Photo Essay: The Most Alien (Human-Made) Landscapes on Earth
1. The Door to Hell, Darvaza, Turkmenistan
The collapse of a natural gas cavern in 1971 created this crater in a small Turkmenistan village. Officials made the call to ignite the noxious fumes…which have yet to stop burning.
Photographer: minifastcar33
2. Windfarm, San Gorgonio Pass, California, USA
Modern wind turbines and an eerie moonrise conspire to create this otherworldly scene.
Photographer: Caveman 92223
3. Sedan Crater, Nevada, USA
In the early ’60s, the U.S. government experimented with using nuclear bombs in massive construction works. Among other results was this, one of the world’s largest human-made craters.
Photographer: itjournalist
4. Libyan crop circles
Not all crop circles are made by aliens. These plots in Saharan Libya are created by nothing more mysterious than pivot irrigation.
Photographer: futureatlas.com
5. Burgan Field, Kuwait, 1991
During the Gulf War, parts of Kuwait’s vast Burgan Oil Field were set ablaze.
Photographer: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
6. Coal mines
The process of mining for coal alters the face of the landscape. Garzweiler, Germany (above) and Estercuel, Spain (below) are two of many examples.
Photographer: BK59
Photographer: Jen SFO-BCN
7. Rio Tinto, Spain
Leached iron and other heavy metals (another result of mining) give Spain’s Rio Tinto its name.
Photographer: Serafin-Sanchez
8. Centralia Mine Fire, Pennsylvania, USA
Another ignited mine that just won’t quit, the fire smoldering under Centralia has forced the evacuation of pretty much the entire town.
Photographer: jesiehart
9. Ground Zero, New York City
Photographer: slagheap
10. Oil slicks
It doesn’t take a headline-grabbing oil spill for petroleum to hit the water. Day-to-day extraction and processing operations leak plenty, as shown in these NASA images of Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo (above) and the Arabian Sea (below).
Photographer: Visible Earth, NASA
Photographer: Visible Earth, NASA
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Community Connection
For even more of the surreal, give Dead City Tourism: Abandoned Places of the World a read.
And don’t miss these other Trips photo essays:
Spectacular Waterfalls of the World
The Epic Beauty of the West Coast Trail
About the Author
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13 Comments... join the discussion!
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I had no idea number 9 was what it is until I read the title…what a striking photo. The reflection in 5 is amazing.
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Burning since 1971? That was the year I graduated from college, for perspective.
Nukes for construction? How did such an idea get off the drawing board?
Incredible photos and really interesting (if depressing) factoids. Where do you find this stuff?
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Wow. It’s amazing the power we have to alter our landscapes (for better or worse)
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Impossible to choose which of these images I find most disturbing.
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I have to say that the pic of Rio Tinto is beautiful in a way.
I don’t know if the windfarm in Cali is the one I’ve driven by many times heading toward I-5, but either way, they are kinda freaky, though mostly good for the environment (except for the birds, of course).
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I love the “windmills kill birds” argument. There’s such a slim chance of one of those blades actually hitting a bird, but how many are killed from the burning of fossil fuels and habitat loss due to drilling/mining?
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Not to mention airplanes.
Fab pics. Very disturbing.
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the ground zero pick looks like they are in some crumbling gothic cathedral.
another great photo essay!
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Hal you rock! It’s interesting how some things that are so wrong can appear so beautiful.
I love the Libyan photo!
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Thanks all. Glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned next week for some sweet shots from a trek in Nepal.
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Depressing!! Man has destroyed what God has created! Sad very sad! 8(
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I totally want to visit a door to hell now, surely it would be a good idea to turn that into a small geothermal station though, seems a waste of energy sitting there like that.
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