1. Grand Prismatic Spring, Wyoming, USA
Grand Prismatic Hot Spring is the largest hot spring in the US. It’s incredible colors are a result microbes from pollution, similar to Yellowstone’s pools.
2. Tianzi Mountain, China
These columns were formed underwater around 380 million years ago. The flow destroyed the surrounding sandstone, leaving only the stone pillars.
3. Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
This basin is located in one of the hottest places on earth and it’s landscape reflects that. That landscape is the result of two active volcanoes, which have formed lava lakes, geysers, acid ponds and vast mounds of sulfur and salt.
4. Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, Brazil
While the landscape says desert, the giant puddle of water says otherwise. Surprisingly, this area is subject to a large rainfall. The puddles that it creates can be various colors, depending on the rock beneath.
5. Fly Geyser, Nevada
The Fly Geyser was accidentally created after a well was drilled and left uncapped. Minerals and algae quickly started to rise from the geyser and accumulated to form this alien mound.
6. Eye of the Sahara, Mauritania
The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara, is so large that it can be seen from space. It was initially believed to have been created from a meteorite impact, but is not believed to have been created when a deeply eroded dome collapsed.
7. Chocolate Hills, Bohol, Philippines
Incredibly, the Chocolate Hills contain 1,776 hills packed into an area of just 20 square miles.
8. ‘Door to Hell,’ Turkmenistan
The Door to Hell is a natural gas fire which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petroleum engineers in 1971 and is fed by the rich natural gas deposits in the area.
9. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
During the rainy season, Salar de Uyuni, which is the world’s largest salt flat, becomes completely reflective. So much so that it is used to calibrate satellites.
10. The Twelve Apostles, Victoria, Australia
The apostles are columns of hard rock that have survived thousands of years of coastal erosion. Now, according to local legend, they look over the beach and each have individual names.
11. Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park, China
These amazing colors are the result of over 24 million years of erosion.
12. Socotra, Yemen
Amazingly, one third the bizarre plant life on this island is found exclusively there. One of the more interesting items is the dragon blood tree, which resembles an umbrella.
13. The Wave, Arizona, United States
This Jurassic-age Navajo Sandstone rock formation looks so incredible after 190 million years of erosion by wind and rain.
14. The Marble Cathedral, Patagonia, Argentina and Chile
This rock sits in the middle of General Carrera Lake, whose waves have smashed against the rock for the past 6,000 years. Erosion has created something that looks almost artificial.
15. Koekohe Beach, New Zealand
The spherical Moreaki boulders dominate this beach. Scientists say that they are calcite concretions formed under immense pressure over 65 million years and exposed by coastal erosion, but local legend states that they are eel baskets washed up from enormous canoes.
16. Pamukkale, Turkey
These pools were once used by the Romans as hot tubs. The terraces and pools of Pamukkale were created by the mineral water flowing from hot springs that fill them, and over time the minerals clung to the landscape, creating a magnificent spot for an evening soak.
17. Nishino-shima, Japan
This tiny island is one of the youngest places on Earth. At only a year old, this piece of land in the Pacific Ocean was created when an underwater volcano erupted and the magma was cooled by the ocean. As you can see from the smoke, the volcano is still going and the island continues to expand.
18. Red Beach, Panjin, China
This alkali-tolerant seaweed is unique to this area, creating an incredible landscape that looks like a giant field of red wheat.
19. Champagne Pool, Rotorua, New Zealand
This 900 year old hot spring is the result of a hydrothermal eruption. It contains a mixture of carbon dioxide and arsenic, making it bubble like a glass of sparkling wine.
20. Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, USA
Magma exploded through the surface of the Earth here, and over millions of years the magma continued to spill out and then cool, forming this impressive structure.
21. Kelimutu Crater Lakes, Flores Island, Indonesia
These 3 lakes each have different colors and different names. The westernmost lake is called the Lake of Old People and is usually a vibrant blue because of a concoction of minerals found in the volcanic rock. The other two are called the Lake of Young Men and Maidens and The Bewitched Lake, which are typically green and red, respectively.
22. Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar
These ‘upside down trees’ are located in western Madagascar. Tourists flock to this famed road, which lies in a protected zone, where the baobab tree often reaches a height of up to 80 feet tall.
23. White Desert, Egypt
This desert in the Farafra Depression is surreal with its white, windblown and eroded rock dotting the landscape.
24. Shilin Stone Forest, China
These limestone formations are believed to be more than 270 million years old and create a forest made of stone.
25. Tunnel of Love, Ukraine
Trains traveling this line for decades caused the trees to form into this picturesque tunnel hugging the tracks.
Source: distractify
