Category Earth Science

Covering 1,000 km (600 miles), Atacama Desert, Chile South American desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Some parts have not seen rainfall since records began at least 400 years ago! The northern part of the Atacama Desert contained valuable minerals. Bolivia and Chile attempted to claim the area in the 1800s, causing the War of the Pacific from 1879 to 1884. Chile claimed victory and won control of the region. The extreme ecosystem of the Atacama makes survival difficult for animals. However, red scorpions, grey foxes, desert wasps and butterflies are among the species able to cope with the dry environment. You can also find penguins, sea lions and pelicans nearer the Pacific side.

The Atacama Desert was at the centre of the world’s attention in 2010. Famous for the ‘Copiapo mining accident’, whereby 33 miners survived a record 69 days buried in a 120-year-old copper-gold mine. Thankfully, all 33 miners were safely rescued on 13th October 2010. Often compared to the planet Mars, the Atacama’s landscape and soils are unique. Its appearance is unlike other deserts and several movies and television programmes have been filmed in the area. One of the most famous of which is A Space Odyssey. The Atacama Desert is one of the top three destinations for visitors to Chile. The other top attractions include Easter Island and Chile’s Lake District.

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Krubera Cave, Georgia is the world’s deepest cave lies in Asia, Stretching down 2,197 m (7,208 ft), it is nearly as deep as seven of Paris’s Eiffel Towers. Russians call the cave Voronya, meaning “crow’s cave”, after the many crows nesting at the entrance.

Krubera Cave is a deep, mostly vertical cave system. Passages in the cave system can be narrow and difficult to pass or wide and very large. In order to explore the caves completely cave divers need to be prepared to put on scuba gear because tunnels in the caves can sometimes become flooded. Flooded tunnels are referred to as sumps. Some of the passageways in Krubera Cave had to be widened to make it possible for cave divers and explorers to venture further.

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The world’s longest river is the Nile, at 6,825 km (4,238 miles) in length. It flows through 11 African countries, from Burundi to Egypt, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile takes its name from the Greek for “river valley”.

The availability of water from the Nile throughout the year, combined with the area’s high temperatures, makes possible intensive cultivation along its banks. Even in some of the regions in which the average rainfall is sufficient for cultivation, marked annual variations in precipitation often make cultivation without irrigation risky.

The Nile River is also a vital waterway for transport, especially at times when motor transport is not feasible—e.g., during the flood season. Improvements in air, rail, and highway facilities beginning in the 20th century, however, greatly reduced dependency on the waterway.

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The peak of Mount Everest lies 8,848 m (29,029 ft) above sea level, making it the world’s highest mountain. It is ten times taller than the world’s tallest building- the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai.

Mount Everest attracts many climbers, some of them highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes, one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the “standard route”) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, and wind, as well as significant hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of 2017, nearly 300 people have died on Everest, many of whose bodies remain on the mountain.

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If a stalagmite and stalactite become long enough and meet, they will form a rocky column. Columns are also created when a stalactite grows down to touch the cave floor.

As compound cave formations, they include among their ranks the tallest free-standing speleothems in the world. (Certain flowstone falls–sheets of calcite lining vertical shafts–are undoubtedly taller, but rarely measured). The towering specimens of the upper left photo, from Ogle Cave in Carlsbad Cavern National Park, New Mexico, USA, are indeed impressive. These, however, are only about half as high as the 61-meter tall column in Tham Sao Hin, a cave in Thailand.

Picture Credit : Google

These thin, hollow tubes also form from dissolved particles in water, dripping slowly through the roof of a cave. They may grow into stalactites if the water keeps dripping for a very long time.

These tubes form when calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate dissolved in the water comes out of solution and is deposited. In soda straws, as each drop hovers at the tip, it deposits a ring of mineral at its edge. It then falls and a new drop takes its place. Each successive drop of water deposits a little more mineral before falling, and eventually a tube is built up. Stalagmites or flowstone may form where the water drops hit the cave floor.

Soda straws are some of the most fragile of speleothems. Like helictites, they can be easily crushed or broken by the slightest touch. Because of this, soda straws are rarely seen within arms’ reach in show caves or others with unrestricted access. Kartchner Caverns in southern Arizona has well-preserved soda straws because of its recent discovery in 1974 and highly regulated traffic.

Picture Credit : Google