Strange but True!

194 Pages·2015·55.8 MB·English

S
T
Senior editor Victoria Pyke
What on Earth?
Editor Jenny Sich
Editorial assistant Charlie Galbraith
N
Senior designer Sheila Collins
Door to Hell 6
Designer David Ball
Additional design assistance Salt of the Earth 8
Stefan Podhorodecki, Jemma Westing
E A TIME AND
Managing editor Linda Esposito
A PLACE 10
Managing art editor Philip Letsu
Lake spotting 12
Fact checking Hazel Beynon
Picture research Nic Dean, Sarah Smithies T Mysterious wells 14
Illustrator Stuart Jackson Carter
Fairy chimneys 16
Creative retouching Steve Willis
Jacket design Mark Cavanagh Rainbow rocks 18
Jackets coordinator Claire Gell
N
ON THE ROCKS 20
Jacket design development manager
Sophia M Tampakopoulos Turner
Glorious geyser 22
Producer (pre-production) Nikoleta Parasaki
Acting Senior Producer Vivienne Yong Jumbo glacier 24
Publisher Andrew Macintyre O Explosive heat 26
Art director Karen Self
Island in the sky 28
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf Rainbow spring 30
Ewe with a view 32
First published in Great Britain in 2015
C
by Dorling Kindersley Limited Deep freeze 34
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
COOL CAVES 36
Copyright © 2015 Dorling Kindersley Limited
Stone forest 38
A Penguin Random House Company
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Red alert! 40
001–258601–September/2015
Giant’s Causeway 42
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-2412-0337-8
Printed and bound in China
A WORLD OF IDEAS
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
Discover more at
www.dk.com
POSTURING PETALS 92 In-flight fight 146
Attack of the Dedicated dad 148
killer plants 94 Shoal-stopper 150
Tree bridges 96 MURKY MONSTERS 152
Tree of blood 98
Human
TOP TRUNKS 100
wonders
Armed and
Desert drawings 46 deciduous 102
Clay corps 48 Algae attack 104
Forces of
HAPPY ENDINGS 50 Foul flower 106
nature
Secret city 52 FREAKY FLORA 108
Mysterious moai 54 Bicycle tree 110
When ice attacks 156
Top of the tree 56 Out of the blue 112
Sailing stones 158
Deep breath 58
Whipping up
Wet and wild 60
a dust storm 160
Honey hunters 62
When lightning
Tower of strength 64 strikes 162
Food fight festival 66 Super storms 164
Curious
FESTIVAL FUN 68 WEIRD WEATHER 166
creatures
Snow sculptures 70 Lava and lightning 168
Plane spotter’s Crab army 116 UFO clouds 170
paradise 72 Jumbo jitters 118 Bubbling under 172
Leap of faith 74 DREAM TEAMS 120 Light show 174
Camel’s camera 76 Marathon migration 122 Spiky snow 176
Daredevil climber 78 World’s wild webs 124 ICEBREAKERS 178
At the top of Strutting spider 126 Alpine alley 180
their game 80
Bloated Morning glory 182
Basket building 82 bloodsuckers 128
Snow chimneys 184
Small town blues 84 POUNCING
In the line of
PARASITES 130
firenadoes 186
Parasite for
sore eyes 132
Index 188
Snake in the grass 134
Acknowledgments 192
Flying figures 136
Peculiar plants
Devil in disguise 138
IN HIDING 140
Fleeting flower 88 Goat gymnasts 142
Hot lips 90 Dance fever 144

What on
Earth?
Weird and wonderful places
abound on our planet. Fire, air,
earth, and water combine to craft
some of the most unforgettable
places on Earth. From glistening
glaciers and an island in the
clouds to multicoloured mountains
and forests of stone, these
extraordinary environments
are out-of-this-world.
Turkey’s stunning blue pools at Pamukkale
(meaning “cotton castle”) are produced by
the region’s natural hot springs. Mineral-rich
waters, which are said to have healing
properties, build up in rock-pool terraces.
6
Door to Hell
Welcome to Hell on Earth. More than 40 years
ago, in the desert of north Turkmenistan,
workers drilling for gas got quite a fright when
a humongous hole suddenly opened up. The
resulting crater of fire still burns today, with
locals naming the hot spot the “Door to Hell”.
SUDDEN SINKHOLES
Sinkholes occur where
supporting structures break
down, most commonly in
limestone areas. Water
trickles underground,
dissolving rock and creating
caverns. When a cavern
The temperature of
roof weakens, the ground
the burning gas is so
opens, forming a sinkhole
hot, it can melt rock.
like this one in Guatemala.
WHAT ON EARTH? 7
FAST FACTS
Sea sinkholes can occur in coastal areas. Water cuts
The
through limestone to form caverns, into which the sinkhole
Derweze
collapses. If the cavern meets the sea, the level of the
crater is 20 m
water in the hole rises and falls with the tide.
(66 ft) deep in
the centre and
70 m (230 ft)
Sea
wide. Sinkhole Land
Cavern
Light produced by the
burning gas is visible
many kilometres away.
In 1971 drilling for gas in
Derweze, Turkmenistan, went
badly wrong when the ground
collapsed and swallowed the
drilling equipment. Workers set
fire to the exposed gas reservoir to
stop poisonous gases leaking out.
They assumed the fire would burn
out, but it still rages today.
8
Salt of the Earth
This eerie and endless expanse of nothingness
is the world’s largest salt flat – a dry lake bed
with a perfectly flat salt crust. High on a Bolivian
plateau, Salar de Uyuni gets covered in water
when it rains. Most of this water soon evaporates,
turning the surface into a magnificent mirror.
Stretching across 10,582 sq km
(4,085 sq miles), the salt flat can be
crossed on foot or by car because
it is either dry or flooded by only
a few centimetres of water.
SALTY STAY
Salt is so plentiful
that a hotel has been
built from salt in the
Salar. Called Palacio
de Sal (“Palace of
Salt”), it dissolves
in water, so must
be repaired each
time it rains.