Only a few steps from the blazing heat of the desert you can dive into the deep sea. One of the largest salt water aquariums, the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay houses all kind of deadly creatures. More...
Suddenly next to the road a tree full of shoes appears. Shoes are hanging from its branches like ripe fruit at harvest time, shoes of all kinds and colours. What might be the meaning of this? More...
Volcanic eruptions have formed this scenery. Large terrains are covered with the black rocky remains of ancient lava streams. But the most fascinating scenery is subterranean. While the lava streams cooled down at the surface and solidified, the hot streams made of molten stone continued to flow down below. More...
The trees in this forest are different, large, even gigantic, dwarfing all other creatures. A remainder from the ages of the dinosaurs they can reach up to heights of 100 meters and more, with diameters of seven meters, they resist fire and live for centuries. More...
Again the scene of a major disaster, this time one that did not happen thousands of years ago but in terms of geology only seconds ago. Many of us may remember the day in September 1980 when Mount St. Helens erupted, taking a heavy toll on human life and so making the headline in every news presentation. More..
John Days Fossil Bed National Park is one of the richest fossil formations in the world, documenting mammal evolution of the last fifty million years. During this time the landscape has transformed from ocean bottom to sub-topical jungle, inhabited by cat sized horses eating leaves and ferns as grass had not been yet developed. More..
Again the theatre of a major catastrophe, this time about 600.000 years in the past. A major magma chamber below this place, supplied by a volcanic hot spot beneath, had been filled over the last couple of hundred thousand years, creating incredible pressure within. More..
Only 9 inches of rain per year. An arid landscape with dry river beds in summer, more stones than plants and dust everywhere. And yet people have lived here permanently, not only the stone age cultures who left their petroglyphs on the walls of Newspaper Rock but also cowboys trying to raise cattle in the narrow canyons. More..
It was photography that made this canyon famous - the fantastic colours, varying from orange to violet, the organic smooth and structured forms, the ever changing light, with beams striking down to the ground. More..
The hole was so small that only one person could see the inside at a time. Carter peeped through the hole and remained silent for some long minutes. When Carnarvon finally could not stand the tension any longer he asked Carter if he could see anything. And Carter replied: "Yes, I can see wonderful things". More..
A gigantic kitchen with hissing fumaroles are issuing steam like water kettles, boiling springs gushing like cooking pots, and mud pots slowly bubbling like thick soup on a small fire. And finally you start to realize that there is real activity below the earth, with enormous powers we cannot really understand.More..
This time the caldera is clearly visible. Seven thousand years ago, a glimpse in geologic history, Mount Mazama exploded in a gigantic cataclysmic eruption, killing all living creatures within a huge distance with streams of hot gas and ashes. More...
The Pacific Ocean, a glorious, famous name for a mighty ocean, stretching from here to the shores of Asia. The coastline is rough here, with cold gusty winds and large cliffs where the waves break, spitting wet foam into the air - it seems that the icy Pacific is unwilling to be stopped by the American shore. More..
At the north westerly tip of the country, where the icy Pacific meets the cool land, life is not easy. On the top of the mountains animals and plants have to struggle hard for survival. Temperatures are cool and rain is rare, the only moisture coming from the mists that arise from the sea shore. In the bitter winters that last six month here everything living is covered below meters of icy snow. More..
"The surface of the moon, seen through a telescope" is how this landscape was first described, a very strange place indeed, an ocean of cold black lava nearly destitute of vegetation. More..
Not only once but several times this place had been the bottom of the sea, lifted to sunlight again, became mountains that crumbled again, leaving large layers of salt as an unstable base for the rocky formations that continuously move, shift, lift, lower, turn, roll, tumble, fall and stack. More..
There are a lot of more interesting places in this area but here is our image of the West - another proof of the power of images. More..
Venetian shopping passages with an artificial sky, swimmingpool-blue canals and motorized gondolas with singing drivers. The Rialto bridge with escalators. Greek marble statues, mechanized, performing a multimedia show every 30 minutes. More..