10 Alien-Looking Places on Earth
Dry Valleys (Antartica)
Antarctica's
Dry Valleys, with their barren gravel-strewn floors, are said to be the most similar
place on Earthto Mars. Its fascinating landscape, located within Victoria Land westof McMurdo Sound, get almost no snowfall, and except for a few steeprocks they are the only
continental part of Antarctica devoid of ice. The
terrain looks like something
not of this Earth;the valley’s floor occasionally contains a perennially frozen lake withice several meters thick. Under the ice, in the extremely salty water,live mysterious simple organisms, a subject of on-going research.
Socotra Island (Indian Ocean)
Thisisland simply blows away any notion about what is considered “normal”for a landscape on Earth, you’d be inclined to think you weretransported to another planet - or traveled to another era of Earth’shistory.
Socotra Island,which is part of a group of four islands, has been geographicallyisolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. Likethe
Galapagos Islands, the island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic.
The climate is harsh, hot and dry, and yet - the most amazing plant life thrives there. Situated in
the IndianOcean 250 km from Somalia and 340 km from Yemen, the wide sandy beachesrise to limestone plateaus full of caves (some 7 kilometers in length)and mountains up to 1525 meters high. The trees and plants of thisisland were preserved thru the long geological isolation, somevarieties being 20 million years old.
Rio Tinto (Spain)
The giant opencast mines of
Rio Tintocreate a surreal, almost lunar landscape. Its growth has consumed notonly mountains and valleys but even entire villages, whose populationshad to be resettled in specially built towns nearby. Named after theriver which flows through the region-itself named for the reddishstreaks that colour its water-Rio Tinto has become a landscape within alandscape. The river red water is highly acidic (pH 1.7—2.5) and richin heavy metals.
Kliluk, the Spotted Lake (Canada)
In the hot sun of summer, the water of
Spotted Lake,located in British Columbia and Washington, evaporates and crystallizesthe minerals, forming many white-rimmed circles: shallow pools thatreflect the mineral content of the water in shades of blues and greens.It contains one of the worlds highest concentrations of minerals:magnesium sulphate (Epsom salts), calcium and sodium sulphates, pluseight other minerals and traces of four more, including silver andtitanium.
The Indians soaked away aches and ailments in the healing mud andwaters. One story cites a truce in a battle to allow both warringtribes to tend to their wounded in the Spotted Lake, "Kliluk".
Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni is perhaps one of the most spectacularlandscapes in the world. A magnificent area with an impressive saltdesert (the world's largest), active volcanoes, tall cacti islands andgeyser flats, it exists like an alien mirage, something completelyout-of-this-world.Oddee's crew went there in July 2008, be sure to
check it out.
Vale da Lua (Brazil)
Vale da Lua (Moon Valley) is a water eroded rock formation with natural
swimming pools,placed on a river in the brazilian cerrado forest. Located at Chapada,38 km from Alto Paraíso de Goiás, it’s rock formations are one of theoldest on the planet, made of quartz with outcrops of crystals.
(Photo by: Alex)
Blood Pond Hot Spring (Japan)
Blood Pond Hot Spring is one of the "hells" (jigoku) of Beppu, Japan,nine spectacular natural hot springs that are more for viewing ratherthan bathing. The “blood pond hell” features a pond of hot, red water,colored as such by iron in the waters. It’s allegedly the mostphotogenic of the nine hells.
(Photos: L Plater and phototravel).
The Stone Forest (China)
The
Shilin(Chinese for stone forest) is an impressive example of karsttopography. Its rocks are made of limestone and are formed by waterpercolating the ground’s surface and eroding away everything but thepillars. It’s known since the Ming Dynasty as the 'First
Wonder of the World.'
The Richat Structure (Mauritania)
This spectacular landform in Mauritania in the southwestern part of the Sahara desert, called the
Richat Structure,is so huge with a diameter of 30 miles that it is visible from space.The formation was originally thought to be caused by a meteorite impactbut now geologists believe it is a product of uplift and erosion. Thecause of its circular shape is still a mystery.
Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves (Austria)
Icecaves are very different from normal caves. They have a strange feelingabout them, as though they are not from this planet, and one has justtemporarily stepped into their world when spelunking their depths.
There are many ice caves throughout the world, but the
Eisriesenwelt Ice Cavesin Austria are some of the largest known to man. They are locatedwithin the Tennengebirge Mountains near Salzburg and stretch for aremarkable 40 kilometers. Only a portion of the labyrinth is open totourists but it's enough to get a taste of what the remaining networkis like: a truly mesmerizing palate of Mother Nature's handicraft.
Reader Contributions to "10 Alien-Looking Places on Earth"
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| Tongariro National Park
by Chad on 11/26/2009
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| Cano Cristales Colombia
by Diana Arevalo on 10/28/2009
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| Cerro Piedra Bola, Jalisco State, Mexico
by JPaulo on 10/8/2009
Naturally-formed stone balls, i.e. cannonball concretions and megaspherulites, have been at times mi(...)
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| Superman's Hideout
by Coramoor on 9/20/2009
Crystal caves, courtesy of National Geographic :)
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| Tesselated Plates of Tasmania
by Amy Carnes on 9/19/2009
Natural formed, flat-lying rock formations caused by erosion that occurs on very few ocean shores. |
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| Giant's Causeway, Ireland
by Matt on 8/18/2009
Giant's Causeway in Ireland consists of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, as the result of v(...) |
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| Crystal Cave (Naica, Mexico)
by LUIX RMZ on 8/17/2009
It is amazing. It's about 4 hours from US border in Chihuahua State.
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| Muddy Volcanoes
by Menumorut on 8/4/2009
The Muddy Volcanoes form a protected area near the village of Berca, Buzau County, Romania. Undergro(...) |
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| Turkey - Cappadokya
by Sim Car on 7/24/2009
Hands down the most surreal mountainous landscape anyone can go to. An area bigger then the Grand Ca(...)
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| Pancake rocks New Zealand
by Sophie on 7/19/2009
Natural rock formations in Punakaiki New Zealand..urr..they're called pancake rocks...because they l(...)
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