Gypsum Lakes or Birridas of Shark Bay

The Shark Bay or Birridas of Shark Bay is having outstanding natural features and a world Heritage site, the most westerly point of the Australian continent, next to the Indian. Scattered around Shark Bay, especially within Peron Peninsula inside the Francois Peron National Park, are a number of saline lakes of gypsum, famous among local’s peoples is “Birridas”.

It is believed thousands of years ago, when the sea levels were much higher than they are today, birridas were landlocked saline lakes among sand dunes. The water was so rich in sulphate of lime that was deposited onto the lake floor. But with the passage of time when the sea level dropped, the lakes dried up gradually and creating salty hollows and the sulphate of lime evaporated and became loose, powdery gypsum. The shape of Birridas is circular or oval and range from 100 m to 1 kilometer wide. They normally comprise of a central, raised platform ringed by a moat-like depression. The central section corresponds to the level of the water table during the late Pleistocene Period, about 10 000 years ago. Today, during very high winter tides or after heavy rains, when the groundwater level is raised, these moats fill with water to a shallow level.

Most birridas retain water for more than a few months following rain, and at those times, dormant eggs hatch and the birridas teem with brine shrimp, horse-shoe crabs and other invertebrates. They deliver a feast for wading birds such as red-necked stints and bar-tailed godwits that have migrated to Shark Bay from as far away as Siberia. Various birridas are connected to the sea by channels and receive seawater as well, where they form shallow bays. These bays are extremely imperative for fish breeding and nursery areas, although most birridas at Shark Bay are isolated, but are common in Francois Peron National Park where there are over 100 on the east coast of the Peron Peninsula. You can see birridas when driving around the park, however to appreciate the shapes and sheer number of birridas it is paramount to take a flight.

Source: Amusing Planet 

Peculiar Tree in the Rock of Wyoming

This is a peculiar tree and located right in the middle of Interstate 80, between Cheyenne and Laramie, in southeast Wyoming. The tree actually is a limber pine, which is common to the area, but this one seems to be growing out of a solid granite boulder. You will observe upon closer inspection, that it’s really growing out of a crack in the rock, owing to which the tree is stunted and twisted but is still going strong. This trivial tree has spellbound the travelers since the first train rolled past on the Union Pacific Railroad. It is believed that the builders of the original railroad diverted the tracks somewhat to pass by the tree as they laid rails across the Sherman Mountains in 1867-69. The train used to stop here while the locomotive firemen "gave the tree a drink" from their water buckets. The railroad moved numerous miles to the South in 1901 and the abandoned grade became a wagon road. Then in 1913, the old Lincoln Highway came by the Tree Rock, and by the 1920′s, the Lincoln Highway gave way to U.S. Highway 30. Lastly, in the 1960′s, Interstate 80 was built, and Tree Rock was assured a large audience for years to come. The tree is now surrounded by a spiky fence to keep it, and a little parking area is close for travelers to stop and take pictures. No one knows exactly how old the tree is, but Limber Pines can live as long as 2000 years.

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.