View allAll Photos Tagged SURROUNDING
Himantopus himantopus
Towards the end of our stay, we spent some time enjoying the multiple Black-winged Stilts surrounding the main saltpans.
Juniper trunk fence surrounding the Vegetable Gardens at Pipe Spring looking NE. Happy Fence Friday!
Pipe Spring was named by the 1858 Mormon missionary expedition to the Hopi mesas led by Jacob Hamblin. In the 1860s Mormon pioneers from St. George, Utah, led by James M. Whitmore brought cattle to the area, and a large cattle ranching operation was established. In 1866 the Apache, Navajo and Paiute tribes of the region joined the Utes for the Black Hawk War, and, after they raided Pipe Spring, a protective fort was constructed by 1872 over the main spring. The following year the fort and ranch was purchased by Brigham Young for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). The LDS Bishop of nearby Grafton, Utah, Anson Perry Winsor, was hired to operate the ranch and maintain the fort, soon called Winsor Castle. This isolated outpost served as a way station for people traveling across the Arizona Strip, that part of Arizona separated from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon. It also served as a refuge for polygamist wives during the 1880s and 1890s. The LDS Church lost ownership of the property through penalties involved in the federal Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. -- Courtesy Wikipedia
Today the complex is open to the public and the visitors center is operated as a partnership between the the U.S Government and the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians. The entire area seen in this image is on the tribal lands of the Paiute Indians.
Panoramic view of the surrounding Cusco valley Andean ridges from the ruins of Puka Pukara ("Red fortress"), built by the Incas and located at an altitude of about 3550 meters above sea level 5 kilometers from the city of Cusco.
Панорамный вид на окружающие долину Куско хребты Анд от развалин Пука Пукара ("Красная крепость"), построенных инками и находящихся на высоте около 3550 метров над уровнем моря в 5 километрах от города Куско.
CASTLERIGG STONE CIRCLE STANDS ON A SUPERB NATURAL PLATEAU COMMANDING A SUPERB 360 DEGREE VIEW OVER THE SURROUNDING FELLS. IT IS COMPOSED OF 38 FREE STANDING STONES, SOME UP TO 3 METRES (10 FEET) HIGH. IT IS ONE OF BRITAIN'S EARLIEST STONE CIRCLES DATING BACK TO THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD 4000 TO 5000 YEARS AGO.
THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THE SITE IS UNKNOWN. IT COULD HAVE BEEN USED AS A TRADING POST. THREE STONE AXES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED INSIDE THE CIRCLE. IN THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD AXES WERE MADE FROM VOLCANIC STONE QUARRIED IN THE FELLS. OTHER POSSIBLE USES INCLUDE A MEETING PLACE FOR SOCIAL GATHERINGS, A SITE FOR RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND RITUALS OR EVEN AN ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY WITH THE STONES BEING ALIGNED TO THE SUN, MOON AND STARS.
CASTLERIGG STONE CIRCLE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST SITES TO BE COVERED UNDER THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS PROTECTION ACT IN 1888 AND IN 1913 IT WAS ACQUIRED BY THE NATIONAL TRUST.
CASTLERIGG STONE CIRCLE IS LOCATED 1.5 MILES SOUTH EAST OF KESWICK. GRID REFERENCE NY291236.
Maankwartier est un quartier surélevé - ou une citadelle, comme l'appellent Huisman et les architectes. Comme une citadelle, Maankwartier a une partie intérieure et extérieure, séparées par des murs d'enceinte. Sur le côté sud, de hauts bâtiments bordent Maankwartier, sur le côté nord se dresse un robuste mur incurvé.
L'extérieur relativement fermé de ce contour est le support des bâtiments réels à l'intérieur. L'intérieur de la citadelle offre des places et des passages abrités avec de petites boutiques, des cafés et des logements. Comme dans une ville historique, les différences de hauteur dans le quartier peuvent (aussi) être franchies sans l'utilisation d'ascenseurs et d'escaliers mécaniques.
Maankwartier is an elevated neighborhood – or citadel, as Huisman and the architects call it. Like a citadel, Maankwartier has an interior and exterior part, separated by surrounding walls. On the south side, tall buildings line Maankwartier, on the north side a sturdy curved wall stands.
The relatively closed exterior of this outline is the support for the actual buildings inside. The interior of the citadel offers sheltered squares and passageways with small shops, cafes and accommodation. As in a historic city, height differences in the neighborhood can (also) be overcome without the use of elevators and escalators.
