Murphy's Haystacks, A Group of Ancient Wind-Worn Rocks in South Australia

Murphy’s Haystacks are a picturesque group of ancient, wind-worn rock of pink granite situated between Streaky Bay and Port Kenny on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The Murphy’s Haystacks placed in the middle of a wheat field and surrounded by mallei scrub, they’re one of the most prominent and photographed magnetisms on the Eyre Peninsula. Therefore, Murphy’s Haystacks are what geologists named it “inselberg”, which are well isolated rocky hills or ridges that rise briskly from a gently sloping or particularly level surrounding plain. An inselberg forms when a body of hard rock surrounded by a layer of soft rock becomes uncovered to erosion. The less resistant outer layer is eroded away to form a plain, leaving the extra resistant rock behind as an isolated mountain.

The procedure that formed Murphy's Haystacks initiated somewhere 1,500 million years ago when hot magma filled crevices below the earth’s surface and then ventilated, laying down a granite base. The current formations you see at Murphy’s haystacks were shaped 100,000 years ago and were buried beneath earth until around 34,000 years ago when they were exposed by terrible erosion, which uncovered them in their current state as pillars or boulders. The “haystacks” carry on to be eroded till this date, giving them bizarre shapes. The haystacks are situated on a private property belonging to Dennis Cash, the grandson of “Denis Murphy”, who actually buys this farm in 1889. The inselbergs were famous with friends and family, and could be seen from the void by the passengers of the local mail run stagecoach. However, many legends say that once a protuberant agricultural proficient was passing by the farm when he saw the landmark from the road. Though not realizing that they were rocks, the man remarked “the farmer must have plowed his land to create such an inspiring profusion of hay”. The mail coach driver, being a local man be familiar with they were on the Murphys' property. Although from then on the amused his passengers by referring to the isolated inselbergs as ‘Murphys Haystacks’.Source: Amusing Planet

IJsseloog: “Eye of IJssel”, is a Huge Circular Pit in the Middle of Ketelmeer Lake

IJsseloog, or the “Eye of IJssel”, is a huge circular pit in the middle of Ketelmeer Lake in the mouth of the river IJssel, in the province of Flevoland, the Netherlands. The rare pit is almost one kilometer across and 45 meters deep and it provides functions as a storage tank for heavily contaminated slit that is still being dredged from the bottom of the lake. Well, in between of 1950 and 1990, Lake Ketelmeer became severely polluted from toxic industrial run-offs carried by Rhine and IJssel River from industries and factories situated upstream. The industrial pollutants were released into the river not only in Netherlands but in Germany, Switzerland and France as well. Moreover, the polluted sediments settled to the bottom of Ketelmeer in a thick layer of contaminated sludge. It was be scared that the pollutants could contaminate the ground water or spread to the connected fresh water lake of IJsselmeer, which is the biggest lake in the Netherlands and a main source of fresh water for both agriculture and drinking purpose. The IJsselmeer also provides a number of opportunities for entertaining activities such as yacht sailing.

Though, in 1994 a decision was made to get rid of the polluted sediments from the lakebed. For that object removing the slit will also deepen the channel leading to the mouth of the IJssel, thus improving access to the river for navigation. There was, though, the problematic of disposal. The slit couldn’t be disposed on land without being a nuisance to agriculture and for native residents, and it also posed a severe health threat due to presence of toxic substances and metals such as cadmium, nickel, lead, arsenic, and mercury. Hence it was decided to store the contaminated sludge in a huge pit called “IJsseloog”, situated on the lake itself. However, “IJsseloog” was constructed between somewhere in between 1996 and 1999. It has a diameter of one kilometer and depth of 45 meters and it has a capacity to hold 20 million cubic meters of sludge. The Sludge Storage Tank is surrounded by a ten-meter-high embankment. To avoid leakage, the floor of the depot is strongly sealed with clay, though the dike is lined with foil, and the water level in the pit is kept below that of the lake.

