1. Great intrusive body with 530km length, The Great Dyke, Zimbabwe / (S20 30/W29 40)

The image shows Archeozonic mafic dyke in Zimbabwe (approx. 2.46billion years). The great dyke is 3-12km wide and stretches out 530km from north-northeast to south-southwest, crossing the whole southern Zimbabwe region. The image focuses on 80km at the southern edge.
In the image, a few faults can be observed across the great dyke, of which the most peculiar right lateral fault at the upper part from northwest to southeast direction, causing the dyke to slide by a few kilometers. A river runs along the fault.
Valuable metal deposits including platinum and chrome are distributed all over the great dyke, providing an important source of income for the country's economy.

2. The world's largest class of igneous bodies, Bushveld Complex, South Africa / (S25 30/E27 30)

Bushveld Complex consists of stratiform alkali rock and granite rock intruded upper part of Archeozonic Transvaal system. The complex stretches 480km to east-west and 240km to north-south, comprising one of the largest classes of igneous bodies in the world.
Rustenburg layered system, a part of Bushveld Complex stores valuable minerals mainly platinum and chrome.
This image focuses on southern half of the Western Bushveld Complex. Distribution of platinum and chrome deposits can be observed outside of the rim.

3. The huge eye of the earth in the Sahara desert, Richat Structure, Mouritania / (N21 00/W11 20)

Located western edge of Sahara desert at central Mauritania in northwest Africa, there is a giant circle called Richat Structure, whose diameter ranges as long as 38km.
First, Richat structure was considered an impact crater. However, by the fact that it doesn't contain any particular mineral and that the depth is too shallow for its diameter, it is considered a dome structure formed by intrusive rock. Rim of the dome is composed of quartzite, which is quite strong against erosion and higher than the surrounding area by about 100mt.
As seen at the upper part of the image, Makteir sand dune spreads to the north of Richat Structure.

4. The great salt dome in the Holmuz straight, Qeshm Island, Iran / (N26 50/E55 30)

Qeshm Island floating in Straits of Hormuz at southeastern edge of Iran. Salt dome stands out in the image at lower left.
Salt dome is formed when sedimentary rock piles up on thick salt stratum. Since salt is lighter than surrounding rocks, it is raised upward changing sedimentary stratum covering above.
At geologically unstable areas, pressure from deformation or movement of rocks occasionally pushes up salt stratum. Due to the fact that many oil reservoirs were found along rim of salt, a salt dome is geologically an important subject for oil exploration.

5. Salt dome in the Arctic, Isacksen salt dome, Elf Ringnes Isl. NWT, Canada / (N78 40/W101 40)

Isacksen salt dome is in Elf Ringnes Island of Queen Elizabeth Islands in NWT, Canada. The dome is 6km in diameter and consists of evaporate formed in late Silurian and intruded in Cretaceous strata. There are some other salt domes around here. These geological feature tells us that quite thick evaporates deposited from late Cambrian to late Silurian.
The fact that these evaporates exist in lat. 75 ~ 78 degrees N indicates that back in those days, Canada shield was formed under high and dry temperature.

6. The world's lowest altitude and highest salinity lake, Dead Sea, Israel / (N31 10/E35 20)

Located in the world's lowest altitude, the Dead Sea is a salty lake formed along Dead Sea graben in north-south direction. Water level on the lake surface is _395m and the lake contains 31.5% of salinity, which is 7 ~ 8 times more than that of the average seawater.
The southwest edge of Dead Sea is shown in the upper right of the image. It is western edge of Dead Sea graben belt. Dead Sea graben belt is a pull-apart basin along boundary of African plate and Arabian plate. Marks of intricate upheaval can be seen along faults, as well as some echelon faults.
Originally, the area was part of a sea, which withdrew later leaving a lake behind. The increase in salinity of the lake occurred after severe evaporation.

7. The world's lowest humidity mountain range, Cord Domeyko, Antofagasta, Chile / (S23 40/W68 50)

Cord Domeyko, which stretches Antofagasta in northern Chile is over 3000m high and one of the most dry area in the world.
Cord Domeyko is covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks. At the edge of the image, Domeyko fault system extends to north-south direction.
Other than stock-work type gold and silver deposits, vein type gold and silver deposits were confirmed, which makes the area one of the highest potential mineral resources reservoirs.

