Wonders Of The Natural World ...

November 13, 2012

[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[b]Phenomenal Wonders Of The Natural World…[/b][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
WebEcoist and Environmental Oddities[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Sailing Stones[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[img]http://www.forwardedemails.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/sailing_stones.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
The mysterious [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]moving[/background][/color] stones of the packed-mud desert of Death Valley have been a center of scientific controversy for decades.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Rocks weighing up to hundreds of pounds have been known to move up to hundreds of yards at a time.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Some scientists have proposed that a combination of [url="http://www.forwardedemails.com/14738-phenomenal-wonders-of-the-natural-world-i-fwd-sharon-rajkumar#"]strong[/url] winds and surface ice account for these movements.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
However, this theory does not explain evidence of different rocks starting side by side and moving at different rates and in disparate [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]directions[/background][/color].[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Moreover, the [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]physics calculations[/background][/color] do not fully support this theory
as wind speeds of hundreds of miles per hour would be needed to move some of the stones.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Columnar Basalt[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[img]http://www.forwardedemails.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/basalt.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
When a thick lava flow cools, it [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]contracts[/background][/color] vertically but cracks perpendicular to its directional flow with remarkable geometric regularity
- in most cases forming a regular grid of remarkable hexagonal extrusions
that almost appear to be made by man.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
One of the most famous such examples is the Giant’s Causeway on the coast of Ireland (shown above),though the largest and most widely recognized would be Devil?’ Tower in Wyoming .[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Basalt also forms different but equally fascinating ways
when eruptions are exposed to air or [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]water[/background][/color].[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Blue Holes[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[img]http://www.forwardedemails.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/blue_holes.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Blue holes are giant and sudden drops in underwater elevation
that get their name [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]from the dark[/background][/color] and foreboding blue tone they exhibit
when viewed from above in relationship to surrounding [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]waters[/background][/color].[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
They can be hundreds of feet deep and while divers are able to [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]explore[/background][/color] some of them they are largely devoid of oxygen that would support sea [url="http://www.forwardedemails.com/category/life-email"]life[/url] due to poor watercirculation – leaving them eerily empty.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Some blue holes, however, contain ancient fossil remains that have been discovered, preserved in their depths.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Red Tides[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[img]http://www.forwardedemails.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/red_tides.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Red tides are also known as algal blooms- sudden influxes of massive amounts of colored single-cell algae that can [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]convert[/background][/color] entire areas of an ocean or beach into a [url="http://www.forwardedemails.com/14738-phenomenal-wonders-of-the-natural-world-i-fwd-sharon-rajkumar#"]blood[/url]red color.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
In some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides though no human exposure are known to have been fatal.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
While they can be fatal, the constituent phytoplankton in ride tides are not harmful in small numbers.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Ice Circles[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
[img]http://www.forwardedemails.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/ice_circles.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
While many see these apparently perfect ice circles as worthy of conspiracy theorizing, scientists generally accept that they are formed
by eddies in the water that spin a sizable piece of ice in a circular motion.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
As a result of this rotation, other pieces of ice and flotsam wear relatively evenly at the[color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]edges[/background][/color] of the ice until it slowly forms into an essentially ideal circle.[/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Arial][size=3]
Ice circles have been [color=#0066CC !important][background=transparent !important]seen[/background][/color] with diameters of over 500 feet and can also at times be found in clusters and groups of different sizes as shown above.[/size][/font][/color]