Further there is an island was formed surrounding the pit that has processing services to separate pollutants from the dredged sand and peat. The purified sand will be used for construction at other locations. The dredging operation begun in 2000 and is likely to take 20 years to complete. When the depot is packed, it will be sealed with layers of clay and sand, and the island and marshland will be used for reformation purposes, letting nature to take over. Moreover, two artificial island formed abruptly east of the sludge depot have already been taken over by waterfowl like swans, geese, spoonbills, mountain ducks and grebes.

Source: Amusing Planet

World’s Largest Man-Made Ice Tunnel in Langjokull Glacier, Iceland

The world’s largest man-made ice tunnel was in recent times dug out on the western slopes in Iceland Langjokull. This is one of the biggest glaciers in Iceland, and the tunnel and cave system spreads mover than 550 meters into solid glacier ice at around 30 meters below the surface making it the largest man made ice structure in the world. This distinctive project, supported by the Icelandair Group and leading pension funds, will allow tourists to have a unique opportunity to see how snow is slowly compressed to become glacier ice.

Well, Aptly named “Into the Glacier”, the experience is the brainchild of two Icelandic adventure tour operators – “Baldvin Einarsson” and “Hallgrímur Örn Arngrímsson”, who wanted to take tourists into the heart of the amazing glacier ice cap, to grasp the magnificent “blue ice” which is buried deep beneath the surface. Work on the cave started in 2010, and completed early in the year of 2015. However, it was official opened for visitors on 1st June 2015. Though it’s meant mainly to be a tourist attraction, the tunnel will also be used by researchers and students at the University of Iceland to measure ice movements over time.

Therefore, to the journey to the ice tunnel starts off with an impressive trip in 8-wheel monster trucks to the entrance of the cave, which is placed 1,200 meters above sea level. From there tourists are taken on foot on an hour-long tour exploring the tunnel where they’ll see crevasses, moulins, running water, ice layers and space between them, diverse types of snow and ice, and how the glacier evolves. Moreover, the led lighted walls inside the tunnels are sheer-carved and hollowed out at numerous intervals along the tunnel to house educational exhibitions and deliver information on the science of glaciers and the effects of global warming. There’s even a small chapel where couples can get married. The tourist attraction is expected to stay open all throughout the year.

Source: Amusing Planet 

DeSoto Falls, Alabama

DeSoto Falls is a magnificent 104 foot waterfall located on the West Fork of Little River on the outskirts of the charming town of Mentone, Alabama. The falls have carved their own small canyon. They are named after Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. The waterfall formed where the West Fork of the Little River plunges off a Lookout Mountain cliff, the waterfall is one of the most beautiful in the South. DeSoto Falls is one of the tallest and most visited waterfalls in Alabama, actually a part of DeSoto State Park.

DeSoto Falls has been a landmark for thousands of years. Native Americans frequented the falls long before the arrival of the first European explorers who, if old legends are to be believed, may have come here long before Columbus first set foot in America. Local legend holds that numerous small caves in the steep bluff below the waterfall were part of a fort built by Welsh explorers led by Prince Madoc. Because the believers in the story hold that Madoc landed on Mobile Bay in 1170 A.D. before making his way inland as far as the mountains of Alabama Georgia and Tennessee. Moreover the waterfall was a distinctive place to the Cherokee Indians who once inhabited this part of Alabama. The famed Cherokee scholar Sequoyah lived at nearby Wills Town in 1818-1823. It was there that he devised the Cherokee Alphabet.

The waterfall is now one of the major features of DeSoto State Park and one of attractive recreation era was established through the exorbitant hard work of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) during the Great Depression. The key area of the park is a few miles south of DeSoto Falls and provides cabins and chalets, a motel, restaurant, store, picnic areas, hiking trails, campgrounds and more. Therefore, the water that flows over the falls forms one of the primary tributaries of the Little River. The stream is exclusive in that it is one of the few rivers in the nation that flow almost completely on the top of a mountain.

DeSoto Falls, AL from Raymond Clayton Thomas on Vimeo.