8. Transform fault along plate boundary, San Andreas Fault, California, USA / (N34 30/W118 00)

San Andreas Fault is great right lateral fault extending from NNW-SSE across California State.
This is a great dextral strike-slip fault crossing California State from north-northwest to south-southeast. This transform fault is formed along the boundary of North American plate and Pacific Ocean plate, extending out to at least 1200km limited to the area identified so far. The fault is estimated to be moving 2cm a year on the average.
Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 occurred at the boundary had a magnitude of 7.1 causing great damages to the region. One of the largest earthquakes next to the one occurred near San Francisco in 1906 having a magnitude of 8.25.
The image is around Palmdale in northern Los Angels. The fault extends across the center of the image.

9. Fold mountains by the corision of African plate, Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco / (N28 45/W09 30)

The image is near Taidalt, southern side of Anti-Atlas Mountains in Southwest Morocco. Typical fold Atlas Mountains were formed when Africa and Eurasia continents collided during orogenic movement in Cenozoic and Ththys Sea Closure. Atlas Mountain system is composed of Atlas mountains extending far out to Southern Morocco and Anti-Atlas Mountains of the south side.
Cambrian slate, limestone and sandstone in mountain area, shown in greenish color in the imagery are well-reserved because of their resistant to the erosion and weathering. The extremely strong upheaval movement in the region is shown in the imagery.

10. Fold system by the Indian subcontinent drift, Sulaiman Thrust Belt, Pakistan / (N31 00/E69 30)

The image shows Sulaiman Thrust Belt in Central Pakistan. Huge alluvial plain of Indus lies to east and Sulaiman Thrust Belt was formed when Indian sub-continent collided with Eurasian continent and compressed to westward direction. The topographic feature is evident in the image. As one head from north to south along Sulaiman Thrust Belt, younger formations are exposed on the ground surface, and a few thrust sheets developed in the belt, with repeated Palaeogene system and Cretaceous system.
Sulaiman Thrust Belt is one of the major natural gas production areas in Pakistan. Giant gas fields were found one after another in time of oil exploration started in 1950.

11. Anticline structure by the Indian subcontinent drift, Zinda Pia Anticline Structure, Pakistan / (N30 30/E70 20)

The image shows anticline of Tertiary rocks in central Pakistan. Along with Sulaiman Thrust Belt (image no. 10), the structure was formed by compression at a time of collision between indian sub-continent and Afghan plate accompanied by the drift of Indian sub-continent to the north direction.
Gas reservoirs are distributed in the anticline, and a giant gas field was discovered in northern part of the structure.

12. Anticlinal structure by the Arabian plate drift, Souteastern part of Zagros Mountains, Iran / (N27 40/E55 30)

The image shows southeastern part of Zagros Mountain in south Iran. Topographic feature of the area is clear since it hardly nurtures any vegetation.
Mostly, southern edge of Iran was once a huge Tethys geosyncline, which stretched to northwest through the present Mediterranean Sea area and the surrounding mountains. It went thorough severe deformations in Cenozoic, with the most severe one in Pliocene.
Zagros Mountains are a huge anticline composed of Tertiary limestone and sandstone. Cretaceous rocks are exposed after erosion. Pale blue parts around the center and southern parts of the image show limestone strata and the surrounding brown parts sandstone strata.

13. Anticlinal structure by the Arabian plate drift, Northwestern part of Zagros Mountains, Iran / (N33 50/E47 00)

The image shows Sarneh and its surrounding area at the northwest of Zagros Mountains in west Iran, near the border with Iraq. It shows well- developed Zagros fold structure.
Zagros fold belt constitutes Zagros Mountains, which stretches from west-northwest to east-southeast along Persian Gulf. Reverse faults and nappe structures have been developed in the area. The fold structure consists of sedimentation piled up on Arabian Plateau in and after upper Cambrian, marked by repeated fold axis of 10 to 20 km wide and well- developed salt diapirs. The fold was formed in Pliocene or later and the diapirs originate in Hormuz Salt in upper Precambrian and mainly formed in Cretaceous.

