Number 10 Challenger Deep Challenger Deep is a depression in the Mariana
Trench, a crescent-shaped trench in the Pacific Ocean, which represents the deepest part of
the world’s ocean.
The trench itself is approximately 1,580 miles long, which is more than 5 times the length
of the Grand Canyon.
It’s located at a subduction boundary of two massive tectonic plates.
During the subduction process, the older Pacific Plate is gradually slipping and melting beneath
the younger Mariana Plate.
It’s a high-intensity geological phenomenon that can generate super-heated jets of water
and megathrust earthquakes.
Challenger Deep is a valley within the trench and its deepest point, at roughly 36,000 feet.
To put that into perspective, Mount Everest could fit inside in its entirety and there
would still be more than a mile from the peak to the surface.
The crushing pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is over 1,000 times greater
than that at surface level.
If you became exposed to this, the forces acting upon the body are of an estimated 15,000
PSI, which is equivalent to the bite of a T-Rex.
Oddly enough, not even the deepest parts of the ocean are free of pollution.
Explorers have reported spotting plastic bags and candy wrappers at the bottom of the trench.
There are even reports of aquatic animals with traces of carbon-14 in their bodies,
as a consequence of nuclear testing.
Number 9 Champagne Pool The Champagne Pool is a terrestrial hot spring
found on New Zealand’s North Island.
It was created by a hydrothermal eruption and named after the abundant carbon dioxide
flow, similar to an ever-fizzing glass of champagne.
The orange edges of the hot spring are the result of mineral deposits and they contrast
the surrounding grey-white silica.
The Champagne Pool has been described as one of the most surreal places on Earth.
It’s about 203 feet-deep and the geothermal fluid beneath it reaches a blistering 500
Fahrenheit.
However, water temperature within the pool only gets to about 167 Fahrenheit as it loses
heat to the atmosphere.
Still, it’s nearly double the maximum setting on the average hot tub.
If one were to dive in, it would take less than a second for the body to sustain severe
thermal burns.
Number 8 Lake Natron In Greek mythology there was a monstrous creature,
known as Medusa, whose eyes could turn beings to stone.
The creatures found on the shores of Lake Natron, in Tanzania, are suggestive of what
would happen to life under Medusa’s gaze.
The salt lake turns animal remains into stunning sculptures with outstanding detail preservation.
Bat or bird species crash into the lake’s deadly waters, most likely confused by its
reflective surface.
They drown and, as their bodies wash up on the shore, salt solidifies around their remains.
In his book “Across the Ravaged Land” photographer Nick Brandt presents remarkable
“portraits in death” that include a flamingo, a swallow, a bat, a dove and even a complete
fish eagle.
Brandt and his team took the calcified remains as they were and merely placed them on branches
so that their details would stand-out.
The perfectly preserved death sculptures aren’t the only odd aspect about Lake Natron.
Cyanobacteria and microorganisms living in its waters give it a blood-red color while
temperatures frequently reach 140 Fahrenheit.
Stranger still, despite being so unhospitable, Lake Natron is the only regular breeding spot
in East Africa of the near-threatened lesser flamingo.
The caustic environment actively acts as a barrier against predators.
It’s been estimated that three quarters of the world’s lesser flamingoes are born
on Lake Natron.
Number 7 Dallol The village of Dallol, located in Ethiopia’s
Danakil Depression, holds the highest average temperature record for an inhabited location.
It’s the hottest place year-round on Earth, with an average of roughly 100 Fahrenheit,
and extremes of up to 121 Fahrenheit for the summer months.
Often described as a ghost town, there’s no estimate available of its current population.
The eerie landscape features a number of buildings, all of which are built from salt blocks.
The Danakil Depression is one of the most unhospitable areas on the planet.
It was formed millions of years ago by the separation of Asia from Africa and sits at
the meeting point of three tectonic plates.
Volcanic activity and a violent geological history have turned the depression into an
otherworldly-looking place.
There are lakes of bubbling lava, great salt pans and sulfur springs.
At night, streaks of lava light up the lakes and, during the day, hydrothermal fields reveal
a multicolored landscape.
Gaet’ale Pond, a hypersaline lake near the Dallol crater, is known as the saltiest place
on Earth.
Placed over a tectonic hot spring, it emits bubbles of odorless gas which is believed
to be harmful.
Scientists have been studying the depression in order to understand how life might arise
on other planets.
The endeavor is supported by the depression’s incredible past, which highlights its role
as a cradle for humanity.
Lucy, arguably the world’s most famous Australopithecus fossil, and many other hominin remains were
found in the depression.
It would seem that life finds a way even in the harshest environments and many paleontologists
believe Danakil Depression is the place where the human species first evolved.
Number 6 McMurdo Dry Valleys We tend to think of deserts as hot and arid
places with enormous sand dunes and the occasional camel roaming about.
Yet, in its most basic sense a desert is an area free of precipitation and humidity.
Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys fit that description better than any place on Earth.
The valleys are largely snow-free since the surrounding mountains stop the flow of ice
from nearby glaciers.
Annual precipitation averages less than 4 inches and it’s mostly in the form of snow.
Powerful winds rapidly evaporate it and very little melts into the ground.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys cover an area of 1,900 square miles.
It’s roughly the size of the entire Grand Canyon National Park and one of the planet’s
most extreme deserts.
There are no living organisms in the area’s permafrost with the exception of bacteria
that live inside the relatively moist interior of rocks.
Researchers regard the Dry Valleys as the terrestrial environment that most resembles
the planet Mars.
