The 7 Natural Wonders of the World:
Seven Natural Wonders was established to guard the original vision and announcement of the seven natural wonders of the world. CNN published the commonly accepted list even though there is some dispute about the exact list. The charge of Seven Natural Wonders is to promote and protect the natural wonders.
Compiled by CNN and Seven Natural Wonders, this list spans all 7 continents and includes some of the depths of the oceans and the supreme heights of the earth. So, what are the seven natural wonders of the world? The 7 natural wonders of the worlds are as follows:
- The Grand Canyon
- Paricutin
- Aurora
- Victoria Falls
- Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
- Great Barrier Reef
- Mount Everest
While the list of Natural Wonders of world is often questioning, these seven locations are usually approved upon as being among the most spectacular natural sights in the world.
The Grand Canyon
One of the 7 natural wonders of the world is the Grand Canyon. It is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona in the United States. This natural wonders of the world is 277 miles (446 km) long and up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters). As the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, nearly two billion years of Earth’s geological history have been exposed. The precise geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon is a subject of debate by geologists. But recent evidence suggests that the course of the Colorado River has been established through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. The Colorado River continued to wear down and form the canyon to its present-day pattern since that time. There are numerous plant and animal species in the Grand Canyon. Its great biological diversity can be ascribed to the presence of five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America. Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian, and Hudsonian are the five life zones found in the canyon. This is comparable to traveling from Mexico to Canada. Elevation differences results in variations in climate. The various life zones and communities in and around the canyon are formed due to these major factors.
As one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, The Grand Canyon offers an inspiring sight. Most of the canyon is managed and contained within the Grand Canyon National Park. It is one of the most famous tourists’ destinations in the U.S.A. Grand Canyon is a natural formation distinguished by its layered bands of red rock and its vast scale. With all-encompassing vistas, it’s a destination for rock climbing, mule rides, camping and aerial tours as well as white-water rafting on the Colorado River.
Increased safety measures have barred visitors from approaching the edge of the canyon quite as closely as they would like in the recent years. Anyone wishing to catch a peek of nature at its most potent and majestic, the Grand Canyon is the best places for it.
Paricutin
Parícutin is also called Volcán de Parícutin. It is located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, near the city of Uruapan and about 322 km west of Mexico City. Parícutin is a dormant scoria-cone volcano and it is considered as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. Because its formation to extinction has been witnessed and studied by people, this volcano is quite unique.
Parícutin is one section of the Michoacán-Guanajuato. It is a volcanic field that encompasses a big part of western central Mexico. The volcano grew very fast and reached seventy-five percent of its size in its first year.
Three weeks prior to the first eruption, loud reverberating noises that sounded like thunder were noticed by people living near the Parícutin village. In February 1943, this volcano started as a small fissure inside a field of corn that was owned by a local farmer. It grew about five stories high in only one week. It could be seen from distant areas in a month. The majority of Parícutin’s growth took place in the first year when it was in its fiery pyroclastic phase.
Parícutin was over one thousand feet tall after the first year phase. It continued to erupt during the following eight years. Most of the eruptions were comparatively quiet and the lava seared about twenty-five square kilometers of the surrounding land. In that period of time, the volcano’s activity declined gradually. There were however more vicious eruptions that occurred regularly in the last five to six months.
The eruptions ended and the volcano became inactive after reaching its final height of 1,391 ft in 1952. This volcano is monogenetic similar to the majority of cinder cones. This means it will not erupt any more. New eruptions may take place in different parts of the overall volcanic field.
Volcanism is very much a part of the landscape of Mexico. Out of fourteen hundred volcanic vents that exist in North America and Mexico, Parícutin is the youngest. Its volcanic explosions were categorized as Strombolian eruptions that exploded from just one vent and which consist of basaltic lava.
It is a twelve mile journey to reach the top area of this natural wonders. You can reach the top by horseback or by an arduous hike. Traveling to the top of this one of the 7 natural wonders of the world is one of the best ways to observe it because visitors will get a number of excellent views of their surroundings as they go up to the top.
