Kazimiera
10-14-2013, 08:15 PM
Geological Wonders you didn’t know existed
If you are adventurous and love to travel, especially to explore under-explored regions, then you already traveled a lot and seen a lot certainly. But I believe that you just haven’t seen the wonders of the world, that we have now prepared. Our planet is truly a wonderful place to live. We should be maintained with, as possible as we can. Look at the next 20 Geological Wonders you didn’t know and love your planet!
Pamukkale (Turkey)
Yet this geological wonder is also the site of the ancient city of Hierapolis and over the centuries the two have seemed to come together, almost merged into one. In fact some of the old tombs in the city’s necropolis have become part of landscape. The site itself is a series of travertines and hot springs. The travertines here have a concentric appearance and are almost sheer white giving the area an ethereal appearance. The hot springs precipitate calcium carbonate at their mouths and produce the strange almost organic looking structures.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/20-Pamukkale-Turkey.jpg
Ice Towers of Mount Erebus (Antarctica)
Mt. Erebus is one of the largest active volcanoes on Earth. It reaches nearly 4 km above sea level, and is renowned in volcanological circles for its persistently active lava lake, which is sited in the summit crater. The hot volcanic gas steaming from Erebus does more than fuel for the lava lake. Hot gasses traveling up through cracks and fractures in the volcanic rocks surrounding the Erebus summit have created an intricate system of ice caves all over the mountain.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/19-Ice-Towers-of-Mount-Erebus-Antarctica.jpg
Fly Geyser (Nevada, US)
These look as if they were taken on another planet, or at least on the set of a new and very expensive science fiction movie. Yet these pictures are of the Fly Geyser which is very much of planet earth (Nevada, US to be exact). The geyser can be found in Hualapai Valley near Gerlach. It is a little seen phenomenon as the land upon which it sits is private. It can be seen from State Road 34 but unless you have permission the view from a distance is all you should attempt. Back in 1916 the owners of the place were looking for water in the hope of creating rich farmland in this desert area of the state. They came across water, yes, and the well worked for decades. However, the drill that was driven down a shaft hit a geothermal pocket of water and the result was a geyser.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/18-Fly-Geyser-Nevada-US.jpg
Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks (New Mexico, US)
New Mexico’s Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, where erosion chisels rock formations formed by explosive volcanic eruptions between six and seven million years ago. While the formations are uniform in shape, they vary in height from a few feet to 90 feet throughout the 4,000 acre monument.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/17-Kasha-Katuwe-Tent-Rocks-New-Mexico-US.jpg
The Valley of the Moon (Argentina)
Ischigualasto, meaning “the place where you put the moon” is a remote valley in Argentina. It is studded with geological formations left by wind erosion, amazing standing stones and boulders that are so rounded they look like enormous marbles. The valley’s once-fertile ground is now arid and contains so many plant and animal fossils that paleontologists come from all over the world to study them.
Erosion over the millennia unearths the fossils as well as other geological formations such as a host of almost spherical concretions. The wind, inexorable and patient, has pounded the local bedrock for an age. Revealed, the boulders that mudstone – in its original wet form, helped to form look as if giants have been playing marbles.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/16-The-Valley-of-the-Moon-Argentina.jpg
Danxia Landform (China)
This unique geological phenomenon, known as a ‘Danxia Landform’, can be seen in several places in China. This example is located in Zhangye, Gansu Province. Danxia, which means “rosy cloud”, is a special landform formed from reddish sandstone that has been eroded over time into a series of mountains surrounded by curvaceous cliffs and many unusual rock formations.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/15-Danxia-Landform-China.jpg
Enchanted Well – Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil)
Poço Encantado, or Enchanted Well, is located in the Chapada Diamantina National Park in Bahia state, approximately 400 kilometres inland from Salvador, the capital city of Bahia. This giant sunken pool is 120 feet deep and the water is so transparent the rocks and ancient tree trunks are visible on the bottom. When the sun is just right, light comes through a crevice and creates a blue reflection on the water. Access to this pond is highly controlled for environmental protection of its rare and delicate ecosystem.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/14-Enchanted-Well-Chapada-Diamantina-National-Park-Brazil.jpg
The Stone Forest (China)
The Shilin (Chinese for stone forest) is an impressive example of karst topography. Its rocks are made of limestone and are formed by water percolating the ground’s surface and eroding away everything but the pillars. It’s known since the Ming Dynasty as the ‘First Wonder of the World.’
