Clues:

1. This regional park claims to be the westernmost point on the mainland of its host country, but another site a few hundred kilometers north also claims that distinction. Whale-watching, clamming, sport fishing and scientific research are popular activities.

2. This site sits on several faults and is near where three tectonic plates meet; subduction here is causing some of the world’s highest rates of coastal uplift at 2.5 centimeters per 30 years. The rocks here range from 180-million-year-old dark-colored Jurassic conglomerates at the base of the cliffs and in the sea stacks to 7-million-year-old white sands and silts at the top of the cliffs, which gave the site its name.

3. After the numerous reefs and offshore islands were determined dangerous to the maritime culture off the coast, a lighthouse was constructed here in the 19th century. The lighthouse is the oldest original tower in the region and has one of the oldest continuously operating lights in the region.

Name this site and location.

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Clues:

1. This island with an influential name is part of an archipelago named to honor an important god (who was also said to reside here). Another ancient legend holds that this island was the site of a different god’s fiery work.

2. The archipelago of which this island is a part, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was once the site of a famous battle between two ancient empires.

3. A volcano was once the central feature of a nearby separate islet that is now connected to this island by an isthmus. The main island hosts several other stratovolcano cones, one of which (its large crater is pictured here) last erupted more than a century ago. The island has also lent its name to a type of explosive eruption that occurred there.

Name the crater and the island.

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Clues:

1. The eroding hills of a Pliocene formation fill this canyon, named for the brightly colored sediment that covers the hills.

2. The canyon, found in a valley of extremes, was originally settled by miners looking for gold but contains a different kind of mineral treasure. One of the region’s first operations to process the mineral is situated near this canyon and was built in the late 19th century.

3. The formation’s silty mudstones, which predate the valley, were originally deposited in lakebeds, but faulting and volcanism in the region during the Tertiary formed new mountains and valleys, washing the sediment into the canyon and mixing it with volcanic ash to form the mineral-rich formation.

Name the canyon and its location.

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Clues:

1.This stratovolcano is one of the host country’s most active explosive volcanoes, and is arguably its most infamous. In the past, however, it has not produced the country’s largest eruptions. Researchers have found that the region that hosts this volcano holds evidence of “supervolcano” eruptions in the geologic record.

2. This volcano is building a composite lava dome inside its crater. In April, researchers measured the lava dome at almost 93 million cubic meters. It has been growing at an average rate of almost 0.3 cubic meters per second.

3. The largest-known eruption of this volcano — which was named in the late 18th century by a British explorer — was given a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 5.

Name the volcano and its location.

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Clues:

1.On the western side of this volcanic island, the lava is different from the rest of the lava on the island: It is lighter in color, denser and is fine-grained. It has been further bleached by years of ocean spray. This particular flow marked one of the last lava flows on this island, more than 200 years ago.

2. Wave energy against the flowing lava caused the lava to harden in an upward, jagged formation. This area was named for the jagged points of this formation that look like the teeth of fiery mythical beasts.

3. The site lines the edge of a golf course and resort; golfing is a popular activity in this area thanks to the beautiful landscape and weather that hovers around 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) year-round.

Name this point and its location.

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Clues:

1.This village has existed for more than 2,500 years. The population used to be much greater than today’s mere 15 residents, as the 430-meter-high (more than 1,400 feet) village was once an important stop along an ancient road that connected to a number of trade routes throughout the region.

2. This village and the sedimentary tufa hill it sits on are slowly eroding away, due to wind and the two rivers that cut through the surrounding valleys. The natural bridge that once connected the village to its slightly bigger sister town has also eroded away. Now the only way to get to this village is to park at the base of the pinnacle and hike up a footbridge that is 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) long.

3. The greater region is often called the “Green Heart” of the host country, in reference to its lush river valleys and medieval hill towns. The village itself is often called “The Dying City.”

Name the village and its location.

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Clues:

1.This granite mountain, which formed about 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, is located in a volcanically active range but isn’t volcanic itself. At 2,970 meters (more than 9,400 feet), it is the second highest non-volcanic peak in this region.

2. The peak shares its name with a small range within the larger volcanic range. This mountain is the highest peak in the smaller range; however, it is less known for its overall elevation than for its craggy cliffs, at least one of which rises about 1,525 meters (5,000 feet) in just over 3 kilometers (2 miles). It is most notable for its sheer granite face that towers above a glacier.