It’s thus a significant source of insight into how life could develop on the red planet.
Number 5 Dead Sea The Dead Sea is a spot of many extremes.
It’s the lowest place on the planet, at roughly 1,412 feet below sea level, and one
of the saltiest bodies of water.
The Dead Sea has a hot desert climate, with an average summer temperature of 90 to 102
Fahrenheit and less than 2 inches of annual rainfall.
The “sea” part of its name is a mischaracterization, since it’s actually a salt lake, but the
“dead” part is an apt description.
The Dead Sea is nearly 10 times as salty as the ocean and thus unsuitable to sustain life,
aside from minuscule quantities of microbial fungi and bacteria.
Humans can enter its waters and, because of the high salt content, will effortlessly float
on the surface.
That doesn’t mean that the Dead Sea is a safe environment.
On the contrary, accidentally swallowing the sodium-rich water disrupts the body’s calcium,
magnesium and phosphorus levels.
It can cause a pneumonia-like disease in the lungs as well as severe internal burns.
Number 4 Poles of Cold The Poles of Cold are places in the southern
and northern hemispheres where the lowest ground temperatures on the planet have been
recorded.
The absolute record belongs to the south and it was measured by the Soviet Vostok Station,
based in Antarctica.
In July of 1983, the research station recorded a temperature of -128.6 Fahrenheit.
The sweet spot for the temperature of the human body is around 98.5 Fahrenheit.
At 80 you become unconscious and at 70 you experience deadly hypothermia.
Direct exposure to the cold extreme recorded by Vostok Station means that the water in
your body’s cells begins to freeze.
This causes the formation of crystals and expands the cells to the point of rupture.
In the northern hemisphere, the locality of Oymyakon in Yakutia, Russia, boasts having
the lowest temperature.
In 1933, a weather station near the locality recorded -89.9 Fahrenheit.
This makes Oymyakon, with an estimated population of 500 to 900 people, one of the most extreme
inhabited locations on the planet.
Number 3 Salar de Uyuni In present-day Bolivia, the transformation
of a gigantic prehistoric lake has resulted into an incredible landscape.
Known as Salar de Uyuni, it’s the world’s largest salt flat, covering an area of 4,086
square miles.
This is roughly the size of the entire island of Hawaii.
Yet, unlike the island’s slopes and volcanic landscapes, Salar de Uyuni is remarkably flat.
Its surface consists of salt crust, several feet thick, and the average elevation variation
is within 3.5 feet.
Salt crystallization from evaporating water has marked the surface with a fascinating
pattern of hexagonal shapes.
It’s virtually devoid of wildlife or vegetation, which means that visitors can truly experience
its eerie emptiness.
After it rains, the salt flat reveals its most outstanding feature.
The dead calm water transforms the Salar de Uyuni into the world’s largest mirror, measuring
an estimated 80 miles across.
This, for visitors, is the most sought-after effect of the Salar and creates the sensation
of the land and sky becoming one.
Another interesting aspect is Isla Incahuasi, or “Inca house”, a hilly and rocky outcrop
of land found in the middle of the Salar.
It’s what’s left of a submerged volcano, from when the area was part of a large prehistoric
lake.
The former island is home to a tourist center, gigantic cacti as well as unusual coral-like
deposits.
The Salar isn’t remarkable only in terms of natural beauty but also constitutes an
important resource.
The pool of brine that it sits upon is exceptionally rich in lithium, accounting for anywhere from
50% to 70% of the world’s lithium reserve.
Today's topic was requested by Jack Williams.
If you have any other topics you'd like to learn about, subscribe & let us know in the
comments section below.
Number 2 Commonwealth Bay Commonwealth Bay is a 30-mile-wide open bay
in Antarctica and, in terms of weather, one of the most extreme places on Earth.
The bay is traversed by incredibly strong katabatic winds.
They carry high-intensity cold air from the surface of the ice shield and down to the
sea, becoming more powerful under the force of gravity.
The increasing gradient of the ice surface effectively accelerates air flow.
During the summer there are periods of relative calm but winter storms are sudden, powerful
and long-lasting.
Winds frequently reach speeds of over 150 mph, which means they are on par with F5 hurricanes.
That’s more than enough to sweep people clean off the ice sheet and launch them into
the bay’s frigid waters.
The abrupt start or end of a storm might also be accompanied by powerful whirlpools.
Both the National Geographic Atlas and the Guinness Book of World Records described Commonwealth
Bay as the windiest place on Earth.
Number 1 Catatumbo Lightning There’s a place in Venezuela marked by a
spectacular light show from what’s been described as a never-ending storm.
The atmospheric phenomenon is known as Catatumbo lightning and takes place over and around
Lake Maracaibo.
It typically occurs above the bog where the Catatumbo River flows into the lake.
Winds blowing across the water mass and surrounding swampy plains gather heat and moisture.
High mountain ranges enclose the plain from different sides.
The warm, electrically-charged air meets the mountain ridges and becomes destabilized thus
resulting in thunderstorms.
There have been other proposed explanations for Catatumbo lightning.
One is that methane in the air boosts its conductivity while another is that uranium
in the bedrock attracts lightning.
Whatever the case might be, the phenomenon is characterized by continuous lighting and
there’s an average of 260 storm days per year.
The sky is illuminated for hours on end by thousands of flashes.
It’s been described as the most electric place on Earth and, in a nod to the popular
saying, a place where lighting may very well strike twice in the same spot.
Thanks for watching!
Would you rather dive into the Champagne Pool or become stranded in the middle of Antarctica?
Let us know in the comments section below!