Salar de Uyuni: The Nature Best Piece on Planet Earth

The South America salt flats in Bolivia are a natural wonder that are not only awe-inspiring, but also seem to be the best place to play with perspective. With reflections that play tricks on the eye and constant bright sunshine, Salar de Uyuni is a veritable dreamland for the photographer with a sense of humor. Salar de Uyuni also called Salar de Tunupa (can be translated from Spanish as ‘salt flat enclosure’) is the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers. Salar de Uyuni is located in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters above sea level.

The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average elevation variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's known lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites. The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is also a climatological transitional zone since the towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulonimbus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the salt flat during the summer cannot permeate beyond its drier western edges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert. The Salar de Uyuni also holds other associated records when flooded, it becomes the largest mirror in the world, and it also holds the largest land reserves of lithium.

There are a lot of places on Earth considered to be spectacular in a unique and mysterious fashion. Bolivia’s popular salt flats or Salar de Uyuni definitely qualifies. One of the most popular attractions in Salar de Uyuni is a cemetery for trains! It contains all the trains that were used in mining during the 1940s and currently attracts thousands of tourists every year. Moreover, at times the salt flat is covered in very clear water, making it the largest natural mirror in the world, an estimated 11 billion tons of salt is believed to be within Salar de Uyuni. There are 80 species of birds (visiting and migrating) at Salar de Uyuni, including three species of flamingos, as well as a few islands, where the main foliage is cacti, as well as hot springs and geysers.. It was believed that Salar de Uyuni was completely flat, but later some small undulations were discovered on the surface. NASA uses Salar de Uyuni, since it is unmoving and easily spottable, to figure the positioning of NASA’s satellite. To be honest strictly speaking not a real lake, since almost completely dried up, the Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt desert we can observe on Earth, surrounded by mountains, water evaporation, leaving behind the heavy elements and salt residues. The Salar de Uyuni simply is the largest land reserve of salt in the world, which has a surprisingly high rate of lithium, the same metallic element that we're using in our computer's lithium batteries. The salt desert actually represents by itself, one-third of the known reserves of this element.

And when it's rainy season, and the desert becomes a lake, the water salinity and the underlying layer allow the light to be perfectly reflected, so as lake turns into the largest mirror in the world. It is so flat and calm that it gives the best opportunity for the calibration of satellite, 5 times more efficient compared to a conventional waterbody (sea or another lake).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.