THE STRUVE GEODETIC ARC (Norway to the Ukraine - 10 countries)
From 1816 to 1855 German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve triangulated the locations of 265 main station points along a single meridian of the earth from Norway to the Ukraine. Stretching through 10 countries for over 1,750 miles, this act of international scientific cooperation helped establish the exact size and shape of the earth.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST (Uganda)
Stands of bamboo amongst the larger forest hardwoods give this large primeval forest in SW Uganda both its indigenous name (meaning "place of darkness") and its English one. One of the most biodiverse areas on Earth, it is home to half of the world's mountain gorillas, as well as 120 species of mammals, 348 of birds, 220 of butterflies, 27 of frogs, and 160 of trees.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
BIKINI ATOLL (Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean)
From 1946 to 1958 the U.S. detonated 23 nuclear weapons in the open air and underwater at the Bikini Atoll in the then-U.S. territory of the Marshall Islands, causing untold damage to the health of inhabitants of islands in the region and far beyond--as far as the U.S. and Europe. The Atoll lent its name to a swimwear style that started in 1946 and continues to this day.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK (near Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
East of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the Red Deer River valley, the Park has badlands and an abundance of dinosaur fossils--in fact, one of the richest deposits in the world. Fifty-eight dinosaur species and over 500 specimens of plants and fish, birds, reptiles, and other animals have been found here; they are exhibited in museums around the globe.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF (off the coast of Queensland, Australia)
The world's largest coral reef system, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, is 1,400 miles long and 133,000 square miles in area, with over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. Built by billions of tiny organisms, it is the largest living structure on earth, and can be seen from outer space. The reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
JEJU ISLAND (South Korea)
The largest island in South Korea lies below the Korean Peninsula in the Korea Strait. Formed 2,000,000 years ago by an underwater volcanic eruption, its Hallasan volcano at 6,400 feet is the highest mountain in South Korea. Lava tube caves and other such attractions make it a popular holiday destination and a UNESCO natural world heritage site.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (600 miles west of Ecuador in the Pacific)
Few would have heard of this archipelago 563 miles west of Ecuador were it not for Charles Darwin's 1835 visit aboard the HMS Beagle, when he was able to observe differences between isolated populations of animals (notably finches), contributing to the ideas expounded in his 1859 book, On the Origin of Species.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
WHALE VALLEY (Wadi Al-Hitan, Egypt)
The dramatic landscape of Wadi Al-Hitan in Egypt's Western Desert is known as "Whale Valley" for its fossil evidence of the evolution of whales from land-based to ocean-going mammals. The many high-quality fossils allow paleontologists to observe transitional fossils of archaeocetes (the now-extinct "ancient whales") in the process of losing their hind legs.
(Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons; CTTO)
