Here Are The Most Interesting Things This Geologist Found On Google Earth
Traveling can be expensive and there’s only so much places you can visit before you run out of money. However, there are still ways to explore the world without leaving the comfort of your seat – like, for example, using Google Earth.
One geologist named Will even turned that into a hobby. He spends hours on Google Earth looking for all sorts of interesting places that most of us will never get to visit. From mesmerizing mining sites to sand-covered abandoned settlements, check out the most interesting thing Will found on Google Earth in the gallery below!
Pictured above: “I was hypothetically traveling the Trans-Sahara Hwy from Algeria to Niger. The above pattern was certainly interesting.”
“This is a volcano in Lake Ghoubet in Djibouti (LOL). The refraction of the waves around the island make it look like it’s moving East and making a wake. A pioneer must be riding that baby for miles.”
“This might not look like much, but it’s the humble headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River.”
“Ghost ferries in Venice, Italy.”
“Praire dog holes in South Dakota (USA).”
“A part of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I really enjoy the contrasts of this image.”
“Cinder cones in western Saudi Arabia. The black stuff in a basaltic lava flow.”
“An abandoned (?) or temporary fishing village in northern Somalia. I think it’s mostly abandoned because a lot of the building appear to have no roofs. Or they have small covered parts and courtyards that make it look like a roofless structure. I don’t know.”
“This is an island off the coast of Somalia with no name on GE. Those cleared patches are very interesting. My guess is that some animals did it.”
“A huge tent city in Mecca. This is where many pilgrims stay during Hajj, or so I’m told by Wiki.”
“The remains of the fortress of Douaumont near Verdun, France. This was one of the more heavily contested forts during the battle of Verdun in WWI. I believe the unevenness of the ground is from shell holes.”
“Salt domes breaching the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“More cool desert colors in Somalia.”
“Zoomed in on the last image. I wonder what this little structure (ruin?) is. Maybe aliens?”
“Looks like some strong ocean currents right there.”
“When image stitching goes wrong. I don’t think that belongs there.”
“I recently read the book, “Skeletons on the Zahara.” It tells the true story of some US sailors who wrecked on the NW African coast in 1815. It sucked for them. I wanted to see if I could find a ship wreck. I figured a desert coast would preserve metal wrecks well. It didn’t take to long to find this one in NW South Africa. It looks like a modern ship, and sure enough it wasn’t there in 2003 (the oldest picture available).
Could you imagine surviving a shipwreck only to be stuck in a dessert?”
“An ephemeral dessert river.”
“Now we’re talking. A relatively older wreck on Baia dos Tigres (whatever that means). Sand migration is moving the shoreline away from the wreck.”
“An unnamed (on GE) village in Namibia. It looks uninhabited, but it could just not have any cars to leave tracks. The tracks could also just be covered up by blown sediments. It could also be a seasonally inhabited fishing village.”
“More ships near Tombua, Angola. These might have been intentionally abandoned. They were also not here in the 2003 pics.”
“I couldn’t find anything about this strange place. It’s a huge, planned settlement near Namibe, Angola. It seems to have been constructed around 2013-2014. It also appears to be uninhabited due to no vehicles. Does anyone know anything about this place?”
“This was a pit of an optical illusion. At first it looked like a pyramid, but the coastline is a bluff, so it must be the inverse of a pyramid. My guess is an abandoned evil villain’s mansion.”
“These are landlocked ships from the drying up of the Aral Sea.”
“A lake somewhere on the Tibetan Plateau in summer and winter.”
“This is in the Punjab region of India. It seems like every inch of land here is planted, except for this part. I can’t find any info on this place. Does anyone know?”
“Here is a very pretty river colored by rock flour.”
“This is Assamakka, Niger, a community that appears to be fighting a losing battle with the sands.”
“It’s easy to see the prevailing wind direction here.”
“A real live oasis in Sahara! Not all of these tracks are from cars. The smaller ones must be animal.”
“This is some sort of reservoir in Belgium. I’ve never seen an octagonal pond before. I wonder why they made it that way.”
“Also in Belgium. These bunkers look like they were part of the German Atlantic Wall.”
“This is in Western Sahara. It is a great example of a drainage divide. The jagged line running roughly W-E is such a divide. Drainage patterns S of the line drain S, N of the line drains N.”
“This is a huge peninsula on the coast of Western Sahara. Looks like a large community on the tip.”
“Wrong. It’s all boats. That’s a lot of boats!”
“I sunken ship.”
“A beautiful geologic fold in Morocco (I think). It looks like a bird’s head.”
“These are some nice canyons on the Libyan coast. Since the canyons meander, the river that formed them existed before the area was uplifted, which allowed the rivers to incise and form the canyons.”
“A lake in northern Canada. What are those weird lines? Huh. The lake surface is frozen and those are big cracks.”
“Yukon River Delta. It’s a very nice delta.”
“A river cutting a hole in the ice.”
“The dark green lines caught my eye because they didn’t make sense. My guess was that they were logging roads, but then why are they more vegetated than the surrounding fields?”
“Going back in time. They are certainly logging roads. I guess different plants grew on the churned up roads, thus the different colors seen in the last image.”
“Point Hope. This has got to be the most isolated place ever.”
