Discover some of the most interesting but strange natural wonders of the planet, from Blood Falls to Spotted Lake
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The world is a weird and wonderful place. Natural phenomena can cause some interesting, but beautiful things to form on the globe. The complexity of nature is hard to comprehend sometimes, but these locations give us a glimpse into just how fascinating the natural world can be.
From a hidden beach in a hole to a spotted lake that looks like a mosaic – below are some of the strangest natural places around the world.
Spotted Lake – Canada
In winter and spring, this lake looks like any other. But as the water begins to evaporate in summer, hundreds of circular pools are left behind, each a different shade of blue, green, and yellow. Caused by a high concentration of minerals, such as calcium, sodium sulphate and magnesium sulphate, the colour of each pool depends on its mineral composition. During the First World War, minerals were harvested from the lake to manufacture ammunition. Chinese labourers would skim up to a ton of salts from the lake a day and ship them to munitions factories in eastern Canada.
The spotted lake is located in British Columbia, Canada. Known to the native Syilx (Okanagan) people as ‘kłlilx’w’, the lake is a sacred site and is considered a place of healing, believing that each of the different circles have different healing and medicinal properties.
The Tianzi Mountains – China
The mountains are located in the Wulinyuan Scenic Area in Wulingyuan District, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province.
There’s no questioning why these mountains are so loved. They were formed by sedimentary rocks 318 million years ago, which were eroded by the water and wind. Slowly, these turned into quartz stones, eventually forming the famous pillar formations. The range covers an area of around 21 square miles and a length of around 40 kilometres (25 miles). The main peak of the mountain range sits at an incredible 1262 metres (4,142 feet) above sea level.
There are many incredible attractions in the mountains; the Shentang gulf is a misty gorge, still untouched by human footprints. As well as this, there’s the ‘field in the air’, a three-hectare large field with a slope at the height of over 1,000 meters.
Playa de Amor – Mexico
‘Playa de Amor’, translated to ‘beach of love’, is a hidden beach on the Marieta Islands, just off the coast of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. From above, it looks like a hole in the ground, but beneath the ring of stone hides a beautiful beach. The beach is not somewhere you can just stroll onto, as entering the beach involves swimming through a short underwater tunnel, making it even more secluded.
The origins of this crater are equally fascinating. Some believe that it is a natural geological marvel, while others believe the crater was formed as a result of bomb tests conducted by the Mexican military during the early 1900s. The true reason is still a mystery.
Blood Falls – Antarctica
Located in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, deep red coloured waters resembling blood pours out of fissures in Taylor Glacier and into Lake Bonney – making for a gory sight against the white surface of the glacier. The falls were first documented in 1911 by Thomas Griffith Taylor, who attributed the red colour to red algae. However, new research revealed the actual cause of the red is that the falls are rich in iron, which reacts with oxygen in the air when it steams out of the glacier.
The water from the falls is also unusually salty, meaning it has a lower freezing point than pure water and releases heat when it freezes, melting the ice and enabling water to flow. This makes Taylor Glacier the coldest known glacier to have persistently flowing water.
Dallol- Ethiopia
Near Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea, at 125 metres below sea level, lies Dallol – a hydrothermal system around a cinder cone volcano in the Danakil Depression. It is one of the hottest places on earth, with temperatures reaching over 50 degrees Celsius.
The hydrothermal activity below the crater is what gives Dallol its signature alien colours and landscape. As groundwater is heated by magma below, it’s pushed through layers of rock, acting as a solvent, dissolving minerals it encounters. These minerals then oxidize, creating colourful, supersaturated hot springs. Filled with geothermal vents, acidic pools and sulphur springs, Dallol is uninhabitable. Due to the low PH levels, high salt concentration and high heat, nothing lives in Dallol. Not even microbes can withstand all three of these conditions.
