Incredible places: A window onto extraordinary landscapes on Earth
Earth is home to some truly mind-boggling landscapes, from salt-covered deserts to giant, underwater waterfalls. Geological and biological processes, together with climates and inevitable wear-and-tear, have shaped these natural landscapes over the eons into the awe-inspiring features we see today. Every week, we open a window onto an incredible place and highlight the fantastic history and science behind it.
Explore more amazing places on Earth
Latest about incredible places
Fossil Forest, Dorset: England's 145 million-year-old tree stump fossils preserved by ancient microbes
By Sascha Pare published
The Fossil Forest in Dorset is a stretch of southern English coastline peppered with living mounds of limestone that hide the remains of cypress trees from the late Jurassic period.
Hailin impact crater: China's newly discovered meteor pit born from a 'nuclear explosion level' event
By Sascha Pare published
The Hailin impact crater is a newly-discovered scar in the mountains of Northeast China left behind by a meteor impact, but geologists aren't sure exactly when this happened.
El Ojo: The mysterious floating island in Argentina's swampland that looks like a perfectly round eye
By Sascha Pare published
Argentina's El Ojo is said to harbor UFOs and the ghosts of ancient deities, but as far as scientists can tell, the island is simply a fluke of nature that formed through erosion and water currents.
Hang Son Doong: The world's biggest cave, so 'outrageous in size' it fits 2 jungles and the 'Great Wall of Vietnam'
By Sascha Pare published
Vietnam's Son Doong cave is so large, you could squeeze 15 Great Pyramids of Giza inside it and fly a Boeing 747 airplane through some of its passages.
Diamond Beach: Iceland's spellbinding black sand beach covered in sparkling ice jewels
By Sascha Pare published
Icebergs and other glacial fragments regularly wash up on Iceland's southern Diamond Beach, making the sandy strip look like a field of gemstones.
Carlsbad Caverns: New Mexico's otherworldly caves with gypsum flowers and 'soda straws' dangling from the ceiling
By Sascha Pare published
Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico is home to 119 known caves, including North America's largest cave chamber, the Big Room.
Hranice Abyss: The deepest freshwater cave on Earth and a conduit to a 'fossil' sinkhole
By Sascha Pare published
Scientists first described the flooded cave in 2016 but determined its extraordinary extent years later.
Nazaré: The big-wave surfer's paradise born out of the largest underwater canyon in Europe
By Sascha Pare published
Every year, record-seeking surfers and spectators descend on the small Portuguese town of Nazaré for the "big wave" season, when water can surge up to 100 feet (30 meters) tall.
Rainbow swamp: The flooded forest in Virginia that puts on a magical light show every winter
By Sascha Pare published
Every winter, when sunlight hits at the right angle, visitors to Virginia's First Landing State Park are treated to a mesmerizing rainbow light show courtesy of the park's bald cypress swamp.
Gateway to the underworld: The enormous permafrost 'megaslump' in Siberia that keeps getting bigger
By Sascha Pare published
The growing "gateway to the underworld," officially known as the Batagay megaslump, is the largest megaslump in the world and exposes permafrost layers that are 650,000 years old.
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