Paradise

Utah is known for its impossible canyons and rock formations. Arches National Park in Eastern Utah is one of the most impressive. Here, natural sandstone arches, formed over millions of years when salt beds covered the area, create an amazing orange brown landscape. The area has a rich history as well as fascinating geology, it was home to the Ute and Paiute tribes. Ute petroglyphs from around 250 years ago can still be seen today. Bryce Canyon, also in Utah, should not be overlooked as a destination if beautiful rock formations captivate you.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, located in the state of Colorado in the United States, encompasses an area of 340 square kilometers (130 square miles, or 85,000 acres) of magnificent sand dunes. The 12,000 year old sand dunes include the tallest dunes in North America, rising 230 meters (750 feet) above the valley floor. The park contains other landscape features found in the high desert, such as alpine lakes, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands, all of which provide habitats for many kinds of wildlife. Visitors to the park can enjoy hiking over the dunes, though it is wise to either keep the visitor center in sight, or bring a compass, as there are no marked trails on the ever-changing dunes. The closest town with accommodation is Alamosa, 30 miles southwest of the park. There is also tent camping available within the park. The nearest international airport is located in Denver, the capital of Colorado, which is a 4 1/2 hour drive from the park.

Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns within a Paleocene lava flow,  similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and those of nearby Ulva. In all these cases, cooling on the upper and lower surfaces of the solidified lava resulted in contraction and fracturing, starting in a blocky tetragonal pattern and transitioning to a regular hexagonal fracture pattern with fractures perpendicular to the cooling surfaces.


As cooling continued these cracks gradually extended toward the centre of the flow, forming the long hexagonal columns we see in the wave eroded cross-section today. Similar hexagonal fracture patterns are found in desiccation cracks in mud where contraction is due to loss of water instead of cooling. Its size and naturally arched roof, and the eerie sounds produced by the echoes of waves, give it the atmosphere of a natural cathedral. The cave's Gaelic name, An Uaimh Bhinn, means "the melodious cave."



Little is known of the early history of Staffa, although the Swiss town of Stäfa on Lake Zurich was named after the island by a monk from nearby Iona. Part of the Ulva estate of the MacQuarries from an early date until 1777, the cave was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by 18th-century naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772. It became known as Fingal's Cave after the eponymous hero of an epic poem by 18th-century Scots poet-historian James Macpherson. It formed part of his Ossian cycle of poems claimed to have been based on old Scottish Gaelic poems. In Irish mythology, the hero Fingal is known as Fionn mac Cumhaill, and it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal (meaning "white stranger") through a misapprehension of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as Finn. The legend has Fionn or Finn building the causeway between Ireland and Scotland.

The cave has a large arched entrance and is filled by the sea. Several local companies include a pass by the cave in sightseeing cruises from April to September. However, it is also possible to land elsewhere on the island and walk to the cave overland, where a row of fractured columns forms a walkway just above high-water level permitting exploration on foot. From the inside, the entrance seems to frame the island of Iona across the water.

Washington DC is the capital of the United States. More formally known as the District of Columbia, this federal district is not part of any one state, though it is bordered by the states of Maryland and Virginia. Washington DC is home to many of the important government buildings of the United States, including the White House and the US Capitol Building. But that’s not all this magnificent city is known for.



Washington DC is also a hotbed a culture, housing some of the finest art and history museums in the United States. And of course, there are the many impressive monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, the towering Washington Monument and reflecting pool, the Jefferson Memorial, the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the US Marine Corps Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Other popular stops for visitors include the Library of Congress, and the 19 museums operated by the Smithsonian Institution. The city is also known for its performing arts centers, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (home to the National Symphony Orchestra), the Washington National Opera, and the Washington Ballet. Nature-loving tourists flock to the city in the spring when the cherry blossom trees that line the city’s streets are in full bloom.

 Son Doong Cave Is The Largest Cave In The World

 

The most beautiful caves in the world Marble Caves, Patagonia, Chile

Prepare yourself for admiring one of the most spectacular caves on our planet. It is not easy to reach the caverns, but this unforgettable journey is worth the effort!
The Marble Caves is geological formation of unusual beauty. These caves have formed in a pure marble and are bathed in the deep blue water of General Carrera Lake.

Blue water

The enormous General Carrera Lake is fed by rivers coming from several glaciers of Patagonian Andes.
The ice of glaciers contains small particles and, when the ice melts, many particles remain suspended in the water. This gives an unusual effect - the glacial meltwater is slightly turbid and it refracts the blue part of sunlight. Due to this the water of General Carrera Lake has a distinct blue color.

Marble monoliths

Near the small town Puerto Tranquilo cliffs of pure marble are rising from the lake water. Marble is exposed in peninsula some 5 km south-east from Puerto Tranquilo and in a group of islands (consisting of pure marble!) several kilometres north-east from the peninsula.
It has been calculated that the whole block of marble weighs 5 billion tons. The stone is in light grey color, with frequent darker striation.
This layer of marble was exposed by the movements of glacier during the Pleistocene epoch.
The geological history of Lake General Carrera is complex - lake has changed its outlet and multiple times has changed its level. Lake reached its present level some 6,200 years ago.

Caves, caverns, tunnels

Marble is sligthly soluble in water. Thus, when the lake reached its present level, the process of solution started at this level. The marble dissolved faster at the water surface - small seeps through the cracks in the marble made these fractures wider and waves washed away the dissolved material.
Thus, in a few thousand years time (very short time for geological processes) the interaction of the marble and blue water of lake formed a place of bewildering beauty - countless caves, mazes, columns and tunnels in the marble.
Larger, more imposing structures are Marble Cathedral and Marble Chapel. Marble Cathedral (Catedral de Mármol) is a small island at the peninsula but Marble Chapel (Capilla de Mármol) is a small marble island closer to the northern coast. One can stop his boat at one such island and take a walk... under the island, through the mazes and tunnels.
Marble Caves are little known internationally but those tourists, who come here, are very impressed. Tourists can rent boats in Puerto Tranquilo and take a guided tour to the marble peninsulas and islands. In some places boats go under the ground, through marble tunnels. Naturally, in bad weather boats can not drive near the caves.
Throughout the year the lights and colors in the caves change. In early spring the water is low and the caves have more natural-looking color. But in summer, when the level in the lake rises, the caves are partly inundated and get their eerie blue color. This area has much sun - bad weather stays in the other side of Andes.