14. Huge Iron Formations, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia / (S22 30/E116 45)

The image shows Pilbara Craton, stable blocks in Archean distributed in northwest of Australia. Northern area consists of granites and greenstones of approximately 3.6 ~ 2.8 billion years ago in Archean. Southern area is sedimentary basin from Archean to Proterozoic, of which green area called Hamersley group, distinctive with its banded iron formation is the worlds largest iron formation.
2.5 billion years ago, when earth is believed to be in sedimentation era, huge amount of oxygen was supplied all of a sudden and oxidized bivalent iron in water was deposited, which caused to crate giant iron formations. Stromatolite and bacteria fossils found in the surrounding strata are believed to have supplied oxygen back in those days. Strata in the area proves great environmental change in earth history.

15. >Uplift of Proterozoic sedimentary rocks, Leigh Creek, Flinders Range, South Australia / (S31 00/E138 30)

This is an area centering Leigh Creek, which is approximately 500km north of Adelaide, South Australia, and north of Flinders Range located west of Gawler craton.
Flinders Range is a block made of upheaval sedimentary rocks in Proterozoic, which covers rocks in Cambrian. The range is located approx. 650km north of Adelaide and the total length reaches a few hundred kilometers, crossing southern half of South Australia from south to north. Diapiric intrusive rocks appear on the ground surface at the center of the range and distributed eastern side of trough called Shankland.
Mining of uranium, gold and zinc is working in Flinders Range and open pit of coal in Triassic is working in Leigh Creek.

16. The world's largest outcrop of ophiolite, Semail Ophiolite, Oman / (N23 25/E57 15)

Semail Ophiolite, nappe thrust in Oman, Arabian Peninsula is one of the largest ophiolites in the world.
Bottom half of the image shows Jebel Akhdar Structure, which forms anticlinal structure, while in the upper half, Semail Ophiolite, one of the largest nappe thrust in the world is clearly distinctive.
Semail Ophiolite ranges 80km wide and 500km long, formed when Eurasia continent and Africa-Arabian continent collided in the end of Cretaceous, which caused Tethys sea plate existed in the middle fell into pieces and thrust.

17. Troodos Ophiolite, Cyprus / (N35 10/E32 45)

Southwest coast of Cyprus island, which floats in east of Mediterranean Sea. Dark colored rocks around the center of the image shows Troodos Ophiolite. Ophiolite is a bedded composite rock body, which consists of basalt, gabbro, peridotite and so on, which originate in orogenic zone.
It was formed as oceanic earth crust thrust into continental earth crust by orogenic movement. It belongs to the Alps Himalayan ophiolite zone in Mesozoic.
Massive iron pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite deposits called Cyprus massive sulfide deposit is distributed in ophiolite of Cyprus. Blue circles in upper and lower right of the image show open-cut mining, under operation now. The word, "copper" comes from Cyprus.

18. Precambrian Greenstone Belt, Burkina Faso / (N11 50/E01 55)

This is eastern edge of Burkina Faso(near border between Niger and Benin) in Midwest Africa. Birrimian super group, correlated to Greenstone Belt is distributed in the region. In the super group, vein system gold ore deposit restricted by fault, exists in and around green stones, and exploitations are done manually here and there.
Greenstone Belt is composed of volcanic rock, volvaniclastic material, sedimentary rock etc. distributed in stable block in Precambrian. It accompanies huge amount of granites. These rocks from volcano are called greenstone because metamorphic reaction turns their color into deep green.
The subsurface reflects the semi-arid climate particular to Sahel region, with thorny shrubs distributed along rivers, as well as Laterit incrustation, weathered sand layer and foundation rocks distributed on the surface according to the weathering condition.

19. The world's biggest monolith, Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Mount Olga (Kata Tjuta), Northern Territory, Australia / (S25 20/W131 00)

The image above shows Ayers Rock sitting in the center of Australia, and the image below shows Mount Olga located 30km west of it.
Ayers Rock, formally called Uluru is the world's biggest monolith formed by Precambrian rock, which is 348m high, 3.6km long and 2.5km wide. Since Ayers Rock is composed of an extremely hard sandstone without cracks, it is believed that it gradually surfaced above ground after all the other rocks weathered into sand and carried away.
On the other hand, Mount Olga, formally called Kata Tjuta is formed by 36 blocks.

