The 37 Most Insane Natural Phenomena That You Won’t Believe Actually Happen On Earth
Spherical Boulders, Moeraki, New Zealand
reddit.comThe Moeraki Boulders are huge natural spherical boulders that have formed at Koekohe Beach over time. These balls were originally formed under the sea floor in a process that saw sediment, such as sand, hardened into stone. Over 60 million years, coastal erosion revealed these creations to the worldwikipedia.org
Hverir, Iceland
apod.nasa.govThe area of Hverir is incredibly geothermally active, so much so that ghostly towers of steam and gas rise from bodies of water and mud as they boil. During the Northern Lights, this place looks like an alien worldwikipedia.org
Supercells
susanspiritusgallery.comSupercells are the rarest and most dangerous type of storm. While they are formed just like other storms, the vertical rotation of their updraft means that they can sustain themselves for much, much longer.
Ice Caves
ppcdn.500px.orgIce caves are temporary structures that form at the edge of glaciers when flowing water melts a hole into glaciers. The tightly packed ice has very few air bubbles and absorbs all light except for blue, giving the ice its unique color.
Sky Punch
upload.wikimedia.orgSky punches are large gaps that appear in clouds. These occur when ice crystals in the cloud begin to evaporate. catinwater.com
The Black Sun
rickjshandicappingpicks.comDuring spring in Denmark, flocks of more than a million European starlings gather into a single group to form amazing shapes in the sky. The bird’s communication and coordination allows the flock to move as a massive tightly packed swarm.oddee.com
Columnar Basalt
99traveltips.comThese columns that are so perfect, they almost look artificial. Millions of years ago, they were lava plateaus, which over time, cooled and fractured to create the stunning facade we see today. wikipedia.org
Fire Rainbows
daslasher1.deviantart.comFire Rainbows are formed by light reflecting from ice crystals in high level clouds. The halos are so large, they often appear parallel to the horizon.
The Almost Never-Ending Wave, Brazil
craud.netThe Pororoca is a surfable tidal wave that travels as far as 500 miles up the Amazon River – and at times – can reach 12 feet high. The longest wave in the world forms only twice a year from February to March, when the tides of the Atlantic Ocean meet the mouth of the Amazon. A Brazilian surfer set the record when he rode the wave for 37 minutes, travelling nearly 8 miles.
Danxia Landforms
beauty-places.comThese colourful rock formations are the result of red sandstone and mineral deposits laid down over millions of years. Wind and rain then carved amazing shapes into the rock, forming natural pillars, towers, ravines, valleys, and waterfalls.wikipedia.org
The Monarch Butterfly Migration
4hdwallpapers.comOn their own, Monarch butterflies are a beautiful orange and black, but when they migrate in mass every year, they fill the sky with a swath of brilliance. When temperatures fall, millions of butterflies will travel from North America towards Mexico, covering trees as they make their epic escape from winter. listverse.com
Nacreous Clouds
matadornetwork.comThese incredible clouds are extremely rare, because normally, the stratosphere is quite dry and clouds cannot form. But in extreme polar winters, there’s just enough moisture for these strange clouds to take form about 12 miles above Earth. theguardian.com
The Sardine Run, South Africa
scubadiving.comThe sardine run occurs from May to July every year, when billions of sardines move from cooler waters at Cape Point towards the East coast of South Africa. Groups of sardines are so large that they can be spotted by satellites and often measure more than 5 miles long, 1 mile wide and 100 feet deep.roughguides.com
The Flowering Desert, Chile
southwestdesertlover.files.wordpress.comOnce every few years, the barren Atacama desert sprawls with gorgeous flowers. This amazing transformation occurs when unusual amounts of rain awaken dormant flower bulbs hidden deep beneath the sand. roughguides.com
Lenticular Clouds
4.bp.blogspot.comThese lens-shaped anomalies form when moist air flows over a mountain and piles into large and layered clouds. Due to their strange shape, these clouds are often mistaken for UFOs.
