Phenomenon of Places: Fingal’s Cave, Grand Canyon, Darvaza Gas Carter and Others
Introduction:
The word phenomenon of places was evident in Christian Norberg Schulz's work in which he explains that the place becomes a phenomenon when the importance of experience and feelings are attached to it. The earth is full of remarkable places which had been discovered, constructed, and yet to be discovered. Some of the phenomena places are discussed in this such as: Fingal’s Cave, Grand Canyon, Darvaza Gas Carter, Rainbow Hills, Victoria Falls, Blue Lava Volcano, Flammable Ice Bubbles, and Cave of Crystal.
The phenomenon of Places:
1. Fingal’s Cave
Fingal’s Cave is located on the isle of Staffa in Scotland. It took a unique architectural structure due to basalt lava flows and transformed it into a beautiful lake that is evident today. It was first discovered by Sir Joseph during his journey to Iceland and he was the first to name this cave as Uamh Binn which means cave of melody but because of heavy criticism, later Felix Mendelssohn changed its name to Fingal’s Cave. The cave stretched almost up to 250 ft. into the big rock and possess 70ft of the height.
2. Grand Canyon:
The famous Grand Canyon is located in Arizona in the United States. The grandeur of this place was formed five to six million years due to erosion from the Colorado River which passes through these canyons. First, it was protected from people’s destruction later in 1919 it was turned into a national park. The Grand Canyons run 227 deep long and 18 miles wide. The first European to reach Grand Canyon was a group of Spain travelers led by Hopi guides in the 1540s.
3. Darvaza Gas Carter:
Darvaza gas crater is also known as the Door to Hell. It is located in the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan. This glow of the fire is visible day and night and has been burning from many decades ago. This supernatural place is rumored to be discovered as an accident when Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, by Soviet scientists who were digging land in search of oil but soon realized that it was a mistake and the land collapsed into a big hole which is known as Door to Hell. Soon it created a ripple effect and other carter also came alive and the terrible methane gas was escaping and making it hard to breathe until it was controlled through the methods of controlling gas are still lacking but it has attracted many tourists around the world.
4. Rainbow Hills:
These beautiful color palettes like hills are situated in Gansu province of China, it is also known as Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park. The word Danxia means a red color. About more than 50 million years ago once these hills were part of the ocean but due to tectonic collision, the land unfolded, raised above sea level in the form of hundreds of meters high hills. The red stones were deposited during the formation of the river and the change in the period leading to the change in the sedimentary environment caused the formation of different color layers of sedimentary rocks where each layer took thousands of year to form.
5. Victoria Falls:
Victoria Waterfall is one the largest waterfall located on the course of the Zambezi River, connecting the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The waterfall’s average flow per second is 33000 cubic feet. The first European to stumble upon this spectacular waterfall was David Livingstone on 16 November 1855. The local tribes used to call it Mosi-o-Tunya which means the smoke of thunder because of its mist spray from falling water rising to the height of over 400meters.
6. Blue Lava Volcano:
This mystic blue lava volcano resides on the Island of Java in Indonesia and is also known as Kawah Ijen Volcano. The blue liquid streaming down the mountain can be seen at night. According to a famous Paris-based photographer Olivier Grunewald, the blue electric glow is as unusual for a volcano and the lava emitted from the volcano is not blue itself but because of a combustion reaction that takes place between the high amount of sulfuric gases come in contact with oxygen or air of temperature of more than 360 degrees Celsius due to which sulfur burns readily and causes the flame to glow blue.
7. Cave of Crystal:
The cave of crystal is also known as Cueva de Los Cristales found in Mexico. The crystals are a thousand feet deep down in Naica Mountain, Mexico. It was discovered by two miners during their excavating activity to build a tunnel in 2000. The largest crystal is of gypsum, nealy12m long and 1m wide. The cave used to be filled with calcium sulfate water and because of magma it rose to earth and it took millions of years to cool for crystals to form.
