Moving Rocks at the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley California.
Death Valley in California is home to rocks that seem to move on their own. Pebbles to Boulders are found scattered around the “racetrack” with trails that turn, loop, and zigzag behind them. Some of the Rocks move, others don’t. It was thought for some time that magnetic forces were the cause of the phenomena. Scientists now believe that the cause is wind. When there has been enough water to soak the flat clay, and temperatures lower below freezing, it causes tiny ice crystals to form. When the surface of a rock is slick enough in these conditions wind will actually have enough power to move them around, leaving a trail. 
The Richat Structure, or “Eye of the Sahara.”
This spectacular landform in Mauritania in the southwestern part of the Sahara desert is so huge with a diameter of 30 miles that it is visible from space. The formation was originally thought to be caused by a meteorite impact but now geologists believe it is a product of uplift and erosion. The cause of its circular shape is still a mystery.
The driest place on Earth, Atacama Desert.
The Atacama Desert receives less than 1mm of rain per year, and at one point not a single drop of precipitation landed on its dry surface for 400 years. It’s caused by the Andes rainshadow; meaning that the trade winds moving east along South America lose all moisture when they slam against the steep slopes of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is found nestled up against the western slopes of the mountain range. Interestingly, several thousand miles south the winds change direction, and the deserts are then found on the eastern side of the Andes, such as the Monte Desert in Argentina.
The Naica Mine, Cave of Crystals, Mexico.
These caverns found in a mine in Chihuahua Mexico
are home to some of the largest crystals ever discovered and are an impressive sight. The crystals are made mainly of Gypsum, and under these extremely rare conditions were allowed to grow unimpeded.
The Curtain of Fire, Hawaii.
These amazing lava fountains erupted during the first stage of the Puu Oo eruption in January, 1983. The lava created a wall of magma 100-160 feet high along a fissure along the Eastern Rift of Mount Kilauea.
Sinkholes
What could be more terrifying than the earth opening itself and swallowing your entire home? Among other places, this can become a reality in the Southeastern United States. Sinkholes are found in regions of Karst Topography, where pockets of loose sedimentary rock found under the surface can be eroded by groundwater, leaving behind caverns and caves, some of which collapse.
Stone Forest, Southwest China.
The Shilin (Chinese for stone forest) is an impressive example of karst topography. The rocks are made of limestone and are formed by water percolating the ground’s surface and eroding away everything but the pillars.
Thank You for a great site! No Canadian stuff?
Maybe I should add the Canadian Rockies? Any suggestions?
these are amazing. i’d love to visit them!
Of course there’s no Canadian stuff. Canada has absolutely nothing.
Re: David
Another insightful comment from what is no doubt an American. God Bless America…..they know it all.
Dunno about karst sites in Canada, but we have had at least one house-swallowing sinkhole event, and what about the hoodoos. How can you say absolutely nothing?
America does not have an exclusive on the clueless, nor are all of us in that category.
How about the Bay of Fundy? That’s pretty odd.
Then there are the freezing waves off the coast of Newfoundland
Interesting that people made the big Alien sign in the driest place on earth. Aliens obviously don’t like rain.
Now if Canada had any alien signs that would be something interesting. But they don’t…DO they. Just another Canadian shortcoming.
The Antarctica is actually the driest place on earth.
Amazing
Apr 14th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Re: David
Another insightful comment from what is no doubt an American. God Bless America…..they know it all.
Amazing, I see you’ve set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public. Your comment is overflowing with ignorance. I’m glad that all the Canadians’ I know are substantially more intelligent than you are. Oh, but wait! How would I know if you are Canadian??? That’s right, I don’t!
God bless America indeed! I love it when people from other countries besides America talk trash about Americans as if they knew anything about what’s really going on. No one knows anything except what you’re told and you’re better off not repeating it.
Stand up, judge someone, judge an entire country, make a complete ass of yourself! Then try and claim your dignity by telling others how much smarter than them you are! Your prejudice comments show your true colors. Please, let’s not confuse that with intelligence.
ya dudes totally dudes
The sinkholes are scARY MAN!!