Aurora
It can be seen in both Polar Regions of the planet. This alluring light show is appropriately referred to as the Northern (or Southern) Lights. Contrasting most of the entries on this list, you can watch an aurora from many different locations around the world; the higher the latitude, the more probable you are to see them. Auroras are a memorable sight that can only be seen by looking to the skies while most of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World play out on land or sea.
One of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights are natural lights that glow and sparkle and wave in the sky in the upper part of the northern hemisphere at night. In the southern hemisphere, a similar light can be found and it is called the Aurora Australis. Due to much the similar reason, both types of light occur. The aurora borealis is named after two Greek gods. The goddess of the dawn was named Aurora and the god of the north wind was named Boreas. Aurora was considered divine messages before it was known how the Northern Lights came about.
The Northern Lights occur when protons and electrons are propelled from the sun and hit the upper atmosphere of the earth. The solar wind is the term used for this stream of particles or plasma. The particles are bended toward the magnetic poles by the earth’s magnetic field and as they move they hit the atmospheric particles. As a result they change their electrical charge and glow the way charged particles would glow in a fluorescent light bulb.
Most incidences of the Northern Lights occur in September and October and then a few months later in March and April. A vibrant display of the Earth’s magnetic field interacting with charged particles from the sun is the aurora borealis. It’s also gorgeous and worth braving a cold night out when visiting the high northern (or southern) latitudes.
Centered on the Earth’s magnetic poles, auroras are visible in a roughly circular region around them. As the magnetic and geographic poles aren’t the same, now and then the auroras are visible farther south than one might anticipate, while in other places its farther north.
The auroral zone runs along the northern coast of Siberia, Iceland, Scandinavia, the southern tip of Greenland and northern Canada and Alaska in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the zone, auroras are visible. The farther away you go; they are less likely to occur. You can find the Southern Hemisphere auroral zone in mostly over Antarctica or the Southern Ocean. You have to go to Tasmania to see the southern lights (or aurora australis). There are sporadic sightings in southern Argentina or the Falklands – but those are rare.
Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls is one of the most famous 7 natural wonders of the world. There can be no dispute in placing the Victoria Falls as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Zambezi River flows gently until it reaches a broad edge measuring 1700 meters and plunges 100 meters into the foamy, thunderous chasm below.
David Livingstone was the first European to see the falls in November of 1855. The records however show that other foreigners had visited the falls before him. Livingstone first observed the falls from the island before the first drop. In honor of the queen, he named the site as Victoria Falls and the island was called Livingstone Island after him. Locally, the native name Mosi-oa-Tunya or The Smoke that Thunders is still in use. In 2013, the government of Zimbabwe announced plans to officially rename the falls as such.
Victoria Falls is not the highest or the widest waterfall in the world. But as it has the widest sheet of falling water in the world, it is considered as the biggest waterfall in the whole world. As one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the falls have become a very popular place for visitors to go white water rafting, bungee jumping and river boarding. Some of the scariest white water rafting and river boarding for beginners as well as for those with experience are provided by the downstream rapids of the river after the falls. Bungee jumpers also benefit from the excitement of Victoria Falls. From the bridge by the falls, adventurers can jump down 111 meters into the falls. Apart from rafting and bungee jumping, visitors can also enjoy bird watching, walking trails, aerial trips on a helicopter, and shopping.
The so-called ‘Devil’s Pool’ that characteristically forms between September and December is one of the highlight for visitors. The seasonally lowered level of the Zambezi river, joint with a rock barrier, make it possible to swim in a moderately demure pool mere feet away from the edge of the falls. As several deaths have been reported in recent years, it is far from the safest option.
Harbor of Rio de Janeiro
Located in Brazil, Harbor of Reo de Janeiro is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is also called the Guanabara Bay. It is a place of shocking natural beauty. Set in a balloon shaped bay, this natural harbor extends approximately 20 miles inland. It has a milieu of strangely shaped mountains and rainforests. It contains 130 islands and is home to some grand beaches.
In 1932, Charles Darwin visited the place. He wrote that it seemed almost unreal while describing the place. True to that description, depending on the place from where you look at it, the harbor looks very different. Earliest explorers first thought that it was the mouth of a large river. It looks like a lake from some angles, when in truth it is a huge bay. So there is no surprise in that it found a place on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World.
Created by erosion from the Atlantic Ocean, the Harbor is surrounded by elegant granite monolith mountains that include the renowned Sugar Loaf Mountain at 1,296 feet (395 m), Corcovado Peak at 2,310 feet (704 m), and the hills of Tijuca at 3,350 feet (1021 m). Including Governor’s island, Snakes and Fundao Island, the visitors will also enjoy other numerous islands.
The bay boasted an effervescent and diverse ecosystem once. But recent decades have seen the perils of urbanization inflict disaster on this once-beautiful environment. Fortunately, legislation put in place ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio stipulates a prerequisite for the country’s government to revive attempts to return the bay to its previous glory. Even though there are uncertainties as to whether these plans will be executed as planned, locals and ecologists around the world remain hopeful that it’s not too late to save this particular wonder.
Great Barrier Reef
Located off the coast of Queensland in northeastern Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living thing on Earth and even visible from outer space. The 2,300km-long ecosystem comprises thousands of reefs and hundreds of islands made of over 600 types of hard and soft coral, which is a home to innumerable species of colorful fish, mollusks and starfish, in addition to turtles, dolphins and sharks.
One of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef is composed nearly 3,000 unique reefs and almost 1,000 islands over an extent of 1,400 miles. You need to see it to believe the sheer scale of the Great Barrier Reef. This wonder has been characterized as the largest structure that living creatures have ever built.
All of the reefs share a common origin. Over the course of millions of years, they have all been formed from the skeletal waste and skeletons of living marine organisms. From tiny creatures’ calcareous remains of tiny creatures, the framework of this wonder of the natural world is formed. They are known as hydro corals and coral polyps. It is hold together by Bryozoans and coralline algae. The Porolithon and Lithothamnion red algae forms most of the characteristic features of the Great Barrier Reef and nearly everywhere you can find the Halimeda green algae.
As one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the reef is a globally recognized landmark of Australia. It is a point of pride for Australians around the globe. Every year, lots of work is done to guarantee the safety of delicate ecosystem of the reef for future generations. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is central to this effort. The park is a protective designation established in 1975 intended to protect the reef and the species within it.
Mount Everest
The last, but certainly not least, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world is the highest point of the world. Mount Everest is known as Sagarmāthā in Nepal, which means the ‘Forehead (or Goddess) of the Sky’. It is known as Chomolungma in Tibet, which means the ‘Mother Goddess of the Universe’. Mount Everest is one of the most iconic natural features of the globe as well as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
Mount Everest, which literally means “the top or the head of the sky,” is the earth’s tallest mountain. Mount Everest is a part of the Himalayan Range and touches the borders of Tibet and Nepal. The name of Mount Everest was Peak XV during 1856. But in honor of George Everest, the official name “Mount Everest” was given by the Geographical Society in 1865. The total height of this wonder of the natural world is 29,029 feet above sea level.
In the 1920s, the first recorded attempts to scale Everest were made by British mountaineers. After more than three decades, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hilary managed to reach the summit in 1953.
Hikers and adventurers from all over the world come and attempt to climb this mountain despite the fact it is the highest peak in the world. Both amateur and novice climbers can get to the peak with the help of a whole team of professional climbers. It can be quite safe if one follows the standard route to climb. The problem however is that the Himalayas are faced with bad weather and fast wind, which leads to difficulty in breathing at the high altitude. So the climbers have to be in peak physical condition and take great risk in climbing the one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Conquering the mountain remains one of the greatest feats of man, and is an immensely popular challenge for anyone really looking to test their nerve.
No comments:
Post a Comment