In the center of this shot is the BYU carillon or bell tower. Surrounding it are trees covered in white blossoms on a cloudy, overcast spring day.
For more of my creative projects, visit my short stories website: 500ironicstories.com
Shot w/ Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT, Skywatcher EQM-35 Mount & ZWO ASI290mm mini camera. 1200 frames @ 16 frames/sec stacked using AS!3 and post processed in Photoshop.
Rising from the flat plain surrounding it, just as the sun is rising behind, the old grain elevator at Dankin is also falling. Sandra took me there specifically to witness the two old elevators: this one is almost a hundred years old, she said, and part of the roof has blown off since her last visit. We walked around them, crossing old railroad tracks, shooting in the flat light of evening. There is nothing left of Dankin besides the elevators. It is described online as "an area". Soon there won't even be these remnants; look at how badly it's leaning. One big storm will smash it down to a pile of broken boards. So our visit was tinged with melancholy.
The next morning, on my way home, I had to pass by them again, and tried to time my arrival for sunrise. Almost missed it. When I saw the light exploding through open doors at the base, I ran across a field of wheat stubble, stopping to set the tripod up fast, compose intuitively, shoot, and run some more. Part of the running was because it was so cold I knew I couldn't stay out long. Half an hour was all. Coming back to my car, fingers numb with pain, I thought I'd never been that cold in my life.
The only lens I used was the 14-24 mm - sharp and versatile. This was the fourth shot in the sequence; I'll upload others over time because I don't know if it's the best of the lot. Sometimes I have to let things settle; I've been looking through a lot of images these past few days. Many thanks to Sandra Herber for making a strong case to visit this location and photograph the two old elevators in winter light.
Photographed at what remains of Dankin, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Steam is rising from a pond and surrounding vents, obscuring the house and hills in the backgound in Hveradallir valley near Mount Reykjafell.
Molde is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. The municipality is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord.
Molde has a maritime, temperate climate, with cool-to-warm summers, and relatively mild winters. The city is nicknamed The Town of Roses.
It is an old settlement which emerged as a trading post in the late Middle Ages. Formal trading rights were introduced in 1614, and the town was incorporated through a royal charter in 1742. Molde was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838
The town continued to grow throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming a centre for Norwegian textile and garment industry, as well as the administrative centre for the region, and a major tourist destination. After World War II, Molde experienced accelerated growth, merging with Bolsøy Municipality and parts of Veøy Municipality on 1 January 1964, and has become a centre for not only administrative and public services, but also academic resources and industrial output.
The 363-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) municipality is the 254th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Molde is the 38th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 26,900. The municipality's population density is 75.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (196/sq mi) and its population has increased by 10.7% over the last decade.
Heinsberb/NRW/Germany, View from the Castle Hill at St. Gangolf and the surrounding area -------------------------------------
St. Gangolf ist eine römisch-katholische Propsteikirche und ehemalige Stiftskirche in der rheinischen Stadt Heinsberg. Sie steht als Baudenkmal unter Denkmalschutz.[1] Pfarrpatron ist der heilige Gangolf, ein burgundischer Ritter und Märtyrer des 8. Jahrhunderts. Die Kirche steht erhöht über der Stadt auf dem sogenannten Kirchberg, dem als Vorburg der Burg Heinsberg dienenden Teil der Heinsberger Motte. Die Kirche ist ausgestattet unter anderem mit einem im Gelbgussverfahren um 1500 hergestellten spätgotischen Taufkessel. Er wurde vermutlich von einem maasländischen Meister hergestellt und wird von drei liegenden Löwenfiguren getragen. Der eine Statuette des heiligen Gangolf tragende Deckel kann mittels eines schmiedeeisernen, in gotischen Formen verzierten Kranes zur Seite geschwenkt werden.
