The Volcano “Kawah Ijen” That Spews Blue Lava

At first look you might consider the otherworldly light in these pictures comes from a nebula or another planet deep in outer space or probably you have heard of "red hot lava" or "white hot" to describe searing temperatures, so but what about "blue hot lava"? Kawah Ijen is one of several volcanoes located within the 20 kilometers wide Ijen Caldera in East Java, Indonesia. The caldera of Kawah Ijen harbors a kilometer-wide, turquoise colored, acidic crater lake that leaks sulphurous gases constantly. That's the surreal hue of Indonesia's Kawah Ijen Volcano, which glows with an otherworldly "blue lava".

Normally at night the hot gases burn to emit an eerie blue glow that is distinctive to Kawah Ijen. These gases emerge from the cracks in the volcano at high pressure and temperature, up to 600°C, and when they come in contact with the air, they ignite, sending flames up to 16 feet high. Specific gases condense into liquid sulfur, and continues to burn as it flows down the slopes giving the feeling of blue lava flowing. Kawah Ijen’s sulphuric gases are also mined for sulphur. The volcanic gases are trapped by the native miners and channeled through a network of ceramic pipes, which in result of condensation of molten sulfur.

The sulfur, normally red in color when molten, pours gradually from the ends of these pipes and pools on the ground, turning bright yellow as it cools.The expert miners break the cooled material into big pieces and carry it away in baskets to an adjacent refinery. In this way an expert worker can earn up to $13 dollars a day. Therefore you can’t imagine the intense heat and extremely hazardous condition with insufficient protection. Many workers suffer various respiratory problems due to breathing toxic fumes day in and out. So they’d prefer to work at night to escape the heat of the sun, and to earn extra income as well. These astonishing images are captured by photographer Olivier Grunewald, who lost two lenses and a camera to sulphuric corrosion while trying to capture the mysterious pictures.

Tongariro National Park New Zealand

Tongariro Nationa Park is actually 4^th established National Park in the world & oldest national park in New Zealand located in central North Island. This National Park encompasses three active volcanoes (Tongariro, Ruapehu, and Ngauruhoe) located at the southern end of a 2,500 kilometers long range of volcanoes. The National Park has two volcanoes on the northern end which erupted more than 20,000 years ago while one at Indo-Australian Plates meets the pacific plate, and has erupted due to internal tectonic processes, in the recent Aug 2012. These volcanoes have been together structure the mountains of Tongariro National Park for over two million years. Moreover; Ruapehu is world’s most active volcano & largest active volcano in New Zealand. This has started to erupted at least 2.5 million years ago.  However major eruptions occurred about fifty years apart and minor eruptions almost every year.

An astonishing Crater Lake forms actually fed melting snow, and it was came into existence due to major eruption. The Crater Lake vivid and radiant colors are caused by dissolved minerals leaching from eh surrounding rocks. At the close of Ruapehu is Mount Tongariro which comprises of at least twelve volcanic cones. Therefore Ngauruhoe often regarded as a separate mountain is geologically a cone of Tongariro. This is the most active vent, erupted over 70 times since 1839, and last erupted in 1975. There are several explosion craters on the massif, several of which have been filled with water to form the Blue Lake and the Emerald Lakes. These lakes are famous due to scenic viewpoints along the “Tongariro Alpine Crossing” a celebrated one day trek that traverses the otherworldly terrain along the slopes of all 3 mountains.

Furthermore Mount Tongariro, Ruapehu and its surrounding area were one of the many locations used to shoot the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the near-perfect conical shape of Ngauruhoe was the basis for Mount Doom. Tongariro National Park has been acknowledged by UNESCO as one of the 28 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. There are 56 significant species of birds, like; rare endemic species such as  North Island Brown Kiwi, Kākā, Blue Duck, North Island fernbird, Double-banded Plover and Karearea. The National Park main activities are hiking and climbing in summer, and skiing and snowboarding in winter and hunting, game fishing, mountain biking, horse riding, rafting and scenic flights. The most popular track in Tongariro National Park is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and besides this, there are several shorter tracks appropriate for day tramps. Snow season starts in late June till early November.

Laja Falls or Salto del Laja

The Laja Falls or in Spanish it is called Salto del Laja actually is a waterfall located in the Laja River in southcentral Chile. The place is lies next to the old Pan-American Highway, between the cities of Los Ángeles and Chillán. The waterfalls of Laja River have formed a narrow canyon and its surroundings of the waterfall are much commercialized. Laja Falls contains four horseshoe shaped falls one on each arm of Laja River, and the tallest is 35 m and the easternmost fall, but the western falls are 20 m tall. Total width of all four falls approximately 455 m. In the summer the Salto del Laja chutes originate abundant foam that, by the effect of the solar rays, produces uncountable rainbows. The surrounding landscape is composed by vegetation of the steppe-type, which complements its beauty.

It is a unique panoramic sight that offers an almost complete view of the entire waterfall. While the other falls, though smaller, preserve the fierceness of these waters intact and entice visitors to shoot various photographs. Downstream, a group of motorboats invites tourists to come close to the falls. A distinctive tour for the most adventurous which is well protected with all safety measures so as to avoid any risks.

This is only about freshening up for a few moments. Another feature of Laja Falls is providing accommodation options which include inns and cabins that invite tourists to stay and see the surroundings of this attractive spot. They can practice adventure sports such as river rafting, horseback riding, swimming, and hiking and, photograph of these spectacular waterfalls. In 1756 the place has been a center of disputes and conquests and, obviously, one of the natural boundaries of the territories famous as Laja Island. The main waterfall, which may be appreciated from the bridge on the road, is the highest fall and most scenically appears in all postcards and photographs. 

Source: Charismatic Planet 

Glass Beach of California United States

Glass Beach is situated near Fort Bragg in Northern California used to be the place where locals’ inhabitants brought all forms of their trash from their old cars to their kitchen leftovers to a dump located on the beach starting in 1949. In 1960’2 the officials starts to regulate what was dumped on the beach, first setting a full stop to toxins and later on for everything when the North coast Water Quality Board moved the official dump to a different location in 1967. Fort Bragg peoples referred to it as "The Dumps." Fires were lit to reduce the size of the trash pile.

After 50 years of time, the remnants are still very clear on the beach and much of the glass that was left on the beach front during its dirty decades has not gone far, and thrashing waves have softened and polished the broken pieces. Several cleanup programs were undertaken through the years to rectify the damage. But over the next several decades the pounding waves cleaned the beach, by breaking down everything however glass and pottery and tumbling those into the small, smooth, colored pieces that Cover Glass Beach.Currently beach is well covered with stone size pieces of sea glass coloring the seascape and adding a tourist element to the natural beauty of the spot. Glass Beach is part of the MacKerricher State Park and adding another side to its history.

Glass Beach is the only area of the California Park System to have been at one point in time a part of the Mendocino Indian Reservation. Therefore; due to its historic significance, the beach is maintained by the parks department which does its best to preserve the natural, and not-so-natural, beauty of Glass Beach. Glass beach has become popular within tourist and now frequently visited by tourists. But collecting is not allowed on the park's beach, though sea glass can be found on other local beaches outside the park boundary. A Glass Festival is held annually on Memorial Day weekend. Therefore; a huge numbers of tourists visit Fort Bragg's glass beaches every day in the summer. Most of them collect the some glass and because of wave action is constantly grinding down the glass, the glass is slowly diminishing. There is currently a move to replenish the beaches with discarded glass. It is a great place to visit especially in summer days.