8. Flammable Ice Bubble:
White bubbles trapped inside the lake are found in Alberta, Abraham’s lake in Canada, these bubbles are trapped in methane bubbles rather than air bubbles. Methane bubbles are formed due to the death of organic material for example leaves or creatures sink to the bottom of the lake and then decomposed as bacteria and rise on the surface of the lake. In summers the bubbles simply pop but in winters they freeze on the surface of the lake.
Methodology:
The Qualitative data was used to write this assignment, therefore, the source of information was secondary data. The secondary data was collected through published articles in journals and on online websites.
Literature Review:
The name of Fingal’s cave was basically a legend to be known as it was named after an Irish myth, the famous hero Fionn McCumhaills short name Fingal means white stranger. It was because of the cave's resemblance to the legend’s Fionn cave Giant’s Causeway. Many renowned poets such as Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson, James Hogg, John Keats, and more made the Fingal’s cave part of their poems by trying to capture its beauty such as calling it a cave of wonder, dark Staffa, the cathedral of sea and more. Not only famous poets but also famous royals such as Queen Victoria, King of Saxony, and more. Queen Victoria was awestruck by Fingal’s cave that she even noted her experience and thoughts about it in her personal diary. Many world painters painted their views of caves such as Staffa Fingal’s Cave by Joseph Turner, Die Fingals Hohle by Mayer Koversationslexikon, and more. In 1973 Fingal’s cave was regarded as Special Scientific Interest then later in September 2001 it was named in Scottish National Heritage.
Grand Canyon National Park as a part of the National Park Service protects and also preserved the history and culture that was remained in the Park, considered to be ancient more than 12000yrs which was also known as the last stage of the Ice Age for humans settlement in the canyons. In 1893 president Benjamin Harrison announced the federal protection for the canyons as a forest reserve. In 1903 president Teddy Roosevelt protected the canyons for a future generations until it reached to the status as the National Monument. In 1919 it took the position as the National Park and president Woodrow Wilson advanced the National Park services.
Other mentioned places such as Victoria Fall was mentioned in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989 where as Rainbow Hills was mentioned in UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
Discussion:
To reach Fingal cave is through a boat or ferry ride which is about 45 minutes from Mull to Staffa, there is also the fortunate privilege of exploring wildlife as it is home to seals, dolphins, puffins, sharks, and more wild animals. There is also a place to stay as it is not easy to let the beauty of the cave to be explored in one day and also the pleasure of swimming is organized by the authorities and planners.
The Grand Canyon is full of grandeur structures because of which tourists are attracted to it. The Grand Canyon is divided into two parts North Rim and South Rim; on both the parts the hotels or lodges are available for tourists to stay surrounded by canyons rather than outside of it. Both the sides provide an optimistic view of nature and are famous for the photographing point. However, on South Rim there is less is a lack of basic services for hikers such as no store to buy water or resting shades for visitors while hiking. It is also known that if you wander around the canyon then you probably will lost or worse, die so it is very essential to stick to the crafted trail. Though there are several activities are available for visitors to make their visit worthwhile such as river rafting, bungee jumping, camping, helicopter tour, and more.
The name Rainbow Hills is perfect to bring the lover of rainbows and curious geologists around the world to visit this wonder. However, there is no permission to bring your private vehicle but the sightseeing buses are vehicle allowed to enter through the gates of Rainbow Hills though visitors are free to walk around on their own but in private vehicles. The drawback on this place is there is no proper arrangement for visitors or tourists such as no shades or benches to enjoy the hills which leads to a high risk of exposure of UV rays.
Even though Blue Lava Volcano, Darvaza Gas Center, Flammable Ice Bubbles, and Cave of Crystal are pretty aesthete sites to gain the attention of people but can be most dangerous as the all produce poisonous gases which are harmful for the environment as well as for living beings, even all-knowing this there are no proper actions and arrangements from the side of authorities for tourists and visitors.
Conclusion:
This extravagant earth is full of surprises, there are many discovered and undiscovered wonderers on this planet. Each place carries its own significance, past, culture, and heritage which makes today’s generation duty to cherish it and preserve it for the next generation to explore it.
