Saturday, June 23, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Facts about Tsunami
World’s Biggest Tsunami
On
the night of July 9, 1958 an earthquake along the Fairweather Fault in the
Alaska Panhandle loosened about 40 million cubic yards (30.6 million cubic
meters) of rock high above the northeastern shore of Lituya Bay. This mass of rock plunged from an altitude of
approximately 3000 feet (914 meters) down into the waters of Gilbert Inlet (see
map below). The impact generated a local tsunami that crashed against the
southwest shoreline of Gilbert Inlet. The wave hit with such power that it
swept completely over the spur of land that separates Gilbert Inlet from the
main body of Lituya Bay. The wave then contiuned down the entire length of
Lituya Bay, over La Chaussee Spit and into the Gulf of Alaska. The force of the
wave removed all trees and vegetation from elevations as high as 1720 feet (524 meters) above sea level.
Millions of trees were uprooted and swept away by the wave. This is the highest
wave that has ever been known.
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| Tsunami wave |
World’s deadliest Tsunami
The
deadliest tsunami in recorded history was the 2004 Asian tsunami, which
killed almost 230,000 people in eleven countries across the Indian Ocean.
World’s first Tsunami
The
first Tsunami occurred in 6100 B.C.
The Storegga Slides occurred 100 km north-west of the Møre coast in the Norwegian Sea, causing a very large
tsunami in the North Atlantic Ocean. This collapse involved an estimated
290 km length of coastal shelf, with a total volume of 3,500 km3
of debris. Based on carbon dating of plant material recovered from sediment deposited by
the tsunami, the latest incident occurred around 6100 BC. In Scotland, traces
of the subsequent tsunami have been recorded, with deposited sediment being
discovered in Montrose Basin, the Firth of Forth, up to 80 km inland and 4
metres above current normal tide levels.
Advanced Tsunami Warning system
Australian scientists are building an advanced tsunami warning
system. The tsunami warning system contains a seismic array which is a network
of interconnected seismographs that measure and record the force and duration
of earthquakes. The system being installed in the red dust of the Pilbara
region in Western Australia will monitor earthquakes around the Indian
Ocean. In particular, it will look for signs of underground ruptures
along the Indonesian archipelago to the north. It will not only predict tsunami
but even predict the place it will hit.
Walls for preventing Tsunami
Japan has implemented an extensive program of
building tsunami walls of up to 4.5 m (13.5 ft) high in front of populated
coastal areas. Other localities have built floodgates and channels to redirect
the water from incoming tsunami. However, their effectiveness has been questioned,
as tsunami is often higher than the barriers. For instance, the tsunami which
struck the island of Hokkaidō on July 12, 1993 created waves as much as 30 m
(100 ft) tall - as high as a ten-story building. The port town of Aonae was
completely surrounded by a tsunami wall, but the waves washed right over the
wall and destroyed all the wood-framed structures in the area. The wall may
have succeeded in slowing down and moderating the height of the tsunami, but it
did not prevent major destruction and loss of life.
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| Tsunami wall, Japan |
Country with highest tsunami rate
Japan is the nation with the most recorded tsunami
in the world. The earliest recorded disaster was the tsunami associated with
the 684 C.E. Hakuho Earthquakes. The number of tsunami in Japan totals 195 over
a 1,313 year period, averaging one event every 6.7 years, the highest rate of
occurrence in the world. These waves have hit with such violent fury that entire
towns have been destroyed.
References
Amazing facts about Islands
The
largest island
The largest island in the world is Greenland. Australia is
considered a continent because it has unique plant and animal life. Antarctica
also is a continent – larger than Europe and Australia. Greenland, although
quite big, shares the habitat features of Northern America.
The
smallest island
The smallest island in the world – according to the Guinness
Book of Records – is Bishop Rock. It lays at the most south-westerly part of
the United Kingdom. It is one of 1040 islands around Britain and only has a
lighthouse on it. In 1861, the British government set out the parameters for
classifying an island. It was decided that if it was inhabited, the size was
immaterial. However, if it was uninhabited, it had to be “the summer’s
pasturage of at least one sheep” – which is about two acres.