Red Crab Migration, Christmas Island
thatscoop.comIn October and November, the 120 million crabs that call Christmas Island home begin a mass migration to the ocean in hopes of mating. For around 18 days every year, traffic is halted as the roads run red with crabs edging their way to the coast. christmas.net.au
Spotted Lake, Canada
strangesounds.orgAs the water evaporates from this lake near Osoyoos, British Columbia, minerals are left behind in a strange lily pad pattern of circles, which make the lake look entirely foreign. Each circle is a different colour, because of the vast amount of minerals found in the lake.roughguides.com
Underwater Crop Circles
decodedscience.comThese strange patterns are found on the seabed, rather than in fields of corn. At around 7 feet wide, they litter the Japanese sea floor, each with a unique pattern. Until recently, we had no idea how these patterns were produced, but surprisingly, tiny fish were the culprits. Male pufferfish, no more than 5 inches long, will flap their fins in the sand to produce these amazing patterns in hopes of attracting a mate. livescience.com
Frozen Methane Bubbles
photography.nationalgeographic.comMethane bubbles form in water when dead organic matter falls to the bottom, much to the delight of bacteria. When methane gets trapped in frozen water, it produces scenes like these. Just don’t light a match when these bubbles are freed. smithsonianmag.com
Fairy Circles, Namibia
lh5.ggpht.comFairy circles are mysterious patches of bare soil that appear in otherwise lush African grassland. Fly from Angola to South Africa and you’ll see thousands of these patches, which can sometimes measure 30 feet across. Scientists believe that termites live under these circles and consume the vegetation within, so that rain keeps the soil moist. kqed.org
Fields of Webs
news.bbcimg.co.ukYes, those are thousands of spider webs. Fields like these ones in Australia are transformed when thousands upon thousands of spiders migrate across the land. This usually only occurs when spiders are fleeing floodwaters.
Venezuela’s Everlasting Storm
At the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, a very unique mass of storm clouds swirls, creating the rare spectacle known as Catatumbo lightning. The storm occurs up to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day, and 280 times an hour.
Blue Holes
chikarma.comThese massive underwater caves formed during past ice ages, when sea level was far lower than it is today and much of the seafloor was exposed to the elements. Blue holes were the target of erosion, which ended when they were once again submerged. wikipedia.org
Bioluminescent Wave
independent.co.ukThe sparkle in these waves comes from marine microbes called phytoplankton that glow in the dark. The galaxy they paint across the shore is nothing short of breathtaking.
Mammatus Cloud
netdost.comMammatus clouds are pouches that form and hang underneath the base of a cloud. They occur very rarely when when air and clouds holding different levels of moisture mix, with the heavier one sinking below the lighter.
Underwater Rivers
anatoly.proUnderwater rivers, like those in Cenote Angelita, Mexico, form when a heavy, flowing substance (like hydrogen sulfate) enters a body of water and sinks to the bottom, forming a separate flow. huffingtonpost.com
Calcifying Lakes
newscientist.comSome lakes have such a high salt content that if animals take a dip in the water, their bodies calcify (effectively turning into stone). abduzeedo.com
Green Flash Sunsets and Sunrises
matadornetwork.comThis rare and elusive scene is a meteorological event that occurs for a few seconds only when the sun starts to dip below or rise above the horizon. Meteorological conditions have to be just right to allow light from the sun to bend in the atmosphere and appear briefly as a green flash. livescience.com
Asperatus Clouds
nasa.govAsperatus Clouds are so rare that they were only classified as of 2009. We know little about them other than the fact that they look mesmerizing.
Horsetail Fall, California
matadornetwork.comHorsetail Fall is a seasonal waterfall that occurs on the side of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. An even rarer sight to see occurs only for a few days in February, when, if weather and climatic conditions are just right, the water catches the light of the sun and turns a fiery orange. matadornetwork.com
The Gateway to Hell, Turkmenistan
travelandescape.caThe Gateway to Hell is a vent, where natural gas escapes to the surface through cracks in the rocks. The flame it produces has burned ever since it was set alight in 1971. A similar flame in Iraq has burned for for over 4,000 years and is even mentioned in the Old Testament. wikipedia.org
Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees
Rainbow eucalyptus trees have a unique, multicoloured bark, making the tree appear as if it were hand painted green, blue, purple, orange and maroon. wikipedia.org
Volcanic Lightning
Volcanic plumes produce immense amounts of electrical charge and static. In rare cases, this can spark a violent lightning storm.
Striped Icebergs, Antarctica
dailymail.co.ukThese beautiful blue stripes occur when a crevice in the iceberg fills up with water, which freezes so quickly that no bubbles form. Green stripes can form when algae attaches to an iceberg as it falls into the sea. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment that is picked up when the berg first travels down hills into the sea. dailymail.co.uk
Frost Flowers
igert.orgThese unusual flower fields form on thin sea ice when the atmosphere is far colder than the underlying ice. When the warmer, wet air and overlying cold air meet, they form these amazing crystals. wikipedia.org
Snow Chimney
georgesteinmetz.comFumaroles are vents that allow steam from volcanoes to escape into the open. In arctic areas, as soon as steam leaves one of these vents, it freezes, and eventually, massive snow chimneys are formed around the volcanic vent. smithsonianmag.com
Light Pillars, Russia
amusingplanet.comLight columns are visible in extremely cold areas like Russia. They originate from natural light, like the moon or setting sun, reflecting off ice crystals, which are nearly perfectly flat and