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand - 4K Hyperlapse

In April 2015 I (Matthew Vandeputte )got flown in by the Lake Wanaka tourism board to partake in New Zealand's biggest ever instameet. My role was to capture and show the beauty of the lake and it's surroundings. I shot 44028 RAW photos and ended up with 1,57 terabytes of data. After a few weeks of editing 97 sequences I ended up with this edit. It's been a while since I've spent this amount of time on an edit and I really hope you like it. If you do, please leave a comment or a thumbs up :)

You can follow my adventures, as well as my post processing techniques and workflows on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook. Come say hi!

instagram.com/matjoez
instagram.com/matjoez_bts
twitter.com/matjoez
Snapchat: Matjoez
facebook.com/tjoezthemoviemaker
lakewanaka.co.nz
Music via beatsuite.com
Motion Control gear by Kessler Crane USA
kesslercrane.com
Tripods by Manfrotto
manfrotto.com
Bags by LowePro
lowepro.com

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand - 4K Hyperlapse - Tjoez.com from Matthew Vandeputte on Vimeo.

Moscow 2014 Timelapse/Hyperlapse

From Kirill Neiezhmakov says at winter cloudy day city reminds old movie, but at nightfall Moscow transformed! This night TimeLapse in Motion filmed at winter in Moscow (Russia) during 5 nights.
Wow, This is really well done! and thought the editing and pacing of this piece was spot on. The amount of time that had to go into those hyper-lapses shows in their quality. Great job and showed quite a bit of passion here!

Shooting, post-processing and editing by Kirill Neiezhmakov
e-mail: nk87@mail.ru
vk.com/nk_design
music: Glitch Mob - Warrior Concerto
YouTube 1080p: youtu.be/leqyze7Py0o
Behind the Scenes are here youtu.be/wIZEqyPpqIE
Footage (this and many other) available for licensing in 4K

Equipment:
Canon 60d
Sigma 10-20 mm 4.0-5.6
Samyang 8 mm 3.5
Zenitar-M 50 mm 1.7
Canon 70-200 4L
Vanguard Alta Pro tripod

Moscow 2014 Timelapse/Hyperlapse from Kirill Neiezhmakov on Vimeo.

The World’s Largest Flower Garden in the Middle of a Desert.

Well, the world's largest flower garden in the last place you would expect, a spectacular rainbow-colored oasis with more than 45 million flowers is in the middle of a desert exploding with colors and textures. The Dubai Miracle Garden consists of more than 45 flowers species imported from all over the world. A multitude of shaped archways, flowerbeds and structures can be seen at the 18 acre site, is watered by a system that recycles waste water while avoiding evaporation. But then again, in the city that prides itself on pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved - from the world's tallest building to indoor ski slopes in the desert what can you expect? The remarkable bonanza provides a colorful oasis for the eyes of city workers, who can escape to the natural splendor which is nestled close to Arabian Ranches, in Dubai land. Currently there’re 45 species of flowers in the garden, which are imported in from all around the world, especially from Egypt to the United States.

The Dubai Miracle Gardens were opened in 2013, and were designed to attract tourist all over the world. In order to produce a fresh experience for visitors visiting the rainbow gardens, the displays are changed seasonally. These’ve included millions of flowers in the shape of a UAE floral flag, floral clock, a Ferrari car with driver decorated by flowers, a vertical buried car zone, flower apple structures, artificial animals, flower boats and an Islamic Arch Design. It is obvious that attractions would not be complete without open parking, VIP parking, sitting areas, prayer room, toilet blocks, security room, ablution facility, first aid room, and carts for handicapped visitors, retails and commercial kiosk and all other related services available to facilitate visitors.

If the natural landscape was not sufficient, what makes this attraction mostly impressive is the unique sub-surface irrigation system that recycles waste water via drip irrigation while avoiding evaporation and saving up to 75 % of water and energy. Moreover; there’s an awe-inspiring assortment of flowers most of which are rare and seen for first time in the Middle East, such as petunias and geraniums.