Most Unreal Landscapes On Earth

By chili, May 28th 2009 in Travel Destinations Comments (57)

 

Unreal landscapes on our very much real Earth are like gates to different worlds. These places blow our minds and cross the limits of our imagination.

Here is a collection of ten most alien-looking landscapes on Earth:

Iceland

Steam, bubbles, rocks and ice combine into breathtaking, though, alien-looking landscape. This is Iceland. The island with no trees, few people and the biggest glacier in Europe called Vatnajökull. Yes! This is Europe, not the moon.

Iceland by stuckincustoms

Iceland by stuckincustoms

Vatnajökull by eir@si

By menesis

Uzbekistan

The hole filed with burning gas called by locals “the door to hell” is in Uzbekistan but could be as well quiet spot somewhere on Venus.

Gate to Hell. Credit: englishrussia

 

Burning gas looks like landscapes of Venus. Credit: englishrussia

Not to be groundless...Venus

Mauritania

Eye of the Sahara called Richat Structure has a diameter of almost 50 kilometers (30 miles). Placed in Mauritania, it is so huge it can be visible from the space. A meteorite impact? An effect of erosion? A symmetrical uplift? Or maybe three in one? Geologists do not really know how the structure was created.

The Eye

Credit: Viva NOLA

Socotra Island

A long geological isolation and dry, hot and harsh climate made Socotra Island looks like a grotesque computer animation. Hyperbolic plants, funky-looking trees and pink flowers can be great inspiration for graphic designers. The island is situated in the Indian Ocean 250 km from Somalia and 340 km from Yemen and it was isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years.

Trees on Socotra by soqotra

By soqotra

Socotra beach by Marco Pavan

Spain

An ancient, acidic river in Spain - Rio Tinto – is a favourite environment for acid- and metal-loving extremophiles. It does not look like human-friendly and, in fact, it is not, but surely it could quench the Terminator's thirst.

Rio Tinto by ganso.org

Rio Tinto by ganso.org

Arizona

The Antelope Canyon, located on Navajo land near Page, Arizona looks more like an oil painting than a rock formation. Not without reasons it is the most visited canyon in the southwest America.

Picturesque rocks by paphio

By smileywhiley05

Yellowstone National Park

The terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park, in the USA, are created by heat, water, limestone, and rock fracture. The formation is like a living sculpture that is constantly changing by flowing water and erosion. Well...the trees are very much alive as well.

Mammoth Hot Spring by v1ctory 1s m1ne

By v1ctory 1s m1ne

A tree on a walk

A tree on a walk. By v1ctory 1s m1ne

Planet Earth

The icy forms of glaciers are located around the world. That’s how I imagine Pluto and Neptune, the coldest planets in the solar system.

Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska by bob...

Grey Glacier, Chile by tom holub

Le Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina by ricardo.martins



Denmark

The Mars’ landscapes of Skagen in Denmark do not really fit into the image of the richest and most developed country in the world. The moving dunes and deserted beaches run into the end of Europe where the Baltic Sea clashes with the North Sea.

Somewhere in Skagen

Where Baltic meets North Sea by goandgo

Skagen or Mars? by cmdrcord

Mars or Skagen? Credit: apod

Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, is located in southwest Bolivia. The salt desert surrounded by cactuses, volcanoes and geysers looks as if it was a remote planet, far from our solar system.

So the salt does not come from the supermarket. By calimero74

Yellow plants around Salar de Uyuni by Calvin-C

By Calvin-C

 

 

 

Tags: unreal landscapes, earth, Vatnajökull, Iceland, Uzbekistan, Gate to Hell, Mauritania, Eye of the Sahara, Socotra Island, Rio Tinto, Antelope Canyon, Mammoth Hot Spring, Hubbard Glacier, Salar de Uyuni, Skagen

Comments

  1. Guest May 28, 2009 5:49 PM

    Just beautiful

  2. Guest May 28, 2009 7:50 PM

    Inspirational shots! That lava ditch in Kazakhstan just blew my mind!