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| Bishop Rock |
The
remotest uninhabited island
The remotest uninhabited island is Bouvet Island in the South
Atlantic. Bouvet Island is a volcanic island constituting the top of a volcano
located as the southern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the South Atlantic
Ocean. The islands measures 9.5 by 7 kilometers (5.9 by 4.3 mi) and covers an
area of 49 square kilometers (19 sq mi), including a number of small
rocks and skerries and one sizable island. It is located in the Sub Antarctic,
south of the Antarctic Convergence, which by some
definitions would place the island in the Southern Ocean. Bouvet Island is the most
remote island in the world. The closest land is Queen Maud Land of Antarctica,
which is 1,700 kilometers (1,100 mi) to the south, and Gough Island, 1,600 kilometers (990 mi)
to the north. Bouvet Island has reasons for being this isolated: 93% of its
surface is covered by glaciers. The island was part of one of James Cook’s
quests in 1772, when he left South Africa on a mission to find it. Oddly
enough, a flash of light was recorded by a satellite in 1979 likely caused by a
nuclear bomb explosion or a meteor. The island also was the setting for the
2004 movie Alien vs. Predator.
The
remotest inhabited island
The remotest inhabited
island in the world is Tristan da Cunha. It is in the South Atlantic, 2575 km
(1600 miles) south of St Helena, which is an island a few hundred kilometers
(miles) off the coast of South Africa. Tristan da Cunha has no TV but it has
one radio station. The population totals 242 and they only have 7 surnames
(last names) between them, so they are all related. Tristan da Cunha does have
a capital, called Edinburgh of the South Seas.
Smallest independent
island country
The smallest independent island country is the Pacific island
of Nauru. It measures 21,28 sq. km (8.2 sq. mi). (Only the Vatican City and
Monaco are smaller countries.) On the downside, people from Nauru are among the
most obese people in the world, with 90% of adults overweight.
Newest island
New islands are islands which have been created
recently, whether by means of vulcanism, erosion, glacial retreat, or other
mechanisms. One of the most famous new volcanic islands is the small island of Surtsey,
located in the Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland. It first emerged from the ocean
surface only in 1963. In 1965, it was declared a nature reserve for the study
of ecological succession; plants, insects, birds, seals, and other forms of
life have since established themselves on the island.
Another noted new
island is Anak Krakatau (the so-called "child of Krakatoa", which
formed in the flooded caldera of that notorious volcano in Indonesia), which
only emerged in 1930. Ample rainforests have grown there, though they are often
destroyed by frequent eruptions. A population of many wild animals, including
insects, birds, human borne rats, and even monitor lizards, have also settled
there.
Uunartoq Qeqertoq is an
island off the east coast of Greenland that appeared to have split from the
mainland due to glacial retreat between 2002 and 2005; however, it is believed
to have been a true island, with or without glacial covering, for many
thousands of years.
The most famous lost
continent is Atlantis. Atlantis, like Hyperborea and Thule, is ultimately
derived from ancient Greek geographic speculation.
Famous
Island
The Palm Islands are
artificial islands in Dubai, famous for their amazing shape. The islands are
The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira. They were
commissioned by the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to boost the
country’s tourism industry, adding 520 km of beaches to the city of Dubai.
Construction is believed to be finished in the next 10-15 years.
Least
populated island
Located in the southern
Pacific Ocean, the Pitcairn Islands are famous for being home to the descendants
of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians that accompanied them. Today, the
Pitcairn Islands are home to only 50 inhabitants (9 families), being the least
populated island and jurisdiction of the world.
References:
http://www.hotelclub.com/blog/7-miracles-of-the-world-most-famous-and-remote-locations/
Monday, June 18, 2012
Facts about Desert
The largest
desert
The world’s
largest desert is Antarctica. The world’s largest cold desert is Antarctica. The
temperature in Antarctica has reached −89 °C (−129
°F). There are no permanent human
residents, but anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year
at the research stations scattered across the continent. Only cold-adapted
organisms survive there. Antarctica is home to more than 70 lakes that lie at
the base of the continental ice sheet. Lake Vostok, discovered beneath Russia's
Vostok Station in 1996, is the largest of these sub glacial lakes. It was once
believed that the lake had been sealed off for 500,000 to one million years but
a recent survey suggests that, every so often, there are large flows of water
from one lake to another.