Nennenswert ist weiter das Hochgrab der Herren von Heinsberg aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, eine der hervorragendsten Arbeiten dieser Art im Rheinland. Auf dem Grab sind, gearbeitet in feinstem Kalkstein, als liegende Figuren dargestellt Johann II. von Heinsberg († 1438), dessen Gemahlin Margarethe von Gennep († 1419) sowie deren Sohn Johann III. von Heinsberg († 1443). Die wie die Deckplatte aus fast schwarzem, polierten Stein gearbeiteten Wangen des Grabmales sind mit Ahnenwappen geziert. Dargestellt sind (in der Schreibweise der Beischriften auf dem Denkmal) auf der linken, männlichen Seite die Wappen von Loen, Holland, Chyny, Heinsberg, Gilych, Engeland, Brabant und Schottland sowie auf der rechten, weiblichen Seite diejenigen von Genepe, Altenburg, Vlandern, Bruynenburg, Erkel, Lippe, Gelder und Heube. Somit werden dem Betrachter aber, wie etwa mit Engeland, auch einige in der tatsächlichen Ahnenreihung des figürlich dargestellten Herrscherpaares nicht stimmige Wappen präsentiert. Die nur 2,3 m lange und 1,7 m breite Gruft der Herren von Heinsberg befand sich unterhalb des Hochgrabes und reichte ursprünglich bis unter die Deckplatte. Sie war nur durch einen schrägen Schacht an der Ostseite des Grabes zugänglich. Das Hochgrab wurde erstmals im ersten Jahrzehnt des 20. Jahrhunderts wiederhergestellt, damals beseitigte man Beschädigungen, die durch einen Gewölbeeinsturz im Jahre 1783 entstanden waren; ein weiteres Mal nach schweren Kriegsschäden im Zweiten Weltkrieg.-----------------------
More info:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Gangolf_(Heinsberg)
Santa Fe and the surrounding areas have some beautiful churches. One of the most famous is the Loretto Chapel with it's spiral staircase which has no discernable support to hold it up.
Hamilton Gardens is a terrific place to visit is with its feature of many different types of intriguing and unique garden designs. Brilliant. There's this pond connecting some of the gardens. When passing I couldn't help noticing the strong and profound reflections created by the surrounding planting. It was a calm day so hardly any wind movements in the water. Not easy to find an intersting angel to shoot from (not made easier by the many people visiting that day) but I like the drama of the clouds. Nice quiet moment of exploring.
Desert dandelions carpeted the high desert this week for a few miles north and 10 miles south.
Mina was a bedroom & supply community for the Rhodes Salt marsh and for gold and silver mines in the surrounding hills. A solar project is located nearby as well.
Sunrise views over Blayney from Church Hill Rotary Lookout in the Central West, New South Wales, Australia.
Feilai Feng, or "the Peak that Flew Hither", also commonly translated as "Flying Peak" (Traditional Chinese: 飛來峰石窟; Simplified Chinese:飞来峰石窟), is located in front of the temple proper. The peak is so-named because it is made of limestone, giving it a craggy appearance very different from the surrounding mountains. Legend holds that the peak was originally from India (with some versions suggesting that it is Vulture Peak), but flew to Hangzhou overnight as a demonstration of the omnipotence of Buddhist law. A large number of grottoes can be found on the peak, such as Qinglin Grotto, Yuru Grotto and Longhong Grotto. Many rock reliefs dot the peak surface, and more are located in the various caves and grottoes throughout the peak. Within the main cave, dedicated to the bodhisattva Guanyin, there is a crack in the ceiling of the cave that stretches up to the surface, so that a person standing at a certain position can see a sliver of sunlight. This is known as the "one thread of heaven" (Traditional Chinese: 一線天; Simplified Chinese: 一线天; Pinyin: Yīxiàn Tiān).
The stone carvings on Feilai Feng are located in an area measuring 600 meters long and 200 meters wide. In total, there are 153 shrines and more than 470 pieces of carvings, among which 338 are relatively well-preserved, 96 carvings from the Yuan Dynasty as well as several from the Ming Dynasty.
Around 11 carvings date to the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. These carvings dot the top of the peak and the mouth of Qinglin Grotto and they all prominently feature the “Three Saints of the West”, which refers to the triad of Amitābha Buddha and the Bodhisattvas Guanyin and Mahasthamaprapta from Pure Land Buddhism.
A total of 222 carvings were produced in the Northern Song Dynasty period, which feature a diverse range of Buddhist figures including the Six Patriarchs of Chan (or Zen) Buddhism, various arhats, Bodhisattvas and Buddhas such as Vairocana. One of the more prominent carvings from this period is a shrine to Budai, a monk who is traditionally regarded as an incarnation of Maitreya, surrounded by the Eighteen Arhats. This shrine stands at 3.6 meters high and 9.9 meters long, making it the largest shrine on Feilai Feng.
