The world in which people have the happiness of living is magnificent. A man ennobles and decorates it, as he can, inventing and erecting structures that are destined to live for centuries. Even in antiquity, the Greeks compiled a list of the natural seven wonders of the world, which included the most famous and famous buildings of architecture: the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and a number of other great buildings.
But nature creates even more majestic and unique things that amaze with their beauty and originality. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, through the Internet and telephone communications, a vote was held, as a result of which seven new natural wonders were named. This included mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, natural phenomena … I would like to tell about some of them.
Grand Canyon: Description of the Miracle
Where is the Grand Canyon? And what is it all about?
It is located in the USA and is considered one of the most famous in the world. This is a gigantic gorge with many branches, striking a difficult and rather picturesque landscape. The length of the gorge is almost 500 kilometers, the minimum width is 180 meters, and the maximum is 28 km. On average, it is about 16 km. The depth of the gorge is a little over one and a half kilometers.
So, where the Grand Canyon is and what it is is clear. I would like to say how he appeared.
This miracle was created by the Colorado River, which for many millions of years eroded the site. Water managed to cut through the road, forming amazing and beautiful stone structures. The river drop in the canyon is large - an average of 1.3 kilometers. Accordingly, the climate inside is diverse and highly dependent on how deep the gorge is. At the bottom it is very hot, cacti, thorns and other vegetation typical of the desert grow there. The higher the surface of the Grand Canyon, the more the climate changes - first come the plants of the tropical zone, then the temperate.
The canyon is home to about a hundred species of animals, almost 400 species of birds, seven dozen species of various kinds of fish, amphibians and reptiles.
Great Barrier Reef. What is this miracle?
To the question: where is the great Barrier Reef, you can answer this way: not far from Australia, on its northern side. This rather large system, formed from billions of coral polyps, from almost three thousand separately located reefs and 900 islands with a length of almost 3000 kilometers.
The reef is so huge that it can be seen even from space. On the north side it is almost continuous, on the south it consists of a group of separately located reefs, which are chosen by divers from all over the world. But tourists are allowed to visit only part of the islands, while observing a number of rules and instructions. For example, you can’t categorically touch the reefs.
The corals that make up their base are a beautiful and bewitching sight. Many unique inhabitants found their home among them: fish, plants, mollusks.
Although under the natural influence of the environment and some residents who like to feast on corals, reefs are destroyed, nevertheless, due to the constant favorable climate, their growth is noticeably greater.
Northern Lights - a miracle of nature
Many wonders of the world have a local specific distribution, and in other regions of the earth you will not see them. This applies, for example, to the northern lights. The sky is suddenly painted in different colors, and they flare up, then go out. This transfusion of colors is associated with physical processes occurring in the upper layers of the Earth.
It is more correct to call this natural wonder of the world aurora polar, because it occurs above both poles - north and south. Most often formed in spring and autumn during the periods before and after the equinox. It manifests itself in different ways: the sky just glows or stripes form on it, rays and curtains appear. Aurora borealis can be short - up to ten minutes, and can last several days.
Iguazu Falls: where is it and what is amazing
Waterfalls are a very beautiful sight. You can stand nearby for hours, listening to the rumble of falling water and enjoying the myriad drops that play in different colors in the sun. This is probably why one of the waterfalls was included in the list of natural wonders of the world.
In total, many water strips participated in the competition, but the three largest ones reached the finals - the famous Niagara, Victoria, located in Zimbabwe, and Iguazu, located on the border of two South American states - Brazil and Argentina. As a result, the winner’s crown went to the last.
Iguazu includes 275 waterfalls. Their total width is more than 3 kilometers and a height of 80 meters. He is taller and wider than his competitors and much more beautiful. Cascades and streams of water are thrown from above, forcing thousands of visitors to admire the flying colorful spray.
Halong Bay
Located in the bay of the same name, located in Vietnam in the South China Sea. Its name translates as "the place where the dragon entered the sea."
In the bay there are a lot of islands large and small (in total, at least three thousand), a mass of rocks, various caves and cliffs of the most bizarre forms. Some of the islands are limestone caves, some even have lakes. On one of them (Katba), many coral reefs grow near the coast. And on Tuanchau, during the reign of Ho Chi Minh, a residence was even erected where he was resting.
Some caves and grottoes are widely known. For example, the Grotto Drum, in which, in a strong wind, sounds are heard as if someone is beating a musical instrument.
Komodo
Komodo Park, located in Indonesia, is a unique place. Nature there has remained unchanged since the Jurassic period (150-200 million years). The park consists of three large islands and a mass of smaller islands of volcanic origin, the area of which is approximately 2 thousand square kilometers. The main and largest of them is Komodo, which stretches for 35 kilometers along the sea and has a width of about 15 kilometers. Despite the fact that the rains here are not frequent - they go only during January - the climate is magnificent.
The park is famous for the fact that descendants of ancient dinosaurs live in it - Komodo monitor lizards. Of course, civilization left an imprint on them, and, compared with their ancestors, they are small - only three and a half meters long and weighing a quarter tons. But for modern animals, even these look dangerous predators - a monitor lizard can easily eat a goby.
Jeju Island
Oval in shape, it is located in the southern part of the sea relative to the Korean Peninsula and translates as “Far Island”. Formed millions of years ago after the eruption of one of the volcanoes and consists entirely of magma and lava. Until now, in the middle of the island stands an extinct volcano almost 2 thousand meters high.
Jeju's uniqueness is due to its nature and climate - it is typically marine subtropical. Here live animals and birds, which should live more in Siberia: deer, foxes, chipmunks, cuckoos. There are also many black beaches - such sand was formed after volcanic eruptions.
The island is included in the list of natural wonders of the world and is protected by UNESCO.
Table Mountain
There is such a legend that the Lord God after creating the planet touched it. It was there that Table Mountain (or Tafelberg) arose. It is located in southern Africa, near Cape Town. The mountain is so named because of its shape: it resembles a cone, with the top cut off. When you climb to the top, breaking 1000 meters, you find yourself on a huge three-kilometer plateau.
A tourist begins to get acquainted with the mountain from the slopes covered with evergreen forests. The animal world is represented by jackals, snakes, monkeys. A plant has more than 2, 000 plants, many of which exist only here.
Amazon
Famous river flowing in South America. It is considered the deepest on Earth (contains 25 percent of the water of all world rivers) and the second longest. Along the shores of the Amazon and its many tributaries, there is a tropical forest occupying a gigantic territory - almost six million square kilometers - and belonging to 9 countries. The forest is surprising in that many of its inhabitants - and this is a million-plus species of animals and plants - have not yet been studied. They are considered the future genetic fund of the planet.