20. The world's oldest shield, Canadian Shield, Northwest Territories, Canada / (N67 30/W111 30)

The image shows the world's largest shield, mostly located in Canada, in Precambrian distributed in northeast of North America. Canadian Shield is also called Laurentian Shield.
Elevation of Canadian Shield gets lower toward the center of the shield. It is also divided into several geological districts based on orogene. The image is focused on the area called "Churchill district", most of which is composed of metamorphic rock or granite. There is no vegetation at all in the area, only numerous scars made in Glacial Age stand out.

21. Earth engraving by erosion, Cordillera Occidental, Peru / (S14 40/W74 30)

This image shows the western mountain ranges in northeast of Nazca city, south of Peru. This area is over 3,000m from sea level. Precipitation in the area is extremely low, one of the driest area in the world. Rainfall is rare but it often turns torrent, causing rapid current down the steep slope leading into Pacific Ocean, eroding low vegetation ground and forms straight lined deep valley.

22. The world's largest class of caldera, Aso cardela, Kyushu, Japan / (N32 50/E131 00)

This is the world's largest class of caldera located in the center of Kyusyu in Japan, which is 25km in north-south direction and 18km in east-west. The image is focused on southwest one fourth of the caldera.
Mt. Aso erupted massive pyroclastic flow for four times from approx. 300 thousand to 80 thousand years ago, which formed flat foot slope. Collapse induced by huge amount of pyroclastic materials is believed to have formed such a large caldera.
Rice fields spread at the bottom of caldera with villages, whose total resident amounts to 100,000. There is vast green meadow with two swamps in the upper right of the image, and crater of Mt. Aso surrounded by deep blue ejecta to the right.

23. Catastrophic eruption that buried Pompeii, Vesuvio Volcano, Italy / (N40 45/E14 25)

The image shows Vesuvio Volcano, a composite stratovolcano in Quaternary located east of Napoli, Italy. The basement consists of limestone from Jurassic to Cretaceous, sedimentary rocks in Tertiary, and so on. Magma reservoir is considered to exist inside limestone in Triassic.
The volcano started its activity in late Pleistocene, giving rise to a symmetrical conic shaped stratovolcano Somma, on top of the mountain body composed of trachytic lava and pyroclastic substances. Large scaled eruption began in 79 A.D. and buried piedmont in southeast direction and towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum with pyroclastic flow composed of huge amount of pumice and ash. Later, the volcanic activity stopped until 1631, but eruption restarted in 1632 and it still continues regularly.

24. Debris avalanche by the eruption of St. Helens St. Helens Volcano, Washington, USA / (N46 20/W122 10)

The image shows St. Helens Stratovolcano in Washington State, northwest USA. It belongs to High Cascades volcanic belt in North America.
The mountain erupted in 1980 for the first time in 123 years. The mountain body collapsed from magma intrusion, deforming the caldera in horseshoe shape, open to northward (approx. 2km diameter). Debris avalanche and volcanic mudflow in blue gray color in the image show the scale of eruption at that time.
St. Helens Volcano used to be a beautiful symmetrical stratovolcano, but the eruption lowered the height by as much as 400m and sediments of volcanic mudflow completely changed the shape of Spirit Lake in the north.
Ash cloud by the eruption reached up to stratosphere, and the ash reached all over the continent of North America, partly resulting in unusual weather of the year.

25. The active volocano in the Andes Mountains, Pampa Luxsar lava complex, Bolivia-Chile border / (S20 50/W68 10)

This is Pampa Luxsar Composite Lava located around the border between Bolivia and Chile in South America. Cerro Luxsar of 3800m high sits in the center of the image. At upper right corner of the image, southwestern edge of Salar de Uyuni can be seen.
Lava from more than one mountain is in different colors and has different textures, reflecting differences in the components and the time of eruption. Mountain side of Luxsar, the largest one, is composed of andesite and basaltic andesite lava showing smooth surface.
Most Andes Mountains exist in an extremely dry weather condition without vegetation, suited for a satellite sensor to provide important information on earth surface for geological categorization.

