The Granite Dells of Prescott, Arizona

The Granite Dells is located outside the city of Prescott in the US state of Arizona. The Granite Dells are a exclusive geological formation comprising of colossal granite boulders that have eroded into rounded bumpy and strange shapes giving the rocks a rippled appearance. It is believed that these exclusives rocks formed 1.4 billion years ago at a depth of 2-3 km, before they were exposed by weathering. This process is known as spheroidal weathering, common in granitic terrains, the rocks assumed rounded shapes and other rare rock formations that characterize the Granite Dells.

Thus, two very picturesque artificial reservoirs “Watson Lake and Willow Lake” situated nearby the formation. The two lakes combined with abundant hiking trails offer a great place for boating, picnicking, hiking, and birding. The Granite Dells rugged beauty and dramatic rock shapes is the perfect backdrop of surrounding mountains, with acres of open space, and planned hiking trails with connection to more than 400 miles of public trails. The Dells' granite has strangely high uranium content, and thus homes built over the granite should be checked for radon leaking from the granite.

The Oriental Lion, The World’s Largest Redwood Sculpture

A huge wooden sculpture of a roaring lion now stands proudly in a Central Chinese city square, and the journey it took to get there makes it all the more remarkable. The Oriental Lion has been dubbed, carved from a single redwood tree trunk more than three years. It is established by Chinese architect Dengding Rui Yao, assisted more than 20 people.  The project was initiated in Myanmar, where the carving was seen through. Lastly, when the great beast was completed in Dec 2015, it was transported more than 3000 miles to reach the Wuhan’s Fortune Plaza Times Square. Moreover, Oriental Lion‘s head, paws, and tail have been sculpted into a smooth finish, with the torso maintaining the trunk's uneven texture. The giant 47.5 feet long, 16.5 feet high, and 13 feet wide, the Oriental Lion is a force to be reckoned with.

The Lions play an important role in traditional Chinese culture. It is seen as protectors, lion statues became a common installation at the gates of imperial palaces, including the legendary Forbidden City in Beijing. Nowadays, they can even be found outside of hotels and restaurants, just in case any evil spirits drifted from the Han dynasty into modern times. This is world's largest redwood sculpture according to Guinness World Records. It's unknown if the wood was sourced from China, it was a tree that was sick or dying rather than being chopped down for the project. If it did come from China, it's most likely a Met-asequoia, a fast growing tree found in the Hubei Province. Since its installation in Wuhan, the giant lion has become a favorite new monument in the city.

First International Bamboo Architecture Biennale

A small village in Baoxi China is celebrating bamboo as a construction material, the first International Bamboo Architecture Biennale. The agricultural mountain village is located 12 hours from Shanghai and is now home to these incredible structures designed by twelve international architects. The below images, shot by photographer Julien Lanoo, give an essence at how the bamboo buildings blend into the community as permanent structures. For centuries, bamboo was used in these rural communities in many different ways. A construction material with many qualities, it has or is disappearing quickly on the Chinese mainland in favor of concrete. The fast and vast expansion of new Chinese cities overruled many traditional ways of building.

In its place, the Bamboo Biennale demonstrates that contemporary architecture and traditional materials are not mutually exclusive. Among the buildings are a youth hostel, ceramics museum, and bamboo bridge. This contemporary cluster of architecture is an innovative way to renew the village, giving something back as well as adding value in the form of new tourist destinations.

This engagement with the community and integration of sustainable materials is part of what drew Lanoo to the site.  However, after the Biennale, this will become a visitor’s center, hotel and lodge and learning center, will give a new lifeline for the village, attracting outsiders, for its peace and quiet, and its representation of the roots of Chinese culture and the importance and beauty of bamboo. Within these photo series, my main goal was to reflect this context. Moreover, the incorporation within this valley landscape and the link to its community that embraced it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dasht-e-Kavir Desert, Iran

The Dasht-e Kavir, is one of two deserts dominating the region's landscape, is a mix of sand and salt as blinding in its whiteness as it is deafening in its silence. Dasht-e Kavir, is also known as “Kavir-e Namak” and “Great Salt Desert”, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau, around 300 kilometers east-southeast of Tehran. Dasht-e-Kavir desert is approximately 800 kilometers long and 320 kilometers wide, and composed of mud and salt marshes. Millions of years ago, this region was occupied by a salt-rich ocean that covers a small piece of continent in what is now central Iran. As the time passes, the ocean gets dried up, it left behind a layer of salt as much as 6 to 7 kilometers thick.

Therefore, over the time, the layer of salt was buried under a thick layer of mud; however salt has a fairly low density lower than the layer of mud and rocks underneath which the salt layer lay. So it taking place pushing up through the overlying sediment and finally, over millions of years, the salt broke through and formed domes. The salt domes of Dasht-e Kavir are probably some of the best examples of this geological marvel. Thus, geologists have recognized about 50 large salt domes in this region. Some of the domes have been eroded away by wind and rain exposing its cross-section.

