Sunday, February 7, 2010

Black Forest (Schwarzwald)

Black Forest (Schwarzwald) is a wooded mountain range in southwestern It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the mountain Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 meters. The region is almost rectangular with a length of 200 km and breadth of 60 km.

Geologically, the Black Forest consists of a cover of sandstone on top of a core of gneiss and granites. Formerly it shared tectonic evolution with the nearby Vosges Mountains. Later during the Middle Eocene a rifting period affected the area and caused formation of the Rhine graben. During the last glacial period of the Würm glaciation, the Black Forest was covered by glaciers; several tarn lakes such as the Mummelsee are remains of this period.

The forest mostly consists of pines and firs, some of which are grown in commercial monoculture. Similar to other forested regions, the Black Forest has had areas damaged by mass logging. Due to logging and land use changes the forest proper is only a fraction of the size it used to be. The storm Lothar knocked down trees over hundreds of acres of mountaintops in 1999. This left some of the high peaks and scenic hills bare, with only primary growth shrubs and young fir trees.

The main industry is tourism. In addition to the towns and monuments noted below, the Black Forest is crossed by numerous long distance footpaths, including some of the first to be established. The European long-distance path E1 crosses the Black Forest following the routes of some of the local long-distance paths. In addition there are numerous shorter paths suitable for day walks, as well as mountain biking and cross-country skiing trails. The total network of tracks amounts to around 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi), and is maintained and overseen by a voluntary body, the Schwarzwaldverein (Black Forest Society), which has around 90,000 members (figures from Bremke, 1999, p.9).

Source : wikipedia.org

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Monday, February 1, 2010

The Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy is renown for having the highest tides on the planet (16.2 metres or 53 feet). One hundred billion tonnes of sea water flows in and out of the Bay of Fundy twice daily – more water than the combined flow of all the world’s fresh water rivers. Fundy’s extreme tides create a dynamic and diverse marine ecosystem. The Bay is renown for its coastal rock formations, extreme tidal effects (vertical, horizontal, rapids and bores) and sustainable coastal development. It is also a critical international feeding ground for migratory birds, a vibrant habitat for rare and endangered Right whales, one of the world’s most significant plant and animal fossil discovery regions. The Bay of Fundy is located between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on North America’s east coast.

The Bay of Fundy lies in a rift valley called the Fundy Basin; as the rift began to separate from mainland North America, volcanic activity occurred, forming volcanoes and flood basalts. These flood basalts poured out over the landscape, covering much of southern Nova Scotia. Sections of the flood basalts have been eroded away, but still form a basaltic mountain range known as North Mountain. As a result, much of the basin floor is made of tholeiitic basalts giving its brown colour. The rift valley eventually failed (see aulacogen) as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge continued to separate North America, Europe, and Africa.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is a salt lake between Palestine and Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. At 420 metres below sea level, its shores are the lowest point on Earth that are on dry land. With 30 percent salinity, it is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets.

There are no fish or any kind of swimming, squirming creatures living in or near the water. There are, however, several types of bacteria and one type of algea that have adapted to harsh life in the waters of the Dead Sea. What you'll see on the shores of the Sea is white, crystals of salt covering EVERYTHING. And this is no ordinary table salt, either. The salts found in the Dead Sea are mineral salts, just like you find in the oceans of the world, only in extreme concentrations. The water in the Dead Sea is deadly to living things. Fish accidentally swimming into the waters from one of the several freshwater streams that feed the Sea are killed instantly, their bodies quickly coated with a preserving layer of salt crystals and then tossed onto shore by the wind and waves.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Best Professional Golf in Golf Academic

For the golf lover like you, the Gut Ising is the best place to learn more about professional golf rules which you may want to learn about. You may want to combine your golf holiday with a hotel, the offers you with overnight stays in a 4 star Golf Hotel Gut Ising which rounds the Championship course perfectly, because golf course and driving range directly adjacent to the hotel and everything conveniently is accessible without a car that you may difficult to find, because you can go around by walking. 

If you are the athletic beginners of those who have already once demonstrated a golf taster course, the Power golf course which is incorporates the substance of the Championship course will be perfect for your need. It is important for obtaining the Green Card for those whom his own time frame which is the Golf Platzreife placed with individual coaching. Their handicap course is very popular because you have got here yourself enough time to develop your personal training strategies without time pressure in golf academic. It is an ideal place for everything around the game of golf which you can also find under the supervision of trained golf professionals. You can also find everything which related with the golf thing in Golfshop which provide you everything you need for your golf game.

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Monday, January 25, 2010

The Cedars in Lebanon

The Cedars of God are among the last survivors of the immense forests of the Cedars of Lebanon that thrived across Mount Lebanon in ancient times. Their timber was exploited by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians as well as the Phoenicians. The wood was especially prized by Egyptians for shipbuilding; Solomon used them in the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Ottoman Empire also used the cedars to build its railroad system.

Once Lebanon was shaded by thick cedar forests, so it is no coincidence that the tree is the symbol of the entire country. Today, after centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of this forest heritage has been markedly reduced. The trees however, do survive in mountainous areas and there they seem to reign supreme. This is the case of the slopes of Mount Makmel that tower over the Kadisha Valley where, at an altitude of more than 2000 meters, rest the Cedars of God. Four of them have reached a height of 35 meters and their trunks are between 12 and 14 meters around. Concern for the Biblical Cedars of God goes back to 1876 when the 102-hectare grove was surrounded by a high stone wall, which was financed by Great Britain's Queen Victoria. The wall protects saplings from being destroyed by local goats.

Source :
wikipedia.org

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