While searching for documentary film locations in Argentina’s Parana River Delta, aerial reconnaissance uncovered an island...
...a strange and mysterious circular landmass known as “The Eye” that appears to float and rotate around its own axis.
The filmmakers were reportedly investigating paranormal phenomenon in the area, including UFO sightings...
...and suggested the bizarre natural formation may have some paranormal significance or be some sort of location marker.
It took several weeks to find a path and hike through the difficult and swampy terrain to confirm The Eye’s existence...
...but they were unable to determine the exact nature of the island’s movement or explain its perfectly circular shape.
The channel of water on which it spins is approximately 400 feet (120 m) across and is unusually cool and clear for the area...
...and beneath the floating island, the land is said the be unusually hard, as opposed to the marshy muck that surrounds it.
Additional expeditions have been planned using scuba teams to take water, soil, and plant samples for further analysis.
If not an unusual natural wonder, the filmmakers suspect something more may be hiding under The Eye and its pool of water...
Lost continent myths long inspired explorers who have searched for ancient and untouched exotic lands...
...and with nearly every inch of the Earth’s surface now mapped, it was thought that such places would never be found.
Yet in early 2017, researchers announced the that the planet may have an unexpected and hidden surprise under the Indian Ocean...
...when they found 2-billion-year-old zircon crystals embedded in rocks that were just a “mere” 9-million-years old.
The mysterious discovery of the crystals was made on the island of Mauritius, where by most accounts they shouldn’t have existed.
They were far too old to have come from the island, and it is believed they must have come from a previously unknown continent.
Researchers have named the lost land “Mauritia” and theorize it shattered and sunk into the sea due to continental drift.
The ancient minerals were likely deposited when magma forced its way through the broken continent as Mauritius was formed.
Mauritia’s destruction may have come as few as 60-million-years years ago, and it may have taken many unknown species with it.
It is thought that the sunken remains of the continent could also explain gravitational anomalies detected in the area...
An ancient shaman legend from deep inside the Amazon rainforest spoke of a boiling river lit from below by a great fire...
...having bubbling and deadly waters that supposedly flowed from the center of the Earth and could burn a man alive.
The story was often linked with tales of a mythical lost city of gold and was dismissed by most scientists.
There were smaller documented hot springs in the Amazon, but it was thought that nothing could bring the legend to life.
In 2011, however, a review of oil company journals from the 1930s offered hints to a possible location of the Boiling River...
...and sent an intrepid researcher into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon to confirm its existence once and for all.
What he discovered was shocking, as the 4-mile (6.5 km) long, 82-foot (25 me) wide, 20-foot (6 m) deep river was real...
...and while entirely unknown to the outside modern world, the secluded site was actually a well-known local tourist attraction.
Called “Mayantuyacu,” it is a place for healing ceremonies the nearby tribes and was protected by a powerful shaman.
At its hottest, the river reaches temperatures of 200°F (94°C) and boils to death any small animals that fall in...
On the opposite side of the Amazon off the coast of Brazil, another astonishing find also “flabbergasted” scientists...
...as another supposedly impossible natural wonder was revealed in 2016 as having been hiding in plain sight.
Lurking below the murky waters at the mouth of the Amazon River is a giant and colorful 600-mile (965 km) long coral reef...
...something few researchers expected could have survived and thrived without clear and sunlit tropical water.
The dark plumes of sediment pouring from the Amazon River make the waters some of the muddiest in the world...
...yet the reef is thought to be safe from much of the silt thanks to its unusual depth that puts it below the freshwater layer.
At 100 to 400 feet (30 to 120 m) deep, the reef has been classified by some scientists as an entirely new unstudied biome...
...one that is powered a coral-like red algae formed by chemical synthesis, rather than photosynthetic processes.
The surprise discovery has raised the possibility of additional undiscovered deep water ecosystems exiting around the world...
...perhaps hiding new and unusual animals and species that, much like the Amazon reef, humans could never dream of before...
A stunning natural wonder once thought to have been obliterated by a volcanic eruption has been rediscovered in New Zealand...
...as the brilliant terraces of Lake Rotomahana, once called an 8th Wonder of the World, have been found below a crater lake.
The pink and white steps of cascading water were once the largest fine-grained silica quartz deposits in the world...
...formed over thousands of year to become a natural geothermal bath that was New Zealand’s most popular tourist attraction.
On June 10, 1886, however, nearby Mount Tarawera erupted and covered the surrounding area in burning ash and boiling mud.
The storied Lake Rotomahana terraces were thought to be lost forever as a 300-foot (100 m) deep crater swallowed the site...
...eventually filling with water to create a new lake nearly ten times as large and 100 to 130 feet (30 to 40 m) higher.
It would not be until 2016 that unrelated sonar scans revealed the terraces were still intact 30 feet (10 m) below the surface...
...and the accidental discovery was confirmed when underwater cameras revealed bright pink colors peeking through the sediment...