Most of the nearly 100 carvings produced during the Yuan Dynasty are located on the southern bank of Lengquan Stream and on the cliff near Qinglin Grotto and Yuru Grotto. The carvings from this period resembles the art styles of the Tang and Song dynasties, while also reflecting influences from Tibetan and Mongolian art.
www.viajeachina.com/atracciones-de-hangzhou/templo-lingyi...
www.thechinaguide.com/es/sight/lingyin-temple
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingyin_Temple
Feilai Feng, o "el pico que voló hasta aquí", también traducido comúnmente como "pico volador" (chino tradicional: 飛來峰石窟; chino simplificado:飞来峰石窟), está situado frente al templo propiamente dicho. El pico se llama así porque está hecho de piedra caliza, lo que le da un aspecto escarpado muy diferente del de las montañas circundantes. La leyenda sostiene que el pico era originario de la India (algunas versiones sugieren que se trata del Pico del Buitre), pero voló a Hangzhou de la noche a la mañana como demostración de la omnipotencia de la ley budista. En la cima hay un gran número de grutas, como la Gruta Qinglin, la Gruta Yuru y la Gruta Longhong. Numerosos relieves rocosos salpican la superficie de la cima, y hay más en las diversas cuevas y grutas que la recorren. En la cueva principal, dedicada al bodhisattva Guanyin, hay una grieta en el techo que se extiende hasta la superficie, de modo que una persona situada en una determinada posición puede ver un resquicio de luz solar. Esto se conoce como "el hilo del cielo" (chino tradicional: 一線天; chino simplificado: 一线天; pinyin: Yīxiàn Tiān).
Las tallas de piedra de Feilai Feng se encuentran en un área de 600 metros de largo y 200 metros de ancho. En total, hay 153 santuarios y más de 470 tallas, de las que 338 están relativamente bien conservadas, 96 tallas de la dinastía Yuan y varias de la dinastía Ming.
Unas 11 tallas datan de finales de la Dinastía Tang y del Periodo de las Cinco Dinastías y los Diez Reinos. Estas tallas salpican la cima del pico y la boca de la gruta de Qinglin y en todas ellas destacan los "Tres Santos de Occidente", que hacen referencia a la tríada del Buda Amitābha y los bodhisattvas Guanyin y Mahasthamaprapta del budismo de la Tierra Pura.
En el periodo de la dinastía Song del Norte se produjeron un total de 222 tallas, en las que aparecen diversas figuras budistas, como los Seis Patriarcas del budismo chan (o zen), varios arhats, bodhisattvas y budas como Vairocana. Una de las tallas más destacadas de este periodo es un santuario dedicado a Budai, un monje que tradicionalmente se considera una encarnación de Maitreya, rodeado de los Dieciocho Arhats. Este santuario mide 3,6 metros de alto y 9,9 metros de largo, lo que lo convierte en el más grande de Feilai Feng.
La mayoría de las casi 100 tallas producidas durante la Dinastía Yuan se encuentran en la orilla sur del arroyo Lengquan y en el acantilado cercano a la Gruta Qinglin y la Gruta Yuru. Las tallas de este periodo se asemejan a los estilos artísticos de las dinastías Tang y Song, aunque también reflejan influencias del arte tibetano y mongol.
Hereford, and its surrounding colourful patchwork of agricultural fields, is featured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.
Hereford, which is the county seat of Deaf Smith County in Texas, is widely known for its agriculture industry. Known as the beef capital of the world owing to its large number of cattle fed, Hereford can be spotted in the centre-bottom of the image. The area is known for its semiarid climate, with heavy farming and ranching sustained by irrigation from the Ogallala Aquifer – a massive underground reservoir spanning eight landlocked states.
A variety of crops are grown in the area including corn, wheat, maize, soybeans and onions. Circular shapes in the image are an example of centre-pivot irrigation systems, where equipment rotates around a central pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers. This type of irrigation helps farmers manage their watering demands as well as help conserve their precious water sources.
This composite image over the High Plains in Texas was created by combining three separate Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission spanning from 17 March to 21 April 2019.
Shades of red, yellow and green depict changes in vegetation growth at the beginning of the season. Black patches of land indicate very low vegetation for the season, while white signifies a high level of vegetation during these dates. The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index is widely used in remote sensing as it gives scientists an accurate measure of health and status of plant growth.
The US Route 60 can be seen cutting across the bottom-right of the image. The motorway is a major east-west US route, which runs over 4200 km from southwest Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia.
This image is also featured on the Earth from Space video programme.
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Hello everyone!
A beautifully traditional landscape surrounding this classic French vineyard mansion. Semi-manicured landscape gardens The interior has been renovated to a 21st century period with minimal French characteristics throughout.
