Kaali Meteorite Crater of Estonia

The Kaali Meteorite Crater is situated in the village of Kaali on the Estonian island of Saaremaa, almost 18 kilometers from its capital Kuressaare. It is believed it was last gigantic meteorite to fall into a densely inhabited area, and the scar it left on the landscape expresses about the dreadful events which happened here during the Bronze Age.

Some 7,600 years ago, a huge rock, between 20 to 80 tons in mass, ripped through Earth’s atmosphere at a velocity in the middle of 10 to 20 km/s, with an an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometer, the meteorite broke up into countless pieces and fell in fragments. The biggest of them slammed into the earth releasing energy comparable to approximately 20 kilotons of TNT, or 25% more potent than the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima during the end of the World War II. The explosion removed about 81,000 cubic meters of dolomites and other rock, shaped a fireball 7 to 8 kilometers tall and incinerated forests within a 6 kilometers radius.

During that time, village was forested with a little human population and impact was less damaged. Perhaps casualties must have been several, but the exploding meteor left a whole of nine craters in an area which is now recognized as the Kaali Meteorite Crater Field. The main of these craters has a diameter of 110 meters and a depth of 22 meters. Other pieces of meteorite shaped smaller craters with diameters ranging from 12-40 meters and their relevant depths vary from one to four meters. All lie within a distance of one kilometer from the main crater.

These days Kaali Crater has a lake in it, mainly fed by ground water and precipitation, it is mainly depending on the time of year and this lake has a diameter of 30-60 meters and depth of 1-6 meters. The surrounding of Kaali crater are the remains of a huge stone wall 470 meters long, 2.5 meters thick and around 2 meters high, believed built during the early Iron Age (600B.C. to 100A.D.)  A massive number of domestic animal bones have been found inside the walled area, the newest dating to the 17th century, signifying that the lake was not only used as a watering hole but as a place for ritual sacrifices. Moreover; there are indication of a fortified settlement inhabited from the 5th to 7th century BC and a slight hoard of silver jewelry from the 3rd to 5th centuries AD.

The wall, the silver and the bones have led to gossip that century after the catastrophic explosion took place, the crater took on the role of a pagan worship site. The Estonians are recognized to have made animal offerings to certify good harvests, which persistent to be made in secret long after the Church forbade such pagan practices. Stories of the catastrophe and the lake appear prominently in Finnish mythology, particularly the national epic, Kalevala which give a very truthful description of fire falling from the sky that burned houses, fields, fens and humans.

Bottle Tree of Queensland Australia

Brachychiton Rupestris originally classified in the family of Sterculiaceae, which is now within Malvaceae, is native of Queensland, Australia. Its grossly swollen trunk gives it an astonishing appearance and gives rise to the name. As a succulent, drought-deciduous tree, it is tolerant of a range of various soils, and temperatures. It can grow to 18 to 20 meters (Approximately 59 – 65 feet) in height and its trunk has an exclusive shape of a bottle. Its swollen trunk is primarily used for water storage and on every tree the leaves are variable from narrow and elliptic to deeply divide. Clusters of yellowy bell shaped flowers are hidden within the foliage, and are followed by woody boat-shaped fruits.

Roman Theatre of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert

The Roman Theatre is located in ancient Palmyra in the Syrian Desert. The incomplete theatre dates back to the 2nd century CE Severan period and remains have since been restored and in the recent years have seen life begin to seep back into the theatre with an annual calendar of events now taking place such as the Annual Silk Route Festival and the Palmyra Festival. During these festivals it’s a very exciting time for foreigners to visit Palmyra as they are encouraged to join in the festivities. The theatre was constructed in the center of a semicircular colonnaded piazza which opens up to the South Gate of Palmyra. The piazza was situated to the south-west of the main colonnaded street. The uncompleted cavea is 92 meters in diameter and contains only of an ima cavea, the lowest section of the cavea, directly surrounding the orchestra. The ima cavea is organized into eleven cunei of twelve rows each and faces north-northeast towards the cardo maximus.

The theatre's aditus maximus, its main entrance, is 3.5 meters in width, and leads to a stone-paved orchestra with a diameter of 23.5 metres. The orchestra is bounded by a circular wall with a diameter of 20.3 metres. The proscenium wall is decorated with ten curved and nine rectangular niches placed alternately. The stage measures 45.5 by 10.5 metres and is accessed by two staircases. The scaenae frons had five doors and the main entrance, or regia, built in broad curved niche; two guest doors on either side of the regia, or hospitalis, constructed in shallow rectangular niche; and 2 extra doors on either end of the stage. Emperor Nero was famous to have placed his statue in the niche of the regia of the theatre at Palmyra. The columns at the stage are built in the Corinthian order. In the 1950s the theatre was cleared from the sand and subsequently and underwent of extensive restoration works in the early 1990’s.

The Aqueduct Veluwemeer Netherlands

The Aqueduct Veluwemeer is a navigable aqueduct over the N302 road near Harderwijk, in eastern Netherlands. It is located under a small part of the lake Veluwemeer and at the same time connects the mainland Netherlands to Flevoland, which is the largest artificial island in the world. The aqueduct was opened to traffic in 2002, and about 25 meters long and 19 meters wide and has a water depth of 3 meters that permit small boats to pass through. There’re estimated 28,000 vehicles passes every day. Footpaths are built on either side of the aqueduct for public that really good to enjoy the view.

Cold Geysers of Madagascar

We cannot close the chapter of African Geysers without mentioning the Analavory geysers, nearby Lake Itasy on the island continent of Madagascar. Distinct the African rift geysers, they have no direct link with geothermal and are termed cold water geyser. Actually there’re four unusual geysers almost twelve kilometers north-east from the town of Analavory. Surprisingly, there’s no volcanic activity observed underneath of Analavory that superheats underground water and forces them up as steam. The warm water gushing out from the mouth of these limestone mounds which is not hot in fact.  The unusual Geysers are situated in an area nearby to some aragonite mines. The Analavory geysers aren’t natural at all, as excess water from the mines are removed by metal pipes that terminate at the bank of Mazy River.

The water is rich with carbonic acid which can be easily dissolves large amounts of lime along its way. Moreover the warm water goes through iron pipelines and carbonic acid dissolves iron as well. The carbon dioxide rich water rushes along the pipe under pressure and it emerges at the end of the pipeline, the abrupt decrease in pressure reasons the dissolved carbon dioxide gas to erupt in bubbles fabricating a geyser like phenomenon. This is akin to opening an aggravated bottle of soda. But over the time; the dissolved lime and iron precipitates into big mounds of travertine, a type of limestone, around the mouth of the outlet. The rusty orange color comes from the iron. The mounds are more than 4 meters high and will last to grow.

For most time the carbonated water spouts 20-30 cm, but occasionally when the vents are blocked by the precipitated lime, the obviously buildup of pressure produces spouting to numerous meters once uncovered. Geysers such as those at Analavory are often called cold water geysers, and there’re only a handful of natural cold water geysers on earth. The best recognized examples are Crystal Geyser, in Utah, the Wallender Born and Andernach Geyser in Germany, and one in Slovakia, Herľany. A geyser very akin to in appearance to Analavory Geyser is the Fly Geyser in Nevada, which is an artificial geyser. Before becoming a tourist place, this lovely site was used by the Malagasy who came to perform ancestral rites, the "Fanasinana" in the hope of having children, to recuperate health after any disease, or to get a solution from their daily problems. In that time, the "mpimasy", the traditional healers, were the only masters of the place.

Source: Charismatic Planet