26. The hottest spot in Antarctica, Mt. Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica / (S77 32/E167 10)

Mr. Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctic Continent. It was discovered in 1841 by James Ross expedition in England. Earnest Shackleton, an English explorer climbed to the caldera wall of the crater for the first time in 1908.
The mountain repeats strombolian eruption for a few times in a day and has phonolite lava lake on top of it, which is rare worldwide. It belongs to stratovolcano, with three-fold caldera as can be confirmed in the image.
McMurdo base, the largest base for Antarctic exploration of the U.S. and Scott base of New Zealand are located at the tip of Hut Point Peninsula, which stretches long to the south of Mt. Erebus.

27. The abstract art by the Sahara, Tanezrouft Basin, Sahara Desert, Algeria / (N25 40/E02 45)

The Image shows Tanezrouft Basin, in Sahara Desert in South Algeria, North Africa. As the word Tanezrouft means "land of terror", there is nothing but deserted land in the area. It is 150km away from here to the closest oasis, "In Salar".
Watching skewed line with many layers, one might take to believe that it is an abstract painting. After sedimentary layers in Paleozoic were eroded by wind, pattern like this surfaced on the ground.
Contrast of sand in yellow, salt in white and silt in blue seen in the image adds to its mysteriousness.

28. The interaction of ocean and desert, Namib Desert, Namibia / (S25 30/E15 10)

This is where ocean and desert meets, an image of Namib Desert in southwest Africa. Namib Desert is namely, next to coastline. Mists made when warm air and cold Benguela Current meet is peculiar to the area, but rainfall doesn't reach inner desert area because the mists formed along narrow coastal zone scatter away instantly.
Sand dune stretches long to the coastline, across the wind direction. From coast to inner continent, color of the sand dune changes pale blue, blue, yellow, white yellow and yellow at an interval of about 10km, showing different patterns in each color zone.
Around rock in upper right of the image, wind from north carries sand over the rock. Sand dune can not be formed in between these rocks, because wind blows from all sides.

29. The star dunes in the Sahara desert, Grand Erg Oriental, Tunisia / (N30 20/E09 20)

Sand dunes in Grand Erg Oriental, located near the border between Tunisia, Libya and Algeria in North Africa have peculiar form like star or jellyfish.
From the fact that straight line is formed when wind blows from one direction, strong winds from various directions in the area are considered to have formed sand dunes like these. Average height of the sand dune is approx. 100m and the average length is approx. 2km from one edge to the other.

30. Endless dunes, Rub Al Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia / (N18 50/E48 20)

This is a typical longitudinal dune in Rub Al Khali Desert in Saudi Arabia, southern Arabian Peninsula. Due to strong trade wind from northeast and immense supply of sand, sand dune in the area is formed parallel to wind direction.
Sand dune in the area is almost uniform, but yellow zone in lower right of the image has higher and well-developed sand dunes, compared to blue zone in upper left.
Rub Al Khali means "empty zone" in Arabic. There is nothing but sand dune in the area of more than 100km.

31. Complex Crescentic Dunes, Rub Al Khali Desert, Saudi Arabia / (N20 30/E54 10)

This is an image of Rub Al Khali Desert in Saudi Arabia, south of Arabia Peninsula. It is located north of the desert shown in the image no. 30. Lines of crescentic sand dunes, also called barchan sand dunes are distributed all over the image. Sand supply in such sand dune is small and wind blows from the same direction.
Arabia Peninsula was separated from Africa continent and moved along Gulf of Aden. Fold structure formed as a result of the separation reserves the world's largest oil accumulation. Ground surface seen in blue in the image consists of salt-saturated silt, clay and muddy sand, which is called Sabkha sediment. This unique shape and pattern were created after yellow sand sedimented on top of the sediment.

