Geological Oddities

An exercise in patience and imagination, where Mother Earth turned common stuff into precious hidden treasures.

A rock outcropping left by a glacier that made itself useful throughout the centuries.

Bad farming practices caused this unnatural natural wonder.

Legend says that these tall basalt pillars are the petrified wives of a trickster god.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

Kentucky's anomalous peninsula projecting into the Mississippi River, site of legendary earthquakes and local feuds.

Italy's curious field of mud volcanoes is named for being both gross AND salty.

A miraculous natural phenomenon known as "the spring that breathes."

Naturally formed white marble arch housed in an abandoned marble quarry from the 1800s.

The site of a devastating modern-day mud volcano eruption that buried parts of a village.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

A trio of red, white, and blue stones embedded in the streets of Leiden are markers of medieval territory and law.

These layered sandstone mountains in China look like they are made of pressed crayons.

Iceland's "Smoky Valley" is a beautiful river that is shrouded in a constant cover of steam clouds.

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.

This French "sea of rocks" is packed with stunning rock formations and its own medieval castle.

Plains of ash and pair of semi-active volcanoes contribute to the otherworldly beauty of this little-known Vanuatu island.