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/13-The-Stone-Forest-China.jpg
Wulingyan, Hunan (China)
The Hunan region is full of dramatic landscapes and the magnificent Wulingyan is one of their biggest attractions. This geological wonder is made up of over 3000 limestone karsts. There are scenic waterfalls and some of Asia’s biggest limestone caves.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/12-Wulingyan-Hunan-China.jpg
Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
The Salar is one of the iconic images of Bolivia, a massive salt desert in the middle of the Altiplano. It is an expansive, virtually flat desert that reflects the sun in such a way as to create a mirror effect with the sky. There are several lakes in the desert with strange colours from the mineral deposits in the region.
Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. It is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, from which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/11-Salar-de-Uyuni-Bolivia.jpg
Chocolate Hills (Philippines)
Composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills of about the same size spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi), this highly unusual geological formation, called Chocolate Hills, is located in Bohol, Philippines. There are a number of hypotheses regarding the formation of the hills. These include simple limestone weathering, sub-oceanic volcanism, the uplift of the seafloor and a more recent theory which maintains that as an ancient active volcano self-destructed, it spewed huge blocks of stone which were then covered with limestone and later thrust forth from the ocean bed.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/10-Chocolate-Hills-Philippines.jpg
Wave Rock (Australia)
The Wave Rock is a natural rock formation located in western Australia. It derives its name from the fact that it is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The total outcrop covers several hectares; the “wave” part of the rock is about 15 meters high and approximately 110 meters long. One aspect of Wave Rock rarely shown on photographs is the retaining wall about halfway up the rock. This follows the contours and allows rainwater to be collected in a dam. It was constructed in 1951 by the Public Works Department, and such walls are common on many similar rocks in the wheatbelt.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/9-Wave-Rock-Australia.jpg
Hell Gate (Turkmenistan)
Called by locals The Door to Hell, this place in Turkmenistan is situated near the small town of Darvaz. When geologists were drilling for gas, 35 years ago, they suddenly found an underground cavern that was so big, all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas, so they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it has been burning. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8-Hell-Gate-Turkmenistan.jpg
Giants Causeway (Ireland)
An area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the Giants Causeway is a result of an ancient volcanic eruption. Located on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland, most of its columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 meters (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 meters thick in places. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/7-Giants-Causeway-Ireland.jpg
Blue Lake Cave (Brazil)
Mato Grosso do Sul region in Brazil (and especially the quiet town of Bonito) boasts many marvelous underground lakes: Gruta do Lago Azul, Gruta do Mimoso, Aquário Natural. The world famous “Gruta do Lago Azul” (Blue Lake Cave) is a natural monument whose interior is formed by stalactites, stalagmites and a huge and wonderful blue lake. The beauty of the lake is something impressive. The Blue Lake Cave has a big variety of geological formation but impresses mainly for the deep blue colored water of its inside lake.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/6-Blue-Lake-Cave-Brazil.jpg
Eye of the Sahara (Mauritania)
This spectacular landform in Mauritania in the southwestern part of the Sahara desert is so huge with a diameter of 30 miles that it is visible from space. Called Richat Structure –or the Eye of the Sahara– the The formation was originally thought to be caused by a meteorite impact but now geologists believe it is a product of uplift and erosion. The cause of its circular shape is still a mystery.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/5-Eye-of-the-Sahara-Mauritania.jpg
Crystal Cave of the Giants (Mexico)
Found deep inside a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico, these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in bedrock. A geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference, they are a translucent gold and silver in color and come in many incredible forms and shapes. The Crystal Cave of the Giants was discovered within the same limestone body that hosts the silver-zinc-lead ore bodies exploited by the mine and it was probably dissolved by the same hydrothermal fluids that deposited the metals with the gypsum being crystallized during the waning stages of mineralization.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/4-Crystal-Cave-of-the-Giants-Mexico.jpg
Great Blue Hole (Belize)
Part of the Lighthouse Reef System, The Great Blue Hole lies approximately 60 miles off the mainland out of Belize City. A large, almost perfectly circular hole approximately one quarter of a mile (0.4 km) across, it’s one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere on earth. Inside this hole, the water is 480 feet (145 m) deep and it is the depth of water which gives the deep blue color that causes such structures throughout the world to be known as “blue holes.”