I drove up the Al-Can highway from my home in the USA through Canada into Alaska. The small sliver of Canada that I saw on that highway was awe inspiring. Simply beautiful.
Canada is an amazing country.
Where ever you live in the world, take a look around. You will find amazing geological oddities.
I’m a geology student at Southern Oregon University, and thats where I got the idea for this post. These are the most obvious Geological Oddities, but like Cooper said, if you know what to look for, you can see them everywhere.
Geologists are notoriously bad drivers. Road cuts expose millions of years of geological history which most of us can resist looking at. I highly recommend anyone who is in school to try out a geology course. Despite its “jock for rocks” reputation you might find that you really love it.
What about the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland?
http://www.giantscausewaycentre.com/gallery/images/?id=18
“Another insightful comment from what is no doubt an American.”
Actually, I’m Canadian. I’ll bet you’re a stinkin’ Frenchie. Go back home and eat some cheese.
Awesome link Daithi! Thats a great example of “jointing.” Rocks sometimes form geometrical shapes and pillars as they cool and contract.
If David’s Canadian, I think Amazing is acting more like an American…
Anyways, great pics Fingel. This is my second time to stumbleupon it and I gave it the thumbs up this time
Oh yeah:
“I highly recommend anyone who is in school to try out a geology course. Despite its “jock for rocks” reputation you might find that you really love it.”
I was an Information Science major, but I took geologic field methods and now I’m switching to an earth science major.
Thanks Kyle, I appreciate it
Great post; another classic geological great is Devils Tower in Wyoming..some classic jointing there as well.
Contrary to popular belief, the Atacama Desert is not the driest place on Earth. That honor goes to valleys on the coast of Antarctica that haven’t seen precipitation in millions of years. The Atacama Desert has only been without rain for about 400 years. It’s still pretty dry though.
I wish people wouldn’t get into this “my country is better than yours” argument. Every country has its’ share of amazing features and wonders, geological or not… some people just need to get over themselves I guess.
Nice pics, liked them a lot btw
Hi All,
There is a hill near my home town where gravity doesn’t work.
Water moves uphill when poured on the hill side, a car left on free gear ‘rolls’ uphill too. No one is able to explain the phenomenon.
This is in Machakos district in Kenya (East Africa).
Any Geologist out there who knows what this is?
So is the blanket stereotyping of all Americans that irritates you? Bit telling, isn’t it?
Tom - I think you’ll find it is just an optical illusion. There was a similar one near the place I grew up in Scotland where cars appeared to roll uphill after stopping.
Tom, there is one in southern Alberta (yes, I’m Canadian too), and I agree with Stickleback, they are optical illusions. If you ever get a chance to travel through the northern United States, there are these places called “Mystery Spots” where they have taken advantage of mathematical oddities in the way the land and trees are, and make brilliant tourist stops.
As for geological oddities, I would like to mention the Lewis & Clark Caverns which are absolutely massive; correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe they’re mostly in Wyoming, it has been so long since I have been there.
Another thing that comes to mind is Mt. Stephen just passed the Alberta, BC border on the Trans-Canada which is a mountain protected by the government because of all of the fossils from the bed of the ocean which are on top of it…”Wait, Chad! Isn’t the ocean five hundred miles away?” Hmmm…. Read on!
http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca/~macrae/Burgess_Shale/
Tom, you would find these links very interesting:
how Mystery Spots work: http://www.sandlotscience.com/MysterySpots/Mystery_Spots_1.htm
A video explaining the phenomena of cars rolling uphill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNLGEzSn-BM
Forgive me, I’ll correct myself, the Lewis & Clark caverns are in Montana. (See, even us Canadians can’t be dead on all of the time…just most of it, LoL!)
God bless America indeed! I love it when people from other countries besides America talk trash about Americans as if they knew anything about what’s really going on. No one knows anything except what you’re told and you’re better off not repeating it.
