The Peculiar Travertine Chimneys of Lake Abbe

Well, The Lake Abbe is actually a salt lake, the largest and final of a chain of 6 connected lakes on the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. The lake Abbe lies on a basin which is called the Afar Depression at a point where the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates are pulling away from each other. The strain set off by the splitting Nubian and Somalian plates has formed a peculiar landscape around Lake Abbe. When the two plates drift apart, the crust above them thins until it cracks.

Moreover Magma pushes to the surface via the thin spots and warm underwater springs. When the boiling water bubble up to the surface, they put the dissolved calcium carbonates generating towering chimneys, the same way water trickling down the roof of limestone caves makes stalactites and stalagmites. Specific of these chimneys can reach about the heights of 50 meters, and puffs of steam vent from the top. Moreover the strange landscape motivated Charlton Heston to shoot his classic 1968 film, "Planet of the Apes", on the shores of Lake Abbe.

The Afar Depression is captivating to geologists since it is the place where new ocean is being shaped. Therefore the depression is forming as the African plate ruptures into the Nubian and Somalian plates. In a few million years, the Indian Ocean will break down through the coastal highlands and flood the Afar Depression, forming a new ocean and making the Horn of Africa a large island. Hence when continental plates move apart in the ocean, it generates new sea floor, but in East Africa, the procedure is happening on dry ground, where it is called continental rifting.

The Lake Abbe is mainly fed by the Awash River, and seasonal streams which pass in the lake from the west and south, crossing the vast salt flats. On the northwest shore rises Mount Dama Ali, a dormant volcano. The history tells us, that the Lake Abbe was once a much larger lake but diversion of water from Awash River for irrigation in the 1950s has dry up the lake surface area by 2/3’s and water level by five meters. The adjacent town lies about two hundreds kilometers away, but there’s a little settlement established by the Afar people near the lake's shore. Aside from the Afar shepherds who bring their herds of sheep or donkeys to feed, the only inhabitants of this lake are pink Flamingos.

Frozen Bubbles beneath the Surface of Abraham Lake in Canada

Abraham Lake is an artificial lake on North Saskatchewan River in western Alberta, Canada. The Lake has a surface area of 53.7 km2 and a length of 32 km. The striking Abraham Lake is home to an unusual phenomenon that needs to be seen to believe. Abraham Lake was created in 1972, with the construction of the Bighorn Dam. Trapped under its frozen surface, methane gas creeps its way up producing lovely air bubbles as it freezes and melts and freezes and melts as the flammable element searches for its way out. The methane is formed when plants & animals in the lake sink to the bottom and react with the bacteria in the water.

The bacteria begin to break down the organic matter, decomposing them, gradually releasing the gas. Generally the gas floats its way to the top of the lake where it is released in the air, but when the lake freezes over, methane skirmishes a little more to find its freedom. Its hardship shapes moving images, leaving admirers breathless. Frozen in the ice are other worldly features, which are so breathtaking and exclusive that they draw photographers from the world over. In the bluish tinged of the winter's ice, photographs capture puffy pedestals of gas, cotton-like bubbles frozen in time and milky stains that color the frozen surface.

Although man-made, the lake has the blue color of other glacial lakes in the Rocky Mountains, which is mainly caused by rock flour as in other glacial lakes. When Abraham Lake is frozen, much older methane from deep beneath the Earth’s crust and ancient oceans remains trapped at the bottom of the lake as a white rock substance recognized as methane hydrate. As the lake beings to warm up, the methane seepages and comes to the surface with combined the methane from decomposition, this generates the amazing-looking frozen lake. The effect is compounded by the fact Abraham is not a natural lake but is the result of the damming of the North Saskatchewan River in northern Alberta in 1972.

The result is extra organic material, such as trees, grasses and plants that would normally not be found on a lake bed, decomposing and creating even more methane gas. As climate change takes its toll in northern lakes and seas, scientists fear that methane that has been frozen by permafrost will slowly start to leak into the atmosphere, pumping out as much as 10 times the amount of methane that is currently in the atmosphere will come out of frozen lakes such as Abraham. This doesn’t just happen in Abraham Lake, either; methane forms in millions of water bodies around the Arctic region as well. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that has twenty times the effect on climate change than the similar amount of carbon dioxide over a  hundred years timeframe. Unless, that is, it is burned first.