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| Blue ice covering lake in Antartica |
The largest
hot desert
Sahara in Africa
is the second largest but it’s the world’s largest hot desert is Sahara desert
in Africa. The total area covered by Sahara is 9,400,000 km2. The highest
temperature is as strong as 58 deg. It was considered to be larger than this in
ancient period. The sand dunes formed in Sahara may go up to 180 m and as
strange it may sound, it is covered by snow during winters.
The largest
Oasis
Oasis is an
isolated area of vegetation in a desert. Oases are formed from underground
rivers or aquifers such as an artesian aquifer, where water can reach the
surface naturally by pressure or by man-made wells. Nile River valley and delta,
Egypt, is claimed as the world's biggest oasis by the 2007 edition of The
Guinness Book of World Records with a stated area of 22,000 square kilometers.
Optical illusion
in desert
Mirages are
optical phenomena caused by the refraction of light through heated air rising
from a sandy or stony surface. They occur in the interior of the desert about
10 kilometers (6 miles) from the coast. They make objects that are 1.5
kilometers (1 mile) or more away appear to move. This mirage effect makes it
difficult for you to identify an object from a distance. It also blurs distant
range contours so much that you feel surrounded by a sheet of water from which
elevations stand out as "islands." Mirages make navigation in desert
difficult.
People in
desert Sahara
The largest
group of people who inhabited the Sahara Desert is called Tauregs. The Tuareg
are a pastoral people, having an economy based on livestock breeding, trading,
and agriculture.
Desert
Culture
Desert
Cultural Center, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India is a very popular tourist place of
India. The traditional folk music and dance is an integral part of the social
and cultural life of the indigenous inhabitants of Jaisalmer. The Kalbeliya
dance of the community of snake charmers portrays the rich artistic caliber and
creative imagination of the dancers. The Desert Festival of Jaisalmer provides
the local inhabitants and the tourists as well to explore the unique folk
traditions of the ancient times. The Desert Festival is unique to Jaisalmer
that displays the rich performing arts and unique craft works of the place.
Formation of
desert
Deserts
landscapes are more diverse than many expect. Some are found on a flat shield
of ancient crystalline rocks hardened over many millions of years, yielding
flat deserts of rock and sand such as the Sahara. Others are the folded product
of more recent tectonic movements, and have evolved into crumpled landscapes of
Rocky Mountains emerging from lowland sedimentary plains, as in Central Asia or
North America.
Dust storms
Saharan dust
storms are largely responsible for the significant difference between the
numbers of cyanobacteria in the North and South Atlantic. The dust fertilizes
the North Atlantic and allows phytoplankton to use organic phosphorus, but it
doesn’t reach the southern regions and so without enough iron, phytoplankton
are unable to use the organic material and don’t grow as successfully.
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| Dust Storm in Sahara |
Desert in
diverse
The Mojave
Desert in USA is so diverse that it is subdivided into five regions: northern,
south-western, central, south-central, and eastern. Elevations range from below
sea level at Death Valley National Park to 2.26 miles on Mt. Charleston in the
Spring Range of Nevada.
Amazing facts about Rivers
The
longest river
It is argument
between scientists that whether Nile is the longest river or Amazon is.
Traditionally, the Nile is considered longer, but recent information suggests
that the Amazon may be longer. Nile is noted to have a length of 6650 km.
Differences in the recorded length of the Amazon mainly depend on whether or
not it is valid to take a course south of the Ilha de Marajó at the Amazon's
mouth. New evidence in 2007 states that the
Amazon is longer than the Nile by 100km, with its longest headwater being the
Carhuasanta stream originating in the south of Peru on the Nevado Mismi
mountain's northern slopes and flowing into the Río Apurímac.
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| River Nile |
The widest river with largest drainage basin
Amazon is not only the World’s longest river but even the World’s
widest river. It has a waterflow with an average discharge
greater than the next seven largest rivers combined (not including Madeira and
Rio Negro, which are tributaries of the Amazon). The Amazon, which has the
largest drainage basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square kilometers (2,720,000
sq mi), accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s total river
flow.