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3-Great-Blue-Hole-Belize.jpg
Antelope Canyon (Arizona – USA)
The most visited and photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest, the Antelope Canyon is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. It includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon –or “The Crack”– and Lower Antelope Canyon –or “The Corkscrew.”
The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tse’ bighanilini, which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Lower Antelope Canyon is Hasdestwazi, or “spiral rock arches.” Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2-Antelope-Canyon-Arizona-USA.jpg
The Wave (between Arizona and Utah – USA)
A red-rock stunner on the border of Arizona and Utah, The Wave is made of 190-million-year-old sand dunes that have turned to rock. This little-known formation is accessible only on foot via a three-mile hike and highly regulated.
http://i1.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1-The-Wave-between-Arizona-and-Utah-USA.jpg
Source: http://amazingbeautifulworld.com/amazing-world/20-geological-wonders-you-didnt-know/
If you are adventurous and love to travel, especially to explore under-explored regions, then you already traveled a lot and seen a lot certainly. But I believe that you just haven’t seen the wonders of the world, that we have now prepared. Our planet is truly a wonderful place to live. We should be maintained with, as possible as we can. Look at the next 20 Geological Wonders you didn’t know and love your planet!
Pamukkale (Turkey)
Yet this geological wonder is also the site of the ancient city of Hierapolis and over the centuries the two have seemed to come together, almost merged into one. In fact some of the old tombs in the city’s necropolis have become part of landscape. The site itself is a series of travertines and hot springs. The travertines here have a concentric appearance and are almost sheer white giving the area an ethereal appearance. The hot springs precipitate calcium carbonate at their mouths and produce the strange almost organic looking structures.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/20-Pamukkale-Turkey.jpg
Ice Towers of Mount Erebus (Antarctica)
Mt. Erebus is one of the largest active volcanoes on Earth. It reaches nearly 4 km above sea level, and is renowned in volcanological circles for its persistently active lava lake, which is sited in the summit crater. The hot volcanic gas steaming from Erebus does more than fuel for the lava lake. Hot gasses traveling up through cracks and fractures in the volcanic rocks surrounding the Erebus summit have created an intricate system of ice caves all over the mountain.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/19-Ice-Towers-of-Mount-Erebus-Antarctica.jpg
Fly Geyser (Nevada, US)
These look as if they were taken on another planet, or at least on the set of a new and very expensive science fiction movie. Yet these pictures are of the Fly Geyser which is very much of planet earth (Nevada, US to be exact). The geyser can be found in Hualapai Valley near Gerlach. It is a little seen phenomenon as the land upon which it sits is private. It can be seen from State Road 34 but unless you have permission the view from a distance is all you should attempt. Back in 1916 the owners of the place were looking for water in the hope of creating rich farmland in this desert area of the state. They came across water, yes, and the well worked for decades. However, the drill that was driven down a shaft hit a geothermal pocket of water and the result was a geyser.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/18-Fly-Geyser-Nevada-US.jpg
Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks (New Mexico, US)
New Mexico’s Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, where erosion chisels rock formations formed by explosive volcanic eruptions between six and seven million years ago. While the formations are uniform in shape, they vary in height from a few feet to 90 feet throughout the 4,000 acre monument.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/17-Kasha-Katuwe-Tent-Rocks-New-Mexico-US.jpg
The Valley of the Moon (Argentina)
Ischigualasto, meaning “the place where you put the moon” is a remote valley in Argentina. It is studded with geological formations left by wind erosion, amazing standing stones and boulders that are so rounded they look like enormous marbles. The valley’s once-fertile ground is now arid and contains so many plant and animal fossils that paleontologists come from all over the world to study them.