To demonstrate that the unscented and colorless gas released from the frozen lakes is methane, ecologists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks bravely lit some of the volatile emissions on an Alaskan lake and with some appealing melodramatic results. To do this, the researchers poured warm water onto the ice and then used a digging tool to make a hole, before leaning over the hole with a lighter. The results were quite explosive and like a fire breather performing from beneath the ice. Interestingly emissions of methane are on the upsurge. Ecologist Katey Walter Anthony of the University of Alaska Fairbanks warns, “When we look at how much carbon is in permafrost still frozen and the potential for that permafrost to thaw in the future, we guess that more than 10 times the amount of methane that’s right now in the atmosphere will come out of these lakes.

Although methane seeping from lakes is one thing, it was once believed that permafrost in cold seas was having a lot of the gas trapped yet it appears that this is no longer the case. In a 2010 National Geographic article explained that, the permafrost is actually failing in its ability to preserve this leakage, around eight million tons of methane a year is emitted into the air from the Arctic Ocean’s East Siberia Sea alone, which brings with it the threat of increased global warming.

Philippines Outcrop of Palawan as the Most Exotic Island on Earth

Travellers has voted unfamiliar island Palawan as the most exotic on earth. The stunning island that charms crystal clear waters, unbelievable beaches and one of the newest natural wonders of the world has been named the best in the world by readers of a leading travel magazine.

Though the peaceful island of Palawan is claimed top spot based on over 76,000 votes in Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards for 2014. The big thanks to its latest claim to fame “Puerto Princesa Subterranean” River a Unesco World Heritage Site, has been named one of the world’s best natural wonders. It is approximately 5 miles in length and the longest underground river in Asia and the second longest in the world.

Tourist on guided boat tours travel through a subterranean cave system featuring big chambers, stalactites and stalagmites.  The beautiful tranquil place is home to astonishing locations for snorkeling and diving, Palawan province has a 2nd Unesco World Heritage Site that is widespread spot for undersea adventurers Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park.

However Palawan's beauty and thrilling outdoor or undersea adventures are no secret to the world. Even it was once named of the best islands in the world by National Geographic Traveler. Well, to getting there isn't too problematic by air and the average flight lasts around 75 minutes but a ride on a ferry boat takes around 24 hours. This gorgeous island is recognized as the Philippines' “last frontier” because it is part of the far western Palawan province, with its southern tip just north of Malaysia.

Well, Palawan Island edged some of the most popular destinations in the world in this year's Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards. Kiawah Island, South Carolina, came in second, followed by the islands of Maui and Kauai in Hawaii. Bazaruto Archipelago in Mozambique rounded out the top five, and on sixth through tenth were Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands in Australia, Santorini and Cyclades in Greece, St. John in the US Virgin Islands, Kangaroo Island in Australia, and Big Island in Hawaii. Amazingly none of the UK’s islands managed to crack the top 30. Source: dailymail

Wentworth Falls, New South Wales Australia

Wentworth Falls is a town at an elevation of 867 meters in the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales, located about 100 Kilometers west of the Sydney central business district, and approximately 8 kilometers east of Katoomba, Australia on the Great Western Highway, with a Wentworth Falls railway station on the Main Western line. Wentworth Falls is home to WFCC or Wentworth Falls Cricket Club, which is established in 1892 and one of the Blue Mountains' longest serving cricket clubs. There’re number of festivals and events hosts at Wentworth falls, some of popular events are Wentworth Falls Autumn Festival in April, the Wentworth Falls Public School Art and Craft Show in October and the Task Force 72 Annual Regatta in either November or December.

Wentworth Falls had a population of over 6,000 originally called The Weatherboard after the “Weatherboard Inn” built in 1814. Therefore in 1879, the village took its name from an adjacent system of waterfalls, which was in turn named for William Charles Wentworth, one of the men that headed the exploration to cross the mountains in 1813 and a friend of John Jamison.

Kings Tableland, a plateau located at the south-east corner of Wentworth Falls, contains areas of major archaeological importance, including the Kings Tableland Aboriginal Site. This area is highly significant to the Gandangara, Darug and Wiradjuri people. Used as a gathering place for at least 22,000 years, the region comprises of multiple cultural features, consisting of engravings, axe-grinding grooves, modified rock pools and an occupation shelter. Ingar Picnic Ground, one of the most picturesque picnic grounds in the Blue Mountains, just only 8 kilometers further east along Murphys Fire Trail. On the north side of the town is Pitt Park. The Bathurst Traveller, later renamed Weatherboard Inn, was built here in 1826.

The site, adjacent to the railway station, is now the location of the village war memorial. Charles Darwin was reported to have stayed there in 1836, walking from the inn along Jamison Creek to the cliff’s edge, about which he wrote ‘an immense gulf unexpectedly opens through the trees, with a depth of perhaps 1,500 feet’. The route he took was formally opened as Darwins Walk in 1986 and leads from Wilson Park opposite the School of Arts building to the northern escarpment of the Jamison Valley.