  3. Guest May 28, 2009 9:56 PM

    Meant to say Uzbekistan :P . Lemme say the shots are unbelievable quality. What camera and settings were you using? Mind sharing that? Did you put these up on flickr?

  4. Guest May 29, 2009 2:48 AM

    do you think words can tell . hmmmm really great and inspirational

  5. avatar chili May 29, 2009 8:03 AM

    I wish it was me who took the pictures in Uzbekistan but I have to give credits to englishrussia (see link below the photo), where I found these pics.

  6. Guest May 29, 2009 10:15 AM

    Natura, artista-madre del paesaggio.

  7. Guest May 29, 2009 2:16 PM

    awesome planet

  8. Uzair Zaman Sheikh May 29, 2009 2:16 PM

    really breathtaking :)

  9. Guest May 29, 2009 3:40 PM

    i love our planet

  10. wraithfodder Jun 1, 2009 3:10 PM

    Found you viaTwitter. WOW! fantastic photos! Love 'em!

  11. vickyj avatar vickyj Jun 1, 2009 5:42 PM

    I was really suprised by the inclusion of Denmark and Spain. Sometimes it's the places you think you know that suprise you the most. Wonderful photos btw.

  12. Guest Jun 2, 2009 5:04 AM

    There are some weird features in Turkey as well. White volcanic terrace pools and things looking like giant termite nests.

  13. Guest Jun 10, 2009 6:43 AM

    Its beuatiful!!!! The landscape created by GOD...

    Thanks for posting....

  14. Guest Jun 17, 2009 11:22 AM

    How about the Badlands? Anyone who has been there can verify how breathtaking it is. Frank Lloyd Wright said: "I was totally unprepared for that revelation called the Dakota Bad Lands."

  15. Guest Jun 17, 2009 11:56 AM

    Is the Antelope Canyon really the most visited canyon in the Southwest, including the Grand Canyon? I'd like to see where you got that information...

  16. Guest Jun 17, 2009 2:09 PM

    Gorgeous photos. The first few are the most interesting and by the end they feel like filler.

  17. Guest Jun 18, 2009 8:08 AM

    I'm GREG LASKOWSKI. PICS JUST FAB!!!

  18. Guest Jun 18, 2009 6:42 PM

    amazing shots. just to clarify, the famous "Door to Hell" isn't in Uzbekistan, rather it's in Derweze (or Darwaza), Turkmenistan.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derweze

  19. Guest Jun 21, 2009 5:26 AM

    http://www.dogankoleji.com/lise/images/geziler/kapadokya/kapadokya1.jpg

  20. Guest Jun 30, 2009 1:02 PM

    absolutly awesome collection..
    thanks...

  21. Guest Jun 30, 2009 1:12 PM

    awesome collection..
    thanks..

  22. Taylor Jul 1, 2009 2:21 PM

    Great collection, Arches National Park Utah would've been nice to see in it though.

  23. Guest Jul 5, 2009 5:38 PM

    Check out Cook Inlet with the tide out. Anchorage Alaska.

  24. karolina from poland Jul 27, 2009 11:08 AM

    amazing

  25. Bill Ryan Jul 27, 2009 11:57 AM

    This kind of beauty is indescribable! How little we know about the world we live in!

  26. luli Jul 31, 2009 9:34 PM

    WOOOOOOOW.. AWESOME!!

  27. Chris Aug 1, 2009 9:45 PM

    Fascinating chocolate hills located in the philippine..thousands of hills..

  28. Jack Aug 3, 2009 4:27 PM

    Amazing pictures! But whoever wrote the captions is an idiot. The Grand Canyon is by far the most visited canyon in the American Southwest, and Denmark is NOT the richest country in the world. How about some editing next time?

  29. julesabebop Aug 14, 2009 5:14 AM

    breathtaking! Makes me long to travel more.

