) second to Mount Everest, but it is considered a much more challenging ascent than Everest. K2 is often called the Savage Mountain because for every four people that reach the peak one dies trying.

 

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K2 is the second highest mountain on earth located in Pakistan as part of the Himalayan mountain range. The summit reaches a peak of 28,251 feet (8,611 m) second to Mount Everest, but it is considered a much more challenging ascent than Everest. K2 is often called the Savage Mountain because for every four people that reach the peak one dies trying.

 

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Morning Glory cloud

The Morning Glory cloud is a rare meteorological phenomenon occasionally observed in different locations around the world. The southern part of Northern Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria is the only known location where it can be predicted and observed on a more or less regular basis. The settlement of Burketown attracts glider pilots intent on riding this phenomenon.

 

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Aurora

An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae) is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and are directed by the Earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere. Aurora is classified as diffuse or discrete aurora. Most aurora occur in a band known as the auroral zone which is typically 3° to 6° in latitudinal extent and at all local times or longitudes. The auroral zone is typically 10° to 20° from the magnetic pole defined by the axis of the Earth's magnetic dipole. During a geomagnetic storm, the auroral zone will expand to lower latitudes. The diffuse aurora is a featureless glow in the sky which may not be visible to the naked eye even on a dark night and defines the extent of the auroral zone. The discrete aurora are sharply defined features within the diffuse aurora which vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye to bright enough to read a newspaper at night. Discrete aurorae are usually observed only in the night sky because they are not as bright as the sunlit sky. Aurorae occur occasionally poleward of the auroral zone as diffuse patches or arcs (polar cap arcs) which are generally invisible to the naked eye.

In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoxes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits". In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed a sign from God (see Wilfried Schröder, Das Phänomen des Polarlichts, Darmstadt 1984).

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has almost identical features to the aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with to changes in the northern auroral zone and is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America and Australia.

 

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Sun dog

A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, from Greek parēlion, (παρήλιο&#957, παρά(beside) + ήλιος(sun), "beside the sun"; is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun.

Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they are not always obvious or bright. Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when the sun is low.

 

[Kadamba]

Angel Falls - Venezuela
Angel Falls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It is the world's highest waterfall, with a height of 979 m (3,212 ft) and a plunge of 807 m (2,648 ft). The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State.

Huangshan Mountain - China
Huangshan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The range composed of material that was uplifted from an ancient sea during the Mesozoic era, 100 million years ago; the mountains themselves were carved by glaciers during the Quaternary. Vegetation on the range is thickest below 1,100 meters (3,600 ft), with trees continuing until 1,800 meters (5,900 ft).