Original; i.gyazo.com/3b4aa5b3eeeeb33a73ae5b0077633729.jpg
Ceiling looks like this; i.gyazo.com/618a6725b85c7edfa4f245bf67b979ae.png
Social Links; www.jackhanbyinteriors.com/
Sparkling water surrounding the stone arch as the tide rises in Bigbury Bay. View from the cliff top beside Thurlestone Sands south towards Hope Cove and the promontory out to Bolt Tail. Also directly in line of sight behind the arch is a small beach at Pilchard Cove. This stretch of the South Devon coast abounds with coves, rocks and other features both with fascinating names and creating a beautiful coastline.
Explored 2014-04-15 #410
Shanghai
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People usually gather on Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand to take in the view of the surrounding city below. But on this particular day the moon rose right behind the lookout revealing the silhouettes of the onlookers. This photo was shot from over 2km away on the other side of Wellington city the day after full moon at the end of March 2013.
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copyright 2013 | markg.com.au
Sunrise views over Blayney from Church Hill Rotary Lookout in the Central West, New South Wales, Australia.
It is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located 7 km east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Eastern Suburbs. Bondi, North Bondi, and Bondi Junction are neighbouring suburbs. Bondi Beach is one of the most visited tourist sites in Australia. The sweeping white-sand crescent of Bondi is one of Australia’s most iconic beaches. Reliable waves draw surfers while, nearby, hardy locals swim in the Icebergs ocean pool year-round. Trendy, health-conscious Sydneysiders head to laid-back cafes around Hall Street, while hip backpackers frequent the area's casual pubs. Walkers and joggers use the clifftop Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk, with its dramatic scenery. 8018
Sunset Porthcothan beach,a north west-facing cove backed by grassy dunes.
Taken on the 31/03/2016 at 19:55:25Hrs, using a Nikon D3100 camera with a Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS Lens
Porthcothan Bay and the surrounding coastline were recently featured as backdrops in the 2015 TV series "Poldark".
Go to VIEW ALL SIZES & choose ORIGINAL for more detail
Surrounding the sarcophagus are twelve figures mounted on pillars representing Napoleon’s military victories, and on the walls lining the circular path around the tomb are reliefs depicting different eras in Napoleon’s reign.
Sometimes it´s worth to explore you surrounding. Never heard of this place till some days ago. In german it´s called "Kesselgrotte". There are further more places in this area. I am really sure to do a lightpaint at this place in the next weeks.
The only thing i was not so much happy with it, the weather was to good. I prefer capturing forest scenes without sunlight. I wonder why we spend so much money in weather forecasts, in the most cases like here, they fail.
May be i buy a frog and put in a glass, i think his forecast will be much better ! :-)
The range of my wideangle with 17 mm didn´t match with this scene so i solved it with a panorama.
Strange flora surrounding them, odd noises coming from different directions, their buckets were working over time filtering the air they breathed in but they still caught hints of peculiar smells. So many worlds under the domain of the Empire. So many different ways to die. Always cautious and on guard, always alert, sometimes the insurgents were the least of your worries.
Day 1880 Y6D53
This winter was cold and the lakes surrounding Copenhagen (Søerne) was frozen. Because of the covid lockdown with everything shut down, a lot of people went to the lakes to have fun.
Was taken with the Fuji XF 56mm f1.2 lens. Read my blog post here comparing the Fuji XF 56mm f1.2 with the XF 50mm f2.0.
The photo is Creative Commons license: use it for free, but please credit my name and link to my website kristoffertrolle.com
Keywords: lakes, søerne, winter, vinter, København, Copenhagen, Denmark, Danmark, Fujifilm XF 56mm f1.2, Fujifilm X-T2
The moon coming up over the Dolomite Mountains surrounding Allegeh, Italy. A beautiful evening in late October.