Stand up, judge someone, judge an entire country, make a complete ass of yourself! Then try and claim your dignity by telling others how much smarter than them you are! Your prejudice comments show your true colors. Please, let’s not confuse that with intelligence.
An eye for an eye douchebag, David said Canada has nothing, so the other guy says Americans are ignorant. Besides, Canada has lots of stuff, I live in Newfoundland and we have the foggiest city in the world, most eastern point in North America, plus, we don’t have dumb asses saying that a make-believe entity in the sky gave us the right to carry automatic weapons (God-given right to bear arms). Anyways, I’m not getting in to this now…
Oh yeah, great pictures!
The first sinkhole picture is right next to my work ^^;
That thing ate so many cars, ferreal. Great pictures!
amazing stuff ..hope someday we’ll find somethin extraterestrial
@ seth: damn right! you just have an island full of drunks.
Speaking of Montana and Canada, how about the badlands?
Gates to Hell:
http://freakymartin.com/2008/04/10/gates-of-hell-in-turkmenistan-8-photos/
Nice post.
Thanks to all of you who like the post. I never expected it to get popular on Stumbleupon. Once this page got a few thumbs up, it was like a tsunami of traffic after that. Laughing Squid, my host, will be charging me nearly $50 extra this month because I surpassed the bandwith limit by 200%. Wow. Its worth it though, I’m really glad some of you enjoyed it.
Keep the comments coming!
IT IS FUCKING NOT AUSSUME ┌∩┐(◣_◢
Unfortunately, your country is probably gonna get made fun of when it is stupid enough to elect G.W.Bush (or allow him to steal the election) TWICE, torture people while lecturing human rights, or try to claim to be the leader in healthcare and education when at least half of your citizens are (with all due respect) fucking ignorant lardasses who refuse to educate themselves about anything.
I love my country, but you can’t deny this series of facts. Hey, at least we can’t blame our rock formations.
Hey ,check out the blue holes.There are some in the Bahamas and I believe somewhere in Central America too. They are very weird perfect round holes in the ground, filled with water and very deep and very dangerous.The water on top is saltly but about 30 feet down the water is fresh!
They believe they may be connected to the ocean because of the salt water. We use to go swimming in one when I lived in the Bahamas on Andros Island.The water looks a deep blue in color hence the name.
What a pity that such a good informative post should attract entries which only denigrate the posters with their comments about other countries which but for an accident of birth would be their own!
Don’t you see the cappadocia? Middle of Turkey. You should see this!
Emergency photo switch, had to link all photos to flickr instead of directly. Bandwidth usage was getting out of control. Apologies if the pics load slower now.
Enjoy the awesomeness of this world; you have only one chance at life to do so as the odds of experiencing life is immeasurably billions against. Don’t waste it on negativity
This is some cool stuff, but I can not warm up to the idea that the wind is moving the rocks. Must be one hell of a wind and it moves in a straight line too. I thought winds tend to swirl so what is really going on here?
Here are some interesting geological forms in Canada. Use your favourite search engine to find them.
Cheltenham Badlands north of Toronto
Sleeping Giant near Thunder Bay
Flower Pot Islands off the coast of New Brunswick
Reversing Falls in Saint John, New Brunswick
Hoodoos in Alberta
Montmorency Falls in Québec
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump in Alberta
Pingos in the Arctic
I hate americans, can’t wait till i get canadian citizenship. Our country is doomed.
come down to southren sask to the bad lands there is alot of amazing sites
Amazing stuff, The world is much more than the little country I´m living in, which I don´t know either.
Thank you.
Canada has nothing? It has tons
check out magnetic hill, crazy weird
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgdZGbOclk
I’m an American and I think that western Canada is as beautiful a place as one will ever see.
A great geological spot is the Hope Slide in Hope, B.C.
You should take a look.
if america is soo great
then why does it have the highist crime in the whole world
is the fatist country
and is full of big headed red necks
your country sucks, i would choose canada any day!!
the landscape is 5x more amazing aswell!!