Erosion over the millennia unearths the fossils as well as other geological formations such as a host of almost spherical concretions. The wind, inexorable and patient, has pounded the local bedrock for an age. Revealed, the boulders that mudstone – in its original wet form, helped to form look as if giants have been playing marbles.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/16-The-Valley-of-the-Moon-Argentina.jpg
Danxia Landform (China)
This unique geological phenomenon, known as a ‘Danxia Landform’, can be seen in several places in China. This example is located in Zhangye, Gansu Province. Danxia, which means “rosy cloud”, is a special landform formed from reddish sandstone that has been eroded over time into a series of mountains surrounded by curvaceous cliffs and many unusual rock formations.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/15-Danxia-Landform-China.jpg
Enchanted Well – Chapada Diamantina National Park (Brazil)
Poço Encantado, or Enchanted Well, is located in the Chapada Diamantina National Park in Bahia state, approximately 400 kilometres inland from Salvador, the capital city of Bahia. This giant sunken pool is 120 feet deep and the water is so transparent the rocks and ancient tree trunks are visible on the bottom. When the sun is just right, light comes through a crevice and creates a blue reflection on the water. Access to this pond is highly controlled for environmental protection of its rare and delicate ecosystem.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/14-Enchanted-Well-Chapada-Diamantina-National-Park-Brazil.jpg
The Stone Forest (China)
The Shilin (Chinese for stone forest) is an impressive example of karst topography. Its rocks are made of limestone and are formed by water percolating the ground’s surface and eroding away everything but the pillars. It’s known since the Ming Dynasty as the ‘First Wonder of the World.’
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/13-The-Stone-Forest-China.jpg
Wulingyan, Hunan (China)
The Hunan region is full of dramatic landscapes and the magnificent Wulingyan is one of their biggest attractions. This geological wonder is made up of over 3000 limestone karsts. There are scenic waterfalls and some of Asia’s biggest limestone caves.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/12-Wulingyan-Hunan-China.jpg
Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
The Salar is one of the iconic images of Bolivia, a massive salt desert in the middle of the Altiplano. It is an expansive, virtually flat desert that reflects the sun in such a way as to create a mirror effect with the sky. There are several lakes in the desert with strange colours from the mineral deposits in the region.