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Pinturicchio (1452-1512) Aeneas Sylvius, Bishop of Siena, presents Eleanor of Portugal to Emperor Friedrich III (1503-1508) Libreria Piccolomini - Siena Cathedral
La Libreria Piccolomini è un ambiente monumentale della cattedrale di Siena. Situata lungo la navata sinistra, prima del transetto, fu fatta costruire nel 1492 dall'arcivescovo di Siena, cardinale Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini (poi papa Pio III) per custodire il ricchissimo patrimonio librario raccolto dallo zio papa Pio II. Tra il 1502 e il 1507 circa venne completamente affrescata da Pinturicchio (1452-1513) e aiuti, tra cui il bolognese Amico Aspertini e il giovane Raffaello Sanzio
The Piccolomini Library was painted by the Perugian painter Pinturicchio (Bernardino di Betto 1452-1513) and coworkers, including Amico Aspertini and the young Raffaello Sanzio, in 1502 for his patron, the cardinal of Siena, who wished to honour his uncle Pope Pius II who died in 1464. (The unfortunate cardinal Francesco eventually got promoted to the Papacy and died 10 days later!) Pope Enea Silvio Piccolomini was one of the greatest humanist scholars and the library in Siena was built to house his precious collection of illuminated manuscripts. The frescoes in the large lunettes that line the walls tell the story of the Pope’s life, while the surrounding decorative elements and ceiling are in the “grotesque” style that imitates ancient Roman examples that were very popular with artists and humanists at the time.
With surrounding Goldfields, Lasthenia sp.,
Carrizo Plain,
San Luis Obispo Co., California
This species has California Rare Plant Rank of 1B.2 (rare, threatened, or endangered). It is locally common on the Carrizo Plain.
Medano Creek flows seasonally. Flows are generally greater in the morning than later in the day. This morning, the flow, such as it was, was just beginning.
From Wikipedia:
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is an American national park that conserves an area of large sand dunes up to 750 feet (229 m) tall on the eastern edge of the San Luis Valley, and an adjacent national preserve in the Sangre de Cristo Range, in south-central Colorado, United States.
The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America. The dunes cover an area of about 30 sq mi (78 km2) and are estimated to contain over 1.2 cubic miles (5 billion cubic metres) of sand. Sediments from the surrounding mountains filled the valley over geologic time periods. After lakes within the valley receded, exposed sand was blown by the predominant southwest winds toward the Sangre de Cristos, eventually forming the dunefield over an estimated tens of thousands of years. The four primary components of the Great Sand Dunes system are the mountain watershed, the dunefield, the sand sheet, and the sabkha. Ecosystems within the mountain watershed include alpine tundra, subalpine forests, montane woodlands, and riparian zones.
Zwischen Haslau (Haslov) und Asch (Aš) ist eine markante Geländeschwelle wahrzunehmen die den Übergang vom Egerländer Becken zum Fichtelgebirge (Smrčina) bildet. Die Staatsstraße I/64 überwindet diese Anhöhe westlich des Dorfs Rommersreuth (Skalka), wobei sie alsbald in nordwestlicher Richtung parallel zu einem Höhenzug verläuft der als Goetheberg (Goethův vrch) bezeichnet wird. Dieser relativ junge Name bezieht sich auf mehrfache Besuche des berühmten Dichters und Naturforschers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, der einerseits die damals noch umfassendere Aussicht genoss und andererseits die hier auftretenden markanten Felsbildungen studierte. Auf einer Länge von etwa einem Kilometer tritt ein Quarzgang zu Tage, dessen Streichen von NW nach SO verläuft, wobei die teilweise über 10 m hohen Felsbildungen nach SW steil nach SW einfallen. Der Quarzgang gehört zu einer größeren Struktur, die sich parallel des Böhmerwaldes über fast 100 Kilometer in südöstlicher Richtung bis nach Taus (Domažlice) verfolgen lässt. Der Quarz des als „Goethehova skalka“ geschützten Naturdenkmals entstand durch hydrothermale Mineralisation beim Eindringen großer Maßen Magmas (Westerzgebirgischer Pluton) während der Variszischen Gebirgsbildung.
Short characteristics of the site: Isolated rocky ridge, formed of a quartz vein, part of the Bohemian Quartz Dyke. Morphologically very interesting, evidence of intensive erosion of surrounding rocks.
Regional geologic unit: Bohemian Massif > Saxothuringicum > Krušné hory Mts. (Erzgebirge) Pluton
Stratigraphy: Devonian - Permian
Subject: geomorphology, geology
Geological phenomenon: castellated ridge
Genesis: hydrothermal mineralization
Rock: quartz vein, granite
Grjótagjá is a small lava cave located near lake Mývatn in north Iceland with a geothermal hot spring. It was used by locals for bathng until the 1970s, when Iceland’s unpredictable geothermal forces prevented them from doing so: from 1975 to 1984 the Krafla volcanic system erupted several times, making the water in the cave boiling and therefore unusable. After 1984, the temperature has slowly cooled, but has been known to rapidly heat again. In the surrounding area, liquid rock is just two kilometres under the surface of the earth, meaning it can be very unpredictable. As such, bathing is no longer allowed in Grjótagjá.