However, the desert climate is arid and receives little rain and snow each year, but the surrounding mountains on all side, provide plenty of runoff to create vast seasonal lakes, marshlands and playas. Temperatures can reach 50 °C in summer, and the average temperature in January is 22 °C. Though it looks like a firm surface, the salt crust is only a few inches thick, below which lies soft grease-like mud the Iranians called “Charbeh” that is really difficult to get out of if one were to get stuck. Due to arduous travelling to Dasht-e Kavir, it is very dangerous. The soil is sterile and not appropriate for cultivation. In summer the hot temperatures cause extreme vaporization, which leaves the marshes and mud grounds with large crusts of salt. Heavy storms frequently occur and they can cause sand hills reaching up to 40 m in height. Some parts of Dasht- e Kavir have a more steppe-like appearance.

Dasht-e-Kavir desert is almost uninhabited and only partly explored. Wild sheep, camels, goats and Persian leopards also live in the mountainous areas. Hence, human settling is restricted to scattered oases, where wind-blocking housing constructions are raised to deal with the tough weather conditions. Some live in the hills and the surrounding mountains. Against the odds, oases exist within these desolate environs, home to villages that are sustained by the wells of sweet water that have been part of desert mythology for centuries. Vegetation in the Dasht-e Kavir is adapted to common plant species like shrubs and grasses can only be found in some valleys and on mountain tops. So, the most widespread plant is mugwort. The Persian ground jay is a bird species living in some parts of the desert plateaus, along with Houbara bustards, Persian gazelles, camel, goats, leopards, larks and sandgrouses.

Moreover night life brings on wild cats, wolves, foxes, and other carnivores, the Persian onager and Asiatic cheetah can be seen. Lizards and snakes live in different places in the central plateau. The extreme heat and storms in Dasht-e Kavir cause extensive erosion, which makes it almost impossible to cultivate any lands almost uninhabited and knows little exploitation. Camel and sheep breeding and agriculture are the sources of living to the few people living on its soil. For irrigation, Iranians developed a sophisticated system of water-wells known as qanats. These are still in use, and modern globally used water-revenue systems are based on their techniques.

Amazing Limestone Pavements of Orton Fells

The Orton Fells, located to the east of Lake District, in Cumbria County, in England. This is an area of amazing geology, bounded by the small villages of Orton, Great Asby, Little Asby, Crosby Ravensworth and Crosby Garret. This area contains some of the most captivating limestone outcrops, scars and pavements in Great Britain. The amazing limestone pavements are areas of flat, uncovered and weathered limestone rock surfaces. However, abrasion by glaciers as well as natural weathering of the limestone has formed deep fissures, which has broken the pavement into blocks that seems as if they were sculpted by human hands. Therefore, most of pavements were damaged by mining over the centuries. The Great Asby Scar, near the village of Great Asby, and Orton Scars, near Orton, comprise some of the best enduring examples in Britain. The limestone rocks in these pavements were created during the Carboniferous era some 350 million years ago. In the ancient times, this region was under the sea, hence walking across the limestone pavement you can still find fossils of the ancient corals, shelly creatures and sea lilies from which the rock is made.

This is the most extensive area of pavements in the UK outside the Ingleborough area in Yorkshire.  Most of the landscape is protected by both Site of Special Scientific Interest and candidate, and it is Special area of Conservation designations because of its international importance. Moreover, during the last ice age, the limestone was enclosed by an ice sheet several hundreds of meters thick that scarred the limestone bedrock. So, when the ice melted, it left sediment on top of the rock which was colonized by trees and plants as the weather conditions warmed. Further, water running through the soil found softness in the rocks that were then eroded away becoming deep fissures. The water also left channels and hollows in the rock, which were bare as the soil was washed away over thousands of years. Thus, these runnels and pits now make up the lovely and complex patterns that can be seen on the Orton Fells pavements. The deep fissures are home to a number of plants and ferns where they remain protected from grazing animals and the drying effect of the wind. Moreover, many invertebrates, including spiders also use the fissures of the limestone pavement to string their webs across to catch insects.

The birdlife found on the Orton Fells is typical of upland pastureland.  Meadow pipits and wheatears breed on the grassland surrounding the pavements with wrens actually nesting among the limestone outcrops.  Thus, buzzards, ravens and kestrels are seen often, as are curlews, golden plover and lapwings.  Moreover, skylarks can be heard singing during the spring and summer months. There are few mammals found on the pavement.  Rabbits are the only animals you are likely to see during the day, but foxes, stoats and moles are all known to use the area. The pavements are home to many invertebrates, including spiders that use the grikes of the limestone pavement to string their webs across to catch insects.