  30. sociologist Aug 14, 2009 5:53 AM

    mind blowing

  31. Cheryl Heinzman Aug 18, 2009 6:24 PM

    Totally awesome pictures.What great places they would all be to go visit!!

  32. omid Sep 11, 2009 4:06 PM

    ahmadinejad is not my president!

  33. şanlıurfa Sep 15, 2009 10:18 AM

    şanlıurfa
    http://www.sanliurfan.com/sanliurfa-hakkinda/192-sanliurfa-tarihi-mekanlar

  34. Sean Oct 6, 2009 1:42 PM

    I love our planet.

  35. RiKo Oct 6, 2009 2:38 PM

    esta asombroso la naturaleza rifa

  36. luck flanders Oct 6, 2009 3:23 PM

    I want to go to all of those places

  37. Ed Oct 6, 2009 4:03 PM

    That first picture of Socotra Island. Isnt that the tree from Popey the sailor on Mars?

  38. Vanessa Oct 6, 2009 10:02 PM

    Words can't even begin to describe the beauty captured in these photos or the feelings that they create inside..

  39. Chaz Oct 7, 2009 4:00 AM

    Has a lot in common with this article - very nice photos though!

    http://travel.uk.msn.com/inspiration/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=149582185

  40. Mikki Oct 9, 2009 3:15 AM

    Great pics, nice to see Iceland at the top.
    (that's where I'm at)

  41. Shailesh Oct 9, 2009 3:44 AM

    Awesome Never thought of such land forms existing in earth...

  42. Your Name...Monica Oct 9, 2009 10:02 AM

    mind blowing pictures...absolutely breathtaking...thanx

  43. Boo Oct 10, 2009 12:28 AM

    Can't beleive! I used to live in Skagen, very close from those pics are...and never knew how wonderful they look from a certain point of view

  44. Me Oct 10, 2009 6:23 AM

    Can you say PhotoShop.

  45. nAme Oct 10, 2009 4:47 PM

    i really think they should have took some pics of Bornholm in the Denmark part..

  46. Matt Oct 10, 2009 5:31 PM

    Uhm, Iceland is green and hot and warm... Not
    "This is Iceland. The island with no trees, few people and the biggest glacier"

    You are getting iceland and greenland confused... the reason the names was to keep the vikings away. Greenland is full of ice cold and not a place you would want to live and is the biggest glacier. Iceland is beautiful and has only 11% of the land is glacier...

  47. Travelfusion avatar Travelfusion Oct 12, 2009 10:07 AM

    Wow- awesome shots. This gives me some ideas of my list of places to go next!

    Thanks!

    -Kathryn @Travelfusion

  48. Feeol Oct 13, 2009 7:44 PM

    Is this photoshopped ??

  49. guest Oct 14, 2009 3:47 PM

    nice pics but i missed one spot urgent: check out about pamukkale in turkey
    , shout be in ur list
    best regards

  50. guest Oct 24, 2009 2:37 PM

    wow

  51. guest Oct 27, 2009 10:52 PM

    wow... again

  52. mark Nov 13, 2009 1:53 PM

    Chocolate Hills in the Island of Bohol, PH is incredibly astounding!unmatched anywhere else in the world!

  53. kelly Nov 22, 2009 1:45 PM

    I went on a four day tour of Salar de Uyuni. it is freeeezing at night but the stars are amazing as are all the beautiful things to see!!! go there!!

  54. Alya Dec 3, 2009 7:59 AM

    So beautiful, AMAZING!!!

  55. bwes1718 avatar bwes1718 Jan 8, 2010 8:40 PM

    i like those stuff THEY ARE SO CUTE LOL =) =-)

  56. EJ Jan 29, 2010 9:40 AM

    Antelope Canyon is amazing, but Arches, Zion, Grand Staircase Escalante and Bryce are just as spectacular

  57. rubic Feb 5, 2010 11:53 PM

    So amazing!



  58. Name: Feb 9, 2010 8:50 AM

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