Some 40,000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó Lake and Uru Uru Lake, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Uyuni. Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States. It is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt, from which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/11-Salar-de-Uyuni-Bolivia.jpg
Chocolate Hills (Philippines)
Composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills of about the same size spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi), this highly unusual geological formation, called Chocolate Hills, is located in Bohol, Philippines. There are a number of hypotheses regarding the formation of the hills. These include simple limestone weathering, sub-oceanic volcanism, the uplift of the seafloor and a more recent theory which maintains that as an ancient active volcano self-destructed, it spewed huge blocks of stone which were then covered with limestone and later thrust forth from the ocean bed.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/10-Chocolate-Hills-Philippines.jpg
Wave Rock (Australia)
The Wave Rock is a natural rock formation located in western Australia. It derives its name from the fact that it is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The total outcrop covers several hectares; the “wave” part of the rock is about 15 meters high and approximately 110 meters long. One aspect of Wave Rock rarely shown on photographs is the retaining wall about halfway up the rock. This follows the contours and allows rainwater to be collected in a dam. It was constructed in 1951 by the Public Works Department, and such walls are common on many similar rocks in the wheatbelt.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/9-Wave-Rock-Australia.jpg
Hell Gate (Turkmenistan)
Called by locals The Door to Hell, this place in Turkmenistan is situated near the small town of Darvaz. When geologists were drilling for gas, 35 years ago, they suddenly found an underground cavern that was so big, all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas, so they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it has been burning. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/8-Hell-Gate-Turkmenistan.jpg
Giants Causeway (Ireland)
An area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the Giants Causeway is a result of an ancient volcanic eruption. Located on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland, most of its columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 meters (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 meters thick in places. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/7-Giants-Causeway-Ireland.jpg
Blue Lake Cave (Brazil)
Mato Grosso do Sul region in Brazil (and especially the quiet town of Bonito) boasts many marvelous underground lakes: Gruta do Lago Azul, Gruta do Mimoso, Aquário Natural. The world famous “Gruta do Lago Azul” (Blue Lake Cave) is a natural monument whose interior is formed by stalactites, stalagmites and a huge and wonderful blue lake. The beauty of the lake is something impressive. The Blue Lake Cave has a big variety of geological formation but impresses mainly for the deep blue colored water of its inside lake.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/6-Blue-Lake-Cave-Brazil.jpg
Eye of the Sahara (Mauritania)
This spectacular landform in Mauritania in the southwestern part of the Sahara desert is so huge with a diameter of 30 miles that it is visible from space. Called Richat Structure –or the Eye of the Sahara– the The formation was originally thought to be caused by a meteorite impact but now geologists believe it is a product of uplift and erosion. The cause of its circular shape is still a mystery.
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/5-Eye-of-the-Sahara-Mauritania.jpg
Crystal Cave of the Giants (Mexico)
Found deep inside a mine in southern Chihuahua Mexico, these crystals were formed in a natural cave totally enclosed in bedrock. A geode full of spectacular crystals as tall as pine trees, and in some cases greater in circumference, they are a translucent gold and silver in color and come in many incredible forms and shapes. The Crystal Cave of the Giants was discovered within the same limestone body that hosts the silver-zinc-lead ore bodies exploited by the mine and it was probably dissolved by the same hydrothermal fluids that deposited the metals with the gypsum being crystallized during the waning stages of mineralization.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/4-Crystal-Cave-of-the-Giants-Mexico.jpg
Great Blue Hole (Belize)
Part of the Lighthouse Reef System, The Great Blue Hole lies approximately 60 miles off the mainland out of Belize City. A large, almost perfectly circular hole approximately one quarter of a mile (0.4 km) across, it’s one of the most astounding dive sites to be found anywhere on earth. Inside this hole, the water is 480 feet (145 m) deep and it is the depth of water which gives the deep blue color that causes such structures throughout the world to be known as “blue holes.”
http://i0.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/3-Great-Blue-Hole-Belize.jpg
Antelope Canyon (Arizona – USA)
The most visited and photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest, the Antelope Canyon is located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona. It includes two separate, photogenic slot canyon sections, referred to individually as Upper Antelope Canyon –or “The Crack”– and Lower Antelope Canyon –or “The Corkscrew.”
The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tse’ bighanilini, which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Lower Antelope Canyon is Hasdestwazi, or “spiral rock arches.” Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.
http://i2.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/2-Antelope-Canyon-Arizona-USA.jpg
The Wave (between Arizona and Utah – USA)
A red-rock stunner on the border of Arizona and Utah, The Wave is made of 190-million-year-old sand dunes that have turned to rock. This little-known formation is accessible only on foot via a three-mile hike and highly regulated.
http://i1.wp.com/amazingbeautifulworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/1-The-Wave-between-Arizona-and-Utah-USA.jpg
Source: http://amazingbeautifulworld.com/amazing-world/20-geological-wonders-you-didnt-know/