The
shortest river
The Roe River in
Great Falls, Montana is only 201 ft. long. The D River is 440 ft. long. The Roe
River is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's shortest
river. The Roe flows 200 feet between Giant Springs and the Missouri River near
Great Falls. The Roe River competes with the D River in Lincoln City, Oregon
for the title of the shortest river. Both rivers have been measured on
different occasions, with lengths varying from 58 feet to 200 feet.
Schoolchildren in Great Falls campaigned successfully to have the Roe River
placed in the Guinness Book of World
Records. The source of the Roe River, Giant Springs, is the largest
freshwater spring in the United States.
The
deepest river
The Congo River (in the past also known as
the Zaire River) is a river in Africa,
and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of
220 m (720 ft). It is the third largest river in the world by volume
of water discharged. Additionally, its overall length of 4,700 km
(2,920 mi) makes it the ninth longest river.
The
fastest river
The fastest river is
the Passiac River at Paterson NJ is hands down the fastest flowing river in the
world during flood stage. The Great Falls of the Passaic River at
Paterson NJ falls 77 ft into an extreme narrow gorge which at the head of the
gorge the river channel is no more than 25-30 ft wide. It is at this point in
the falls into which the greatest volume of river water plummets. At flood
stage when there are many billions of gallons per day going over the falls, the
combination of the velocity of the descending water crushing down onto the
channel squeezes or puts pressure onto the water in the channel from above.
This combined with a very narrow cross section causes the velocity in that
short and small section of the river to easily flow some 70 mph. This is not a manmade
channel, it is natural, so the flow velocity during floods is the fastest
naturally occurring flow .
The
sacred river
Ganga River in India
emerges from the depths of Gangotri glacier. The
Gangotri glacier is situated at the height of4255 m above sea level and is
approx 24 km in length and 7-8 km in width. It has been studied by Scientists
that the water collected from Ganga at its origin is in a pure state and even
after being kept for several years, does not get contaminated. These medicinal
properties of Ganga are attributed to the medicinal secretions of herbs and
mineral content which get mixed with the water. A recent research states that despite being polluted, the waters of the Ganges still possess
‘medicinal qualities’ and could pave the way for developing new ‘anti-microbial
compounds’. Please view references for more details.
The
oldest river
The Finke River is one of the largest
rivers in central Australia. The Finke River has long been cited as "the oldest river in the world",
particularly by tour operators, and in popular books and brochures. The river
must have formed before the ranges were pushed up; this happened in a mountain
building event referred to as the Alice Springs Orogeny which peaked between
400 and 300 million years age. Some parts of the river’s course must have been
already in existence around this time. But southern parts of its course must be
much younger because the areas where the Finke now flows near the southern edge
of the Northern Territory, and further south, were under the sea during the Mesozoic
Era.
The
polluted rivers
Ohio River is the
most polluted river of United States with 274 pounds of cancer causing solvents
named tetrachloroethlylene into waterways. The most sacred river, Ganga which
is worshipped as goddess by Hindus is among the top five polluted rivers of the
world. Pollution has not only threatened the population around but the aquatic
and amphibian creatures. The Ganga Action Plan which initiated the river cleaning
process is a total failure due to corruption and lack of technical expertise.
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| Polluted Ganga |
Underwater
river
Rio Secreto, Mexico
is unbelievable underwater river. It is a tourist attraction. It has got cave
formation due to minerals stalactites and stalagmites. It is a magical
experience for all tourists.
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| Rio Secreto |
The beautiful river
Known as “the river
that ran away from paradise,” the Caño Cristales in northern Colombia is often
considered the most beautiful river in the world. Stunning, multi-hued algal
streaks paint the riverbed in a kaleidoscopic palette of reds, yellows, blues,
greens and blacks, while glassy waterfalls spill into neon-colored tide pools.
The otherworldly rainbow effect emerges only during the height of summer when
the heat helps resident algae colonies to grow and multiply, filling craters
and eddies with intense bursts of color.
References:
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