An American
Apr 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Unfortunately, your country is probably gonna get made fun of when it is stupid enough to elect G.W.Bush (or allow him to steal the election) TWICE, torture people while lecturing human rights, or try to claim to be the leader in healthcare and education when at least half of your citizens are (with all due respect) fucking ignorant lardasses who refuse to educate themselves about anything.
I love my country, but you can’t deny this series of facts. Hey, at least we can’t blame our rock formations.
…YES!
I am an American as well, and I completely agree.
Nice Rocks, btw. That one Atacama gyoglyph looks like an alien.
I found increasingly apparent that this ‘my country si better than yours’ non-sense is appearing more and more prevelantly on these postings and responses. Don’t you all get it? It doesn’t matter! Every country is stupid! There is NO great country! There will be at least one flaw with every government, every economy, every citizen, every patriot, every good intentioned person. There is inherent flaws in humanity, and as long as humanity remains in control of the world, there always will be flaws, theres no escaping it. so, I’ll leave you pitiful fools to bicker and argue over whose better than who, but this is suppose to be a happy world! And you guys are ruining it for the rest of us!
Okay, moving back to the topic at hand…
There’s a kind of manmade geological formation in Peru. Actually, I think it runs the length of S. America and into Central America as well. I took a road trip from Lima in the north to Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian/Argentinian border in the south, and let me tell you, if ever there was something manmade that counted as a geological formation, it is the Pan-Am Highway running through Peru. Built literally on the edge of the Andes, and usually with no guardrail whatsoever, it’s a geological expedition and totally sweet road trip rolled into one. But seriously, the no guardrail thing freaked me out a few times. Trust me; take one look out the window, and see nothing but a sheer drop of a mile or more, and you will understand.
Now, either continue on with your flame war, or post something constructive. Either way, I’m out. Don’t bother replying calling me an idiot or off topic or whateverthehellyoupeopledo. I’m not here anymore.
Truly amazing stuff. Thanks for the images.
Waw, they’re some super oddities!
Stuff like this reminds me just how amazing nature is - and how helpless (in the case of the sink-holes at least) we are.
re: Moving Rocks
its actually caused by the magnetic polarities in the rocks and the magnetic fields of the earth. This happens around the world but is more visible here due to the fact that there is nothing but sand thus making it easier to see and easier for the magnetic rock material to slide along the ground.
peace
Re: Uhmmm:
Although once though to be true, your claim is outdated. There is no way that rocks can move simply because of their polarity (I think you are mixing up polarity and magnetism, there is a difference) I could explain further if you wish. However, you might want to read this at geology.com:
http://geology.com/articles/racetrack-playa-sliding-rocks.shtml
I’m sure those gypsum cave photos are Photoshopped.
I never saw sinkholes from the air before, looks pretty scary.
Really cool!
these pictures are interesting for my eyes. The pictures entertain me through my retinas via my cones and rods…. I’m pretty turned on right now,
Great !
More pics and videos : rocks move on :
http://www.tuxboard.com/?des-pierres-d-une-demi-tonne-qui-bougent-toutes-seules
How hilarious, some dude named David throws out the “canada has nothing” just to yank someone’s chain, and look at how many of ya’ll fell for it, spending way to much time getting all worked up about it. He’s probably sitting back laughing his ass off. don’t be so gullible, eh?
i notice in general most candians wax over certain topics and continue on in usually a briiliant and observant intelligent discussion, but not all of them, as in my case. just wanted to say mr david, we own 20-30% of the worlds clean water up here in canada, chaoke on it.
have a nice day neighbor
nice post, another cool place was the potholes in the Blyde River Canyon, just outside the kruger park, southafrica. photos > http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=potholes&w=18875173%40N00
i apologize for spelling errors, that is, choke on it. any thing else? as a proud canadian im more than happy to form a committee and discuss it. anything else to talk aboot?