32. Density current ; Unmixed river water, Rio Amazonas and Rio Negro, Manaus, Brazil / (S03 10/W59 50)

This is near Manaus, North Brazil, where Amazon and Negro rivers meet. Water flow from the two great rivers keep running unmixed for more than 100km, because Negro river contains small suspended matter, while Amazon contains much.
Water flow in Amazon is the greatest of all the rivers in the world, totaling 15% of the world's total freshwater flow from rivers. The river basin occupies about half of the land of Brazil.
Difference in the amount of sediment contained in the two rivers results in the difference of their colors, black for Negro river and blue for Amazon. Amazon river keeps carrying sediments supplied from watershed areas in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and vast west Brazil into Atlantic Ocean.

33. Mouths of the Tigris and the Euphrates, Shatt al Arab Delta, Iraq-Kuwait border / (N29 45/E48 00)

This is Jazirat Bubiyan Island, located at the northern end of Persian Gulf, Middle East. Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet at Al Qurnah, where the river changes its name to Shatt al Arab river. The river flows into Persian Gulf after meeting Karun River flowing from Zagros Mountain. Large amount of sediments carried by the river forms vast delta at its mouth. Jazirat Bubiyan Island is at the southern tip of the delta, and border between Iraq and Kuwait runs across the island.
White areas along the coastline and at southern part of the island are considered salt left after water evaporated.

34. The world's largest class of delta, Ganges Delta, Bangladish / (N22 00/E90 45)

This image is southernmost tip of Bangladesh, a part of Ganges Delta. Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers originate in southwest and northwest of Great Himalaya respectively. Where the two rivers meet, complicated braided streams are formed for as long as 300km as if the rivers flow into each other so hard and broke out in pieces. The image is just a small portion of vast Ganges Delta, of approx. 60,000km2. The world's highest mountains behind it and climate famous for its monsoon contributed to create the terrain.
In the image, light blue color indicates that ocean in the area is extremely shallow due to the sedimentation. Dark red in the southern area shows forests with mangrove, nipa etc. grow gregariously, called Sundarban.

35. Great Maze inside Delta, Kutch Delta, India / (N23 50/E68 30)

This image shows delta in Gulf of Kutch, western India. The area is surrounded with Great Rann of Kutch to the north, Little Rann of Kutch to the west and Kathiawar Peninsula to the south.
Most western part of Gujarat state is occupied by vast salt-rich marshes, developed in Quaternary alluvial plain, the elevation is almost the same as the sea-level. Marshes in Kutch are divided in little rann and great rann. Only little rann has channels like maze. Both are covered by old muddy plain with dry salt with some poor drained muddy areas.
Salt remaining on the land surface shows effect of monsoon in the area, which brings seawater in the bay and dehydrates in the following dry season.

36. Bird Foot Delta, Mississippi Delta, Louisiana, USA / (N29 10/W89 30)

This image shows a Bird Foot Delta, developed near the mouth of Mississippi River flowing into relatively deep part of Gulf of Mexico. Red parts in the image shows vegetation and light blue indicates the place dense with suspended solids and black ocean with little suspended solids.
This delta developed as main tributaries widened, and accumulation rates overrun the strength of the water flow. Run of light blue flow at the southern river mouth indicates the supply of the sediment and that the delta is still in the process of development.
For millions of years, Mississippi River keeps running into Gulf of Mexico. Shallow coast at both sides of the delta tells us the place was once delta formed by the river. The present delta was developed after last glacial stage.

37. Hooked Spit, Notsuke Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan / (N43 30/E145 15)

The image shows unique spit of Notsuke Peninsula protruding in Strait of Nemuro, eastern Hokkaido. Gravel from coastal area or rivers is brought here by the coastal current. Edge of the peninsula is curved toward inland.
The Terrain was formed due to steady current along Shiretoko Peninsula. Coarse-grained sediment is accumulated at ocean side, while fine-grained at inland side. The inland side of the Peninsula is called Odainuma bog and there is a tourist spot called Todowara, where withered forest trees are buried.

38. The world's largest size of coral reefs, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia / (S16 30/E145 50)

Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reefs, extending from south of Papua New Guinea down to the southern circle for more than 2000km. Coral reefs in the area developed along coastline of Australia, from a few kilometers to a few score kilometers away from it.
The image is focused on coral reefs off Cairns, Queensland, Australia, that are the closest from the continent.
The environment of the ocean provides warm and clean seawater, which is indispensable for the growth of coral.