Moreover south along Kings Tableland are sunset lookout and McMahon’s Lookout, both of which offers long views over Lake Burragorang. The Kings Tableland area also once hosted a deer park that closed down in the late 1980s, with the site consequently falling into private ownership. Several deer were sighted around the area for some time until they were culled by National Parks rangers. This vicinity is also home to the site of the former Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, once a major facility for the treatment of tuberculosis. Therefore ownership of the site has shifted between Government and several private interests over the decades since it was closed in the 1980s. Intermittent development proposals for the former hospital have been the source of some local concern, but the observatory is no longer in operation.

The other noteworthy point of local institutions includes the historic Grand View Hotel, the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, the Kedumba Gallery and Wentworth Falls Lake, a beautiful artificial lake formed in the early of 20th century to flow water for steam locomotives, which has been now turned into a reserve and recreation area. The School of Arts is a standard venue for local community events and theatre productions and also houses the local library. Well, there’s another landmark is Yester Grange, a heritage home in Yester Street. A sprawling, timber bungalow with extensive verandas, Yester Grange is now used as a function Centre for events like wedding receptions and is not open to the public.

There are many natural lookouts in the area including Breakfast Point Lookout, Princes Rock Lookout, Wentworth Falls Lookout and Rocket Point Lookout. A track through the Valley of the Waters leads to Empress Falls, Sylvia Falls, Lodore Falls, and Flat Rock Falls and, near the junction of Jamison and Valley of the Waters Creeks, the sheltered Vera Falls. Empress Falls is one of the most admired beginner commercial canyoning trips in the Blue Mounatins, and canyoners can be seen abseiling Empress Falls from the visitor track.

Moreover the most trendy walks in the region is the National Pass, skirts the top edge of the Valley of the Waters, sideways a narrow clay stone ledge perched halfway down the cliff, and then ascends the ridge through a series of sandstone steps built by Peter Mulheran and a group recognized as "The Irish Brigade" in 1908. The Conservation Hut is an information Centre and restaurant in Wentworth Falls leased from the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, and serves as a starting point for several of these walks.

Sgurr nan Gillean Scotland

Sgùrr nan Gillean is a 3162 feet (964 m) high mountain in the northern section of the Cuillin range on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, actually one of eleven Munros on the Cuillin ridge. The mountain is close to Sligachan, and its striking triangular profile is perceptible behind the Sligachan hotel, making it perhaps the most recognized peak in the Cuillin range. In November 2013 it was found that Knight's Peak is, in fact, six and a half inches too short to be classified as a Munro Top and is now considered a Corbett Top. Knight's Peak was named after W. Knight, who, with a guide, made the first recorded ascent in 1873.

Well, the most admired route of ascent is the Tourist Route, follows a path leading south from Sligachan, crossing a burn known the Allt Dearg Beag. This route continues up into a corrie, the Coire Rhiabhach. The ascent of the coire headwall is on loose rock and scree. The continuation up the southeast ridge to the summit is exposed, and calls for scrambling skill. The path up is very narrow so calls for single file when a party ascends. The top is a ridge which must be traversed to get to the final summit, and like the climb, requires few scrambling ability. Make sure, all sides are very exposed, and extra care is required if mist descends. The small airy summit platform is astonishingly flat and smooth with splendid views.

The other different route is the north ridge, recognized as Pinnacle Ridge, which is actually a rock climb that needs a climber to have a rope and harness and be skilled of abseiling, unless the third pinnacle is omitted by bypassing on the east side. Though rope is a sensible option for the moderate climb up Gillean, it is not necessary for Knight's Peak if the correct route is taken. So, to reach the base of the Pinnacle Ridge a climber starts in the similar place as for the route defined above but instead of crossing the burn continues up hill on the right hand side until just below the start of the Basteir gorge when the stream exiting the gorge is crossed to reach the base of the lowest pinnacle.

Another alternative route of ascent or descent is the West Ridge. The route leads from the summit down to a bealach separating Sgùrr nan Gillean from Am Basteir. About two-thirds of the way down, there is a particularly narrow and exposed section, which forms the remains of a large upright rock, known as the Gendarme which broke away due to the effects of frost shatter during the winter of 1986/87, leaving only the base. The narrow section can be avoided by abseiling down (or climbing up) a gully, known as Nicholson's Chimney, on the north side of the ridge.