So many mysterious things on Earth ... It's hard to even imagine. Mother Nature is full of surprises and constantly surprises with her abilities.
Just think how many things there are: rich flora and fauna, many minerals, substances and materials, physical and geographical phenomena, and more. All this is sometimes arranged in a completely miraculous way; scientists still puzzle over some puzzles.
And what exactly are these geographical phenomena in nature? It is amazing how many of them, both incredibly beautiful, and frightening and very dangerous for all living things. What are the geographical phenomena? Examples can be given from different countries around the world.
What is a geographical phenomenon?
For the first time we come across this concept at school, in geography classes. Geographical phenomena are all natural phenomena that occur in the four shells of the Earth (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere). That is all that we can see, hear or feel.
Similarly, all geographical phenomena can be divided into several groups depending on their origin - geological, geophysical, hydrological and meteorological. It can be optical illusions in the sky (rainbow, lights, bizarre clouds, halo), interesting tectonic formations (Eye of the Sahara, a volcano with blue lava), as well as hydrological "miracles" (pink lakes, rainbow).
We will consider the most amazing geographical phenomena (pictures are given in the article) and the history of their origin.
Eye of the Sahara
Rishat, or the Eye of the Sahara, is a formation in the very center of the Sahara (in the west of Mauritania) with a diameter of about 50 km, which consists of concentric rings of different shades of blue. This phenomenon is clearly visible from space.
The origin of the “eye” was initially explained by the impact of a meteorite, but studies have shown that no special alloys of silicon dioxide, which, as a rule, are formed in such cases, were found.
Another version suggests that Rishat is a long-extinct volcano that collapsed inward over millions of years.
The most modern version: The Sahara Eye is a truncated tectonic dome-shaped formation that arose as a result of erosion.
Finger of death
There are terrifying geographical phenomena. This is, for example, the so-called finger of death, or the brainicle. This phenomenon was first recorded only in 2011 in the Arctic, and it was discovered about 30 years ago.
Brynikl is an icicle hanging under water and is somewhat reminiscent of stalactite. Such an icicle is formed due to the fact that glacial salt rushes to the bottom and freezes the water around it. Soon, the salt stream is covered with ice crust and reaches the bottom. This is his danger. Reaching the bottom, the Brainicle continues to spread over the area, killing everything living in its path.
Halo (Sun Halo)
Most likely, many of us have observed in the sky light or even colored circles around the sun or moon. This is the halo.
This phenomenon is explained by the refraction or reflection of light by snow and ice crystals that are in the atmosphere. As a rule, a halo appears in the presence of light fog or cirrus clouds around the body. Interestingly, the phenomenon can be observed both day and night.
Kawah Ijen Blue Lava Volcano
In Indonesia, East Java has the Ijen volcanic complex, and this volcano is part of it. Its main feature is the color of the lava - it is blue. This effect can only be seen at night. Similar geographical phenomena are beauty and danger at the same time. And that's why.
The color of electric lava gives a large amount of sulfur contained in the mountain. When sulfur is burned, lava turns violet-ice in color, and the area around it becomes very toxic.
During the day, the usual color of lava is red, but at night it is incredibly beautiful and attractive. The height of the flame can reach one and a half meters. Despite all the attractiveness of such a spectacle, it is necessary to observe it from the side and at a safe distance.
Lights of St. Elmo
A rather mystical and mysterious phenomenon, which is also of a simple nature. The pioneers of this phenomenon were sailors who managed to see the lights of St. Elmo on the masts of ships and other vertical objects with sharp edges.
These lights look like luminous spheres, and they arise due to the electric field of great tension during a thunderstorm or storm (or in a short period before or after). This phenomenon can damage some electrical appliances.
Hiller Lake
Geographical phenomena in nature can have a very attractive appearance and not pose a danger to people. These are various optical effects and physical manifestations. But the pink Lake Hiller in Australia can also be touched.
This is not a unique pink lake; there are still others in the world. The color of the water in them is provided by special algae, crustaceans and microorganisms. And here is the mystery of Lake Hiller: what gives him such a color - has not yet been solved.
Fire rainbow
A fiery rainbow is not exactly the celestial arc that we used to see on a rainy day. This is a horizontal color phenomenon in the sky, and it got its name because of the visual similarity with a burning flame.
In fact, this effect is created by ice. To do this, the sun in the sky should rise above the horizon above 58 degrees, and there should be cirrus clouds in the sky. This type of clouds is needed because they consist of many horizontally located flat hexagonal crystals of ice, which refract the sun's rays by analogy with a prism.
The coincidence of all necessary conditions is extremely rare, so a fire rainbow is also a rare occurrence.
Lenticular cloud
Very attractive geographical phenomena are lenticular (lenticular) clouds. Such clouds form, usually on the crests of the air currents or between the layers of air. These clouds remain motionless with any force of the wind.
Such a cloud can most often be found on the leeward side of the mountain at an altitude of 2 to 15 kilometers. But this phenomenon can occur simply in the air.
Green ray of the sun
Another effect that manifests itself due to the refraction of sunlight. This phenomenon is elusive, can last for 2 to 10 seconds.
You can observe the green ray of the Sun at its sunset or sunrise, when the first, barely visible part of the Sun appears or disappears (the "last glimpse") in green. Of course, the sun itself does not become green, it is just a fast-flowing optical effect.
Such geographical phenomena are, from the point of view of physics, the last ray that is decomposed as a result of dispersion onto a spectral fan. According to the rules, the last petal of such a fan should be purple, but since it is less visible to the human eye (it gets worse to the earth's surface), we see green.
As a rule, a green ray can be seen over the sea horizon or over any other body of water.
Fiery star rain
We all know that in August, most often you can see the starfall. There is a tradition of making a wish on a shooting star. Shooting stars are very beautiful geographical phenomena. Examples can be found on all continents of the Earth, regardless of climate. It is only important that the sky is clear. But from a scientific point of view, everything is much simpler.
A "star" falling from the sky is a meteorite that enters the atmosphere and burns out, not reaching the Earth. In this case, we see a fiery trail stretching from it. The intensity of such a phenomenon, so that it is called fire rain, should be about 1000 flying meteors per hour.
Gloria
One of the very interesting geographical phenomena. You can see it at night in the mountains. This is a special optical phenomenon that occurs on clouds, the location of which is in front of the eyes or below them. Occurs at a point directly opposite the light source.
If you make a fire in the mountains, where there are low clouds, a human shadow (your shadow) will appear on these clouds, and a luminous halo (halo) will be visible around your head.
Residents of China call this phenomenon “Buddha light.” According to their beliefs, a colored halo always surrounds a person’s shadow, and the degree of its brightness indicates a person’s enlightenment, that is, proximity to Buddha and other gods.
Gloria also recently managed to fix on Venus.
Thus, we can conclude that we are surrounded by the most amazing geographical phenomena. These are examples of the most mysterious and interesting among them.
But any phenomena, such as volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, acid rain and many other natural phenomena, we can observe much more often. Many of them are dangerous, and some are not harmful to humans and animals.