分类必应美图下的文章

黄石国家公园的大棱镜泉，怀俄明州 The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming (© Martin Rügner/DEEPOL by plainpicture)

Colors spring up in Yellowstone

As National Park Week continues, we're taking a look at the Grand Prismatic Spring, one of the more popular attractions in Yellowstone National Park. Visitors on an elevated wooden boardwalk come to witness the vivid colors, which are formed due to a cycle of hot water rising, cooling, and falling--creating rings of distinct temperatures inside the spring. The clear, blue center is the hottest part, with almost nothing living in it. But the other rings are home to different organisms that give the water its rings of color. While it's beautiful to look at, you wouldn't want to swim in it. It's illegal, but it's also much too hot—and the sulfur smell wouldn't leave you feeling too clean.

Keukenhof in Lisse, Netherlands (© Jim Zuckerman/Getty Images)

In the 'Garden of Europe'

Welcome to the ‘Garden of Europe’—a nickname given to this public flower garden in Lisse, Netherlands. The literal translation of 'keukenhof'—from Dutch to English—is 'kitchen court,' as the original grounds for the park and flower garden began as a vegetable garden for the royal residents of Keuken Castle during the 15th century. This prompted another nickname for the pastoral spot: 'kitchen garden.'

Most years, the flower garden opens for just eight weeks each spring to take advantage of the blooming tulips, daffodils, and other flowers. But on March 23, 2020, the Dutch government canceled all public events in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. However, because so much effort goes into the careful planning and planting of the garden, the staff of Keukenhof has vowed: 'If people cannot come to Keukenhof, we will bring Keukenhof to the people.' They'll be sharing video and images of this year's garden via various 'online channels.'

Micheldever Wood的蓝铃花，英国汉普郡 (© Hursley/Getty Images Plus)

内斯特角灯塔上空的银河，苏格兰斯凯岛 Milky Way over Neist Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye, Scotland (© Shaiith/Getty Images)

Step into the dark

We're on the Isle of Skye, a fitting locale to celebrate the beginning of International Dark Sky Week, and not just because of its name. The Isle of Skye is one of several parts of Scotland that are set aside as Dark Sky parks, where the lack of artificial light makes stargazing a spectacular event, with or without a telescope.

First observed in 2003, International Dark Sky Week was the brainchild of then-high school student Jennifer Barlow. Her goal was to bring awareness of the impact of light pollution on people and the environment. Her efforts have made it a worldwide event and a centerpiece of Global Astronomy Month.

优胜美地国家公园中的春季瀑布 Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park, California (© elvistudio/Shutterstock)

National Parks Week begins

To kick off National Park Week, which starts today, we're turning our lens on Vernal Fall in California's Yosemite National Park. This time of year, the waterfall flows in a torrent, but by late summer it can be reduced to a trickle of small streams slipping over the edge. Most years, Vernal Fall is at full power by May, as the spring thaw in the mountains melts the snowpack, turning the falls into a raging tumble of water spilling to the valley floor where the Merced River flows.

天生桥国家保护区中的sipapu桥，犹他州 Sipapu Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah (© Fyletto/Getty Images)

Bridges to the past

The story of this sandstone formation in southeastern Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument begins around 10 million years ago. That's when tectonic shifts began slowly lifting the 130,000 square-mile Colorado Plateau above the surrounding plains. In ensuing eons, the Colorado River's many streams eroded the elevated land, threading it with deep canyons. When water broke through one canyon wall into another canyon, sometimes a natural bridge like this one remained above the breach.

The national monument—Utah's first, proclaimed by President Theodore Roosevelt on April 16, 1908—protects three major bridges: Sipapu (pictured, and the largest), Kachina, and Owachomo. But even the president's pen can't stop the slow ravages of time. In a 1992 rockfall, Kachina slimmed down by 4,000 tons—and the remains of many fallen bridges dot the monument, hinting at the main attractions' eventual fate.

Bhagsu的热带瀑布，印度喜马偕尔邦 (© f9photos/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Phrachomklao Rachanusorn的浮庙，泰国南邦 Floating temples of Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Phrachomklao Rachanusorn in Lampang province, Thailand (© pa_YON/Getty Images)

Floating temples in the Land of Smiles

Greetings from the mountain peaks of northern Thailand, near the city of Lampang, which have been majestically transformed with the addition of these golden and white 'floating' stupas and pagodas. Their construction was a monumental effort, with materials hauled up in pieces by around 50 workers under the direction of a Lampang monk over the course of two years. The resulting temple complex of Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat Phrachomklao Rachanusorn is off the beaten path—visitors need to drive more than 2 hours from Chiangmai, then make a half-mile stair climb in what can be punishing heat. But the views from the top seem worth the effort.

拉斯梅德拉斯的古罗马金矿遗址，西班牙莱昂 Ancient Roman gold mining site of Las Médulas, León, Spain (© DEEPOL by plainpicture/David Santiago Garcia)

The largest gold mine of the roman empire

This landscape might look natural, but it is not. At least not at a 100%. What you can see in our picture today is Las Médulas Cultural Park, in León, Spain, an ancient roman gold mining site which was as well the largest open pit one of the whole Empire.

Romans started exploiting it in the 1st century and continued doing so for 150 years at least. They removed more than 500 million cubic meters of earth and transformed the landscape forever. To extract gold they dug a complex system of tunnels inside the hills and then poured water in it to fragment the rock. It is estimated that more than 20.000 people worked in this site.

The exploitation was definitively abandoned in the 3rd century, and from that moment nature recovered what was its own. Oak trees and holm oaks grew again, and hundreds of chestnuts trees were planted. Wildlife includes roe deers, wildcats and boars, among other species.

Santorini through the clouds

With its romantic sunsets, dazzling ocean views, and whitewashed buildings clinging to rocky clifftops, the Greek island of Santorini (aka Thera) is the very picture of an idyll in the Aegean. But this tranquil scene belies the island's explosive geologic history, for this is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. The Minoan eruption, about 3,600 years ago, caused the center of the Thera Volcano to collapse into the ocean, leaving Santorini a jagged, crescent-shaped moon atop the sea.

The impact of the eruption was more than just geologic—when the volcano blew its top, Santorini was home to a thriving outpost of the Minoan civilization. A farming and fishing community had been established at Akrotiri on the island around 7,000 years ago, and by the time of the eruption had developed into a prosperous city built largely on trade with other cultures of the Aegean. Akrotiri had paved streets, delicate pottery, a drainage system, and multistory buildings decorated in elaborate frescoes. Akrotiri's fortunes ended abruptly, however, with the Minoan eruption, which completely buried the city in pumice and ash. Extensive archaeological excavations began in 1967, revealing artifacts that were remarkably well preserved by the volcanic material; particularly notable were the elegant, colorful frescoes. It seems Santorini has always been a site for the beautiful things in life.

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