Recent Articles
- Channel Tunnel
- Empire State Building
- CN Tower
- Golden Gate Bridge
- Itaipu Dam
- Delta Works
- Panama Canal
- Bali
- Forbidden City
- Bagan Temples & Pagodas
Deep-Sea Vents
November 6th, 2009 by Travel
Deep Sea vents are volcanic vents found at the deepest depths of the ocean, and are tube-like structures that occur due to the materials they spew out gradually creating the structure. The host a variety of species that live in the intense heat, with some capable of chemosynthesis, which is related to photosynthesis, albeit in the absence of all light.
There are two kinds of chimney vents, black smokers which emit high sulfur particles and chemicals that give the water a blackish cloud look and white smokers which emit lighter particles like calcium and silicon. Chemosynthetic bacteria provide the base of the ecosystem around a vent, with their supply of food being the chemicals emitted, and the creatures around it feeding on each other and the bacteria. Over three hundred species have been discovered around these vents with each exploration, and many more are possible. One of the most unique is a snail that has an iron armored scales, and a worm that can survive 176 degrees Fahrenheit.
Posted in General | | 0 Comments
Lake Baikal
November 6th, 2009 by Travel
Lake Baikal is a southern Siberian lake which is also known as the Blue Eye of Siberia. It is the deepest, oldest, and has the largest volume of water for any freshwater lake in the entire world, and holds an entire fifth of the world’s liquid fresh water supply, and 90% of Russia’s fresh water. It also has the second largest lake island, Olkhon, in the world. It lies on a continental rift valley here two tectonic plates are pulling away from each other and it widens about two centimeter each year, and it is estimated to be around thirty million years old.
Currently it is threatened by several factors, and they are recent, coming under protest as they were being built. One is a Pulp and Paper Mill built in 1966 which dumps its waste directly into the lake, and another is a global trend of warming which threatens the overall ecosystems with animals unable to survive warmer temperatures. It is in a technically protected area now, however no plans to shut down the Pulp and Paper mill exist, as it has become an economic mainstay in the local villages.
Posted in General | | 0 Comments
Northern Red Sea
November 6th, 2009 by Travel
The Red Sea is located between Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia on the west separating them from Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the east and is located in a rift valley. It is the world’s most northerly tropical sea which hosts over a thousand species of invertebrates and two hundred species of corals, being twenty five hundred meters deep and an average length of 300 kilometer wide.
Its length is nearly two thousand kilometers at nineteen hundred and is one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world. It is under threat from desalinization plants that pour their chemicals directly back into it, oil refineries that dump waste cooling water back into it, and the overall rise of sea levels with global warming which cause current issues. The sea is also a popular tourist location for many shipwrecks and reefs that are just below the surface.
Posted in General | | 0 Comments
Next Entries »Categories
- 7 Wonders of the Ancient World (5)
- 7 Wonders of the Middle Ages (7)
- General (38)
- Man Made Travel Wonders (5)
- New 7 Wonders (7)
- New 7 Wonders of Nature (1)
- The 21 Finalists (22)
Travel Resources