to the other americans
…i am american and live in rochester, ny (about 40 minutes away from niagara falls) and i actually agree with the canadians. america does suck. our gov’t is corrupt and our economy is horrible. and i think the new passport requirement to enter canada thing is the stupidest thing. i love how when i go to the border most of the time im not even id’d when i enter canada and am treated great when passing through, yet i enter back into NY with my NY id and am interrogated like i am osama bin freakin laden! truthfully most americans dont realize exactly what we are going through as a country because they rely on cnn, fox, msnbc and other mass media outlets to get their news and education on current events. i am not so much taking a shot at the american people as much as i am at our gov’t and the few ignorant americans that really do feel we are better than everyone else. this is why the world hates us. they see people like you talking and feel that that is how we all are which just isn’t the case. so thank you very much for making all of us seem like the biggest dicks in the world!
“Then there are the freezing waves off the coast of Newfoundland”
It’s called a ‘glacier’ you fucking moron.
How about Giant’s Causeway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant’s_Causeway
Ayeroxor: You are both wrong. Sea waves do not freeze, nor are they glaciers. He’s probably referring to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4vJiC50ZU Its actually surface ice thats being pushed by wind or currents that crumples when it hits the shore.
First, great post I really enjoyed it.
Second, I am from America and have seen enough to be embarrassed and disgusted by and enough to make me proud and moved by. I am sure everyone in all their countries can say the same.
Third, I have seen and heard the same in other countries.
Jeepers.
U should add the giant causeway.
The crystal cave in Mexico is actually Bizzaro Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.
Two words: text-align: justify;
You guys might like the Big Rock “Erratic”, located just south of Calgary, Alberta. It’s mountain rock transported by glacial ice tens of thousands of years ago. It’s literally in the middle of farmland… and weighs over 16,000 tons. It was thought to originally come from Jasper National Park, which is hundreds of kilometers away.
Anyway, just throwing that out. More info here: http://culture.alberta.ca/museums/historicsiteslisting/okotokserratic/default.aspx
Look at this pictures I took in Madagascar: http://www.globopix.net/fotografie/madagascar/nosybe/tsingy-grigi17.html The “grey tsingy” are even more spectacular than the stone forest in China!
Matteo
what about the cheltenham badlands in milton?
they are amazing
I think you should have added Cappadocia-Turkey to this list.
Really useful
Aloha from Hawaii
Loved the pics, but the curtain of fire was mauna loa, not the
puu oo vent.
Mahalo
Antarctica is the coldest place on earth –NOT the driest.
If you’re thinking of putting together another collection of geological oddities with all the suggestions you are getting here (and I’d love to see another collection) may I suggest Wave Rock in Western Australia ?
http://www.waverock.com.au/
http://images.google.com/images?q=wave%20rock
hi, i went through your awesome pictures. but tell me had u been there????. i really think that they should be the wonders of the world. i need your help. i am doing a research project on wonders of the world:new wonders of the world. pls reply,i need help.my email id is aditia_mad@rediff.com.pls reply soon.till then i will search on net.
what about Giants causeway,Ireland
Here is the Eye of Sahara on Google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Mauritania+&ie=UTF8&ll=20.910134,-11.777344&spn=2.837363,3.592529&t=h&z=8
Great site. I really like the pictures.
…idiots! americans are so stupid
God you guys get over yourselves! Somebody decided to put together a nice site on geological wonders and you waste time arguaing about your freaking countries. I’m 14, I’m an American; there are definitely some major things wrong with my country but I thinks it’s safe to say there are problems in every country. And in the future can we keep the curse words to a minimum? There are younger people who are interested in geology as well. Thanks.
Canada is one of the most beautiful countries in the world geographically, and surely has an abundance of amazing geological formations. This is from an American who loves and appreciates her northern neighbors and their land. Whistler Canada, the canadian rockies in Alberta, the eastern coastline. All incredible.
Thank you Canada, for your beauty and your warm and wonderful people.