39. Glacial Lake, Lago di Como, Lombardia, Italy / (N46 00/E09 15)

This is Lago di Como, approx. 40km north of Milano, Italy. The lake was dammed up by moraine along with Lago Maggiore and Lago di Lugano in the west. Area around here is a famous tourist spot called Lake District. Water from lakes in the area flow into Po River, which is connected to Adriatic Sea. Lago di Como is approx. 46km long, 4.3km wide and the maximum depth is 420m, the deepest lake in Europe.
Terminal moraine pushed away by the movement of glacier at last Glacial Stage is distributed in the south of Lago di Como with a few glacial lakes inside.

40. U-shape valley by glaiciation, The Aspiring National Park, S. Island, New Zealand / (S44 30/E168 20)

This is Aspiring National Park, in South Alps Range, southwest of South Island, New Zealand. U-shape valleys were formed by glaiciation in the end of Glacial Age, 14 thousand years ago. Generally, V-shape valley will be formed by fluvial erosion, while U-shape by glacial erosion. Cross section of U-shape shows contrast of steep wall and bottom flattened with fluvio-glacial deposits.
Area around here is called Te Wahipounam, which includes four national parks of Mt. Cook, Fjord Land, West Land and Aspiring. Its spectacular nature of mountain ranges, rivers, glaciers, fjords and beech woods are officially designated as precious assets of world heritage.

41. The world's first Confirmed Impact Crater, Barringer Impact Crater, Arizona, USA / (N35 00/W111 00)

The impact crater, also called Meteor crater of approx. 1.3km of diameter and 145m depth is located in Colorado Plateau near Flagstaff, north of Arizona, USA. By the discovery of coesite and stishovite, minerals made when meteorite hits on earth ground, the crater was officially recognized as an impact crater for the first time in the world's history.
Since the crater was made in Permian sandstone and limestone layer in Permian, bulged rim typical to crater is prominent. The collision is estimated to be approx. 50 thousand years ago. Judging by the size, a meteorite of approx. 80m diameter and 2 million tons is considered to have hit the ground at a speed of 20km per second. Dry climate in the area helped to preserve the crater almost unchanged.

42. The world's largest size of impact crater, Vredefort Ring Structure, South Africa / (S27 10/E27 30)

Vredefort Ring Structure located 120km to southwest from Johannesburg, mid-north of South Africa. Although this ring structure is not officially confirmed to be an impact crater, it is believed to be one made approx. 2 billion years ago from the fact that minerals made by meteorite collision was found and based on other geological features. Its diameter is beyond 100km, which is the largest of all impact craters in the world. The image is focused on southwest part.
Basement rocks, mainly consists of granitic gneiss is in the center of Vredefort and new layers are distributed toward outside. As a unique character, basement rocks encircles the new layers all over again.

43. The world's largest class of impact crater, Manicougan Imapct Crater, Quebec, Canada / (N51 25/W68 40)

Manicougan Impact Crater in southern Labrador in Quebec, Canada, is considered one of the world's largest impact craters though it is not officially recognized. It is believed to have been made by the collision of meteorite more than 200 million years ago, and the land was further lowered by the movement of glacier to south, retrograde and erosion.
Now, the crater stores abundant water resource, which is also used for hydraulic power generation on its way heading down to St. Lawrence River.
Due to persistent topographic change on earth such as crustal movement or erosion, most impact craters have been disappeared, except for the ones made in relatively stable areas such as Canadian Shield.

44. The world's second largest impact crater, The Wolf Creek Impact Crater, West Australia /(S19 10/E127 50)

This is the Wolf Creek Impact Crater located near the border between Western Australia and Northern Territory, mid-northern Australia. The shape is relatively well preserved. Diameter of the crater is approx. 840m and was formed 300,000 years ago. This is the largest one next to Barringer in USA among all the officially recognized impact craters.
Circular form stands out in monotone terrain of desert. Rim area of the crater is 25m higher, and dent inside is 25m lower than the surrounding area. Minerals made by the collision of a meteorite and fragment of iron meteorite were found in areas surrounding the crater.
Inner land area, to the south of the crater, Great Sandy Desert and Gibson Desert stretch and shut out trespass of human beings.