3.This prominent peak can be seen from the summits of many other peaks in this region, and is a popular hiking spot, especially during the summer months, as the ascent does not traverse glaciers and can be done in a day.

Name the mountain and its location.

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Clues:

1.This 104-square-kilometer saline, alkaline lake near a vast volcanic crater is recharged by volcanic hot springs. The natural trona, an evaporite mineral, gives the lake its pink color. Companies lining the lake collect the minerals and process them into soda ash, which is used for glassmaking.

2. Thanks to the vast salt flats that surround the lake and keep predators away, during the dry season, thousands of pink flamingoes are also known to color the lake.

3. This lake, at the southern end of an ancient and still spreading rift valley, is shown in the film The Constant Gardener, though in the film the lake is called by another name. In a local language, the name of the lake actually means “salt.”

Name the lake and its location.

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Answer: Lake Magadi is the southernmost lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley. The alkaline lake, located near the Ngorongoro crater, is fueled by volcanic hot springs. The lake appears pink or red, thanks to the halophilic aerobic archaebacteria that live in the saline water (not due to the natural trona, as we stated in the original clues). Photo is by Alex Guth.

Clues:

1.This convex fold structure has long been used as a natural laboratory for structural geology students, as it so clearly illustrates the folds and thrust belts of this valley and ridge province. The jumbled sedimentary and metamorphic rocks date to a mountain building event from 350 million to 300 million years ago.

2. This structure, named after the part of the body of the animal it resembles, is visible thanks to a strip mine. Some cliff-like parts of the massive structure are up to 21 to 24 meters high. The name of this region also comes from an animal, albeit a different one.

3. Since the mine that exposes this structure closed, rumor has it that it has been frequently used for target practice, offroad bicycling, hiking and illicit drinking, as well as a geology lab.

Name this feature and its location.

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Clues:

1.These bluffs are part of a local park that borders a larger state park famous for its beaches. The smaller park got its name from the natural petroleum product seeping out of the cliffs. The bluffs are at the coast of a community named for a native “carpentry shop,” where the natives built fancy seagoing canoes and sealed them with the natural substance that was oozing out of the cliffs.

2. The bluffs are permeated with this petroleum product, which originated in shale in the late Miocene period. The sticky substance has impregnated overlying Pleistocene alluvial deposits that show pebbly layers and cross-bedding. Both formations are exposed in the bluffs along the beach.

3. Fossilized Pleistocene birds and plants have been found at this site, and not far away, this same formation famously sealed the fates of many large Pleistocene mammals. The park itself is just a few kilometers from one of the best surfing areas in the host region.

Name the park and its location.

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Clues:

1.This village is located in a caldera in a string of nine volcanic islands that form where three tectonic plates come together. The host island for this village and caldera — which share a “hot” descriptive name — is known for the verdant color of its lowland fields and meadows and highland forests.

2. The volcano that formed this particular caldera is a historically active stratovolcano. It last erupted in the 1600s, causing significant damages and fatalities. Volcanic eruptions on the host island chain have been rumored to be remnants of Atlantis.

3.This village and caldera are particularly known for a tradition in which locals cook casserole-type meals in holes in the ground that are heated by geothermal activity. Following the meals, visitors often bathe in the hot mud pits or hot springs.

Name the village and caldera, and their location.

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Clues:

1. This feature is a long, narrow ridge that formed when two glaciers carved into opposite sides of the same mountain. It separates two glacial valleys in an icy national park that used to host some 150 glaciers. This “wall” is one of the more prominent features in the park.

2. The exposed sedimentary rocks in the park range from 1.6 billion to 800 million years old, and are virtually unaltered. Hikers can often see ripple marks, mud cracks and impressions of raindrops that are hundreds of millions of years old.

3. Though carved by ice, the name of this feature evokes a more summery, green feel. An 84-kilometer-long road that carves through the park traverses this feature. Vehicle restrictions abound, however, as do seasonal restrictions. Sometimes, cross-country skiing is the only way to get around.

Name the feature and its location.

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Clues:

1. The creek that incised this 20-kilometer-long valley, 90 to 120 meters deep into Devonian-aged shales and siltstones formed some of the deepest gorges in this region. The valley was shaped by post-glacial headwater erosion at the end of the last ice age and continues to deepen as the creek winds its way from mountains, across a fertile plain to a great lake.

2. In the early 1800s, the region reportedly hosted a shale mine, lime kilns, sawmills, and a few oil and gas wells. Today, however, this valley hosts wildlife and conservation sanctuaries, