Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
Mysterious Sights – Part 1
April 20, 2013
10
Mysterious Sights: Middle East Desert Floor Drawings
(See image above)
The secrets of these stone
structures are only now being unraveled, probably because it is nearly
impossible to get the entire picture at ground level. But with views
from airplanes and satellites, archaeologists have discovered thousands
of these “floor drawings” of stones in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The wheels measure from 82 feet
to 230 feet across and could be at least 2,000 years old; other stone
structures are far older. What were they used for? Did they carry
special meaning? That is still secret.
Mysterious Sights: Eye of Africa, Mauritania
The Eye of Africa – whose official name, the Richat Structure, seems so mundane in comparison – was spotted in central
Mauritania by astronauts on early space missions. In the expanse of the
Western Sahara Desert, the formation has a diameter of about 30 miles.
At first, scientists thought a meteorite had hit the Earth, causing this
impression. But now it is believed to be a symmetrical uplift that
erosion has revealed. No one has explained yet why it is circular.
Mysterious Sights: Racetrack Playa, California
Even NASA cannot explain it. It’s best to gaze in wonder at the
sliding rocks on this dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park.
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Here’s one you Led Zeppelin fans are no doubt familiar with, as it
was famously featured on the cover of their Houses of the Holy album.
For those that aren’t aware though, the Giant’s Causeway is a massive
area of interlocking basalt columns created after an ancient volcanic
eruption. The lava cooled rapidly and then contracted, leaving many deep
cracks that were further deepened thanks to erosion, creating around
40,000 pillar-like structures. The World Heritage Site is now considered
one of the top natural landmarks in all of the U.K. and the most
popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Of course,
the legends surrounding the amazing landmark only add to the area’s
intrigue. The most famous legend says that an Irish warrior built the
causeway so he could walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish rival.
Unfortunately, after seeing his enemy’s size, he fled in fear and then
asked his wife to help disguise him as a baby. When the Scotsman came
calling and saw the massive “infant,” he assumed the father must be a
giant, so he ran back to Scotland, destroying the rest of the causeway
in order to stop the giant from following him home. The legend fits in
with nature as there are similar basalt formations on the isle of Staffa
in Scotland that were actually created by the same ancient lava flow.
Source Image Via Stephanie Moussie [Flickr]
Made by Nature
The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.
It
is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland,
about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature
Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern
Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio
Times readers, the Giant’s Causeway was named as the fourth greatest
natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form
stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the
sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some
with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres
(39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick
in places.
Thanks to: http://blog.world-mysteries.com
April 20, 2013
10
Mysterious Sights: Middle East Desert Floor Drawings
(See image above)
The secrets of these stone
structures are only now being unraveled, probably because it is nearly
impossible to get the entire picture at ground level. But with views
from airplanes and satellites, archaeologists have discovered thousands
of these “floor drawings” of stones in Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The wheels measure from 82 feet
to 230 feet across and could be at least 2,000 years old; other stone
structures are far older. What were they used for? Did they carry
special meaning? That is still secret.
Mysterious Sights: Eye of Africa, Mauritania
The Eye of Africa – whose official name, the Richat Structure, seems so mundane in comparison – was spotted in central
Mauritania by astronauts on early space missions. In the expanse of the
Western Sahara Desert, the formation has a diameter of about 30 miles.
At first, scientists thought a meteorite had hit the Earth, causing this
impression. But now it is believed to be a symmetrical uplift that
erosion has revealed. No one has explained yet why it is circular.
Mysterious Sights: Racetrack Playa, California
Even NASA cannot explain it. It’s best to gaze in wonder at the
sliding rocks on this dry lake bed in Death Valley National Park.
| Racetrack Playa is almost completely flat, 2.5 miles from north to south and 1.25 miles from east to west, and covered with cracked mud. The rocks, some weighing hundreds of pounds, slide across the sediment, leaving furrows in their wakes, but no one has actually witnessed it. Is it the wind? Something to do with ice? Will it ever be explained?  |
The Racetrack is a unique
attraction of Death Valley National Park where rocks slide across the
ground all by themselves. Although no one has recently seen them slide
across the ground, it’s the wind blowing through the canyon that makes
them move after rain wets dried up silt. With a friction level reduced
to nearly to zero, even a finger could push a very heavy rock.
attraction of Death Valley National Park where rocks slide across the
ground all by themselves. Although no one has recently seen them slide
across the ground, it’s the wind blowing through the canyon that makes
them move after rain wets dried up silt. With a friction level reduced
to nearly to zero, even a finger could push a very heavy rock.
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
Here’s one you Led Zeppelin fans are no doubt familiar with, as it
was famously featured on the cover of their Houses of the Holy album.
For those that aren’t aware though, the Giant’s Causeway is a massive
area of interlocking basalt columns created after an ancient volcanic
eruption. The lava cooled rapidly and then contracted, leaving many deep
cracks that were further deepened thanks to erosion, creating around
40,000 pillar-like structures. The World Heritage Site is now considered
one of the top natural landmarks in all of the U.K. and the most
popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Of course,
the legends surrounding the amazing landmark only add to the area’s
intrigue. The most famous legend says that an Irish warrior built the
causeway so he could walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish rival.
Unfortunately, after seeing his enemy’s size, he fled in fear and then
asked his wife to help disguise him as a baby. When the Scotsman came
calling and saw the massive “infant,” he assumed the father must be a
giant, so he ran back to Scotland, destroying the rest of the causeway
in order to stop the giant from following him home. The legend fits in
with nature as there are similar basalt formations on the isle of Staffa
in Scotland that were actually created by the same ancient lava flow.
Source Image Via Stephanie Moussie [Flickr]
Made by Nature
The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.
It
is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland,
about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. It was
declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature
Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern
Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio
Times readers, the Giant’s Causeway was named as the fourth greatest
natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form
stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the
sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some
with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres
(39 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick
in places.
Thanks to: http://blog.world-mysteries.com