45. Impact crater coverd with desert sand, The Roter Kamm Impact Crater, Namibia / (S27 45/E16 20)

Roter Kamm Impact Crater, located southern edge of Namib Desert, southwest Africa, is prominent with its perfect circular form, although dent inside is filled with aeolian deposit. The crater is 2.5km in diameter and was made 3.7 million years ago (not officially recognized).
Rim of the crater is composed of breccia made by the collision of meteorite, not Cambrian bed, which is basement rock of the area.
Roter means red in Germany. The name was given because the crater becomes red in early morning and in the evening when sun angle is low.

46. Oil resource in the neutral zone, Wafra Oil Field, Kuwait-Saudi Arabia / (N28 45/E47 45)

In the neutral zone beyond Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, approx. 590,000 barrels of oil per day are produced from 5 fields (as of 1999). Oil reserves in the area is estimated to be approx. 5 billion barrels. Dry climate in the area makes it possible to clearly observe production facilities and stretches of road in Wafra Oil Field. The oil field was discovered by Getty Oil Co. in 1953, the earliest among all the oil fields under operation in the neutral zone. Texaco Inc. and KOC took over the oil production later.
Arabia tableland, where the neutral zone exists, is covered with thick sediments from Paleozoic to the present. Oil pool exists from 5,000 to 9,000 feet underground. Output of crude oil from the neutral zone is equally shared by the two countries.

47. The world's first developed open pit porphyry copper mine, Bingham Mine, Utah, USA / (N40 30/W112 15)

This is the typical open pit porphyry copper mine in Bingham Mine, located 20km southwest of Saltlake city, Utah, USA. The monzonite porphyry intruded Pensylvanian system. The mineralization disseminated copper and contact metasomatism (skarn) between limestone and porphyry of copper, lead, zinc and silver. The ore body forms zonal distribution, from intruded porphyry toward outside; copper_copper/lead/zinc_lead/zinc/silver_silver/gold exists.
This mine is famous for being the first developed porphyry copper mine in the world. Upper left corner of the image shows a disposal pond.
This mine was named after Mormon Bingham brothers who pioneered the area in 1848.

48. The world's largest porphyry copper mine, La Escondida, Chile / (S24 10/W69 00)

This is La Escondida located in Puna de Atacama of over 3,000m above sea level, in northern Chile, South America. The world's largest porphyry copper mine started its operation in 1990 by a company in Australia under the cooperation of Japanese companies. Part of ore mined here is transferred to Japan for refining.
Open pit and mining facilities can be clearly identified in the image.
Represented by Zaldivar deposit and El Salvador deposit, a lot of other deposits of gold, silver and copper exist in the area. Since there is no vegetation, it is an ideal place to develop extraction technology of alteration mineral, by applying remote sensing technology.

49. The largest diamond mine in Botswana, Orapa Diamond Mine, Botswana / (S21 30/E25 40)

Orapa Diamond Mine is the largest diamond mine in Botswana, located in the center of Botswana, southern Africa. It is also famous for being one of the world's largest kimberlite type mine. The diamond mine is operated by Debswana corporation whose stock is owned by De Beers Co. and government of Botswana, 85 % and 15 % respectively. Ever since it was discovered in 1967, the diamond mine contributed to the economy of the destitute country to have the greatest influence in diamond market. In 1971, income brought by the diamond mine constituted more than half the GDP of Botswana. Orapa mine is printed on postage stamp in the country.
Outside of the open pit, the number of barrier walls surrounding it depicts the seriousness of the security guard.

50. The largest diamond mine in South Africa, Venetia Diamond Mine, South Africa / (S22 30/E29 20)

This is the largest diamond mine in South Africa, located 80km from Messina, northern South Africa. The world's biggest syndicate De Beers owns the mine.
The mine was opened in 1990, started production in 1993 and produced 4.5M ct diamonds in 1998.
12 kimberlite pipes are famous in the area around Venetia. Two of them are used for mining now. Down to 400m underground is mined by open pit, but plans to shift to underground mining in the future
Outside the open pit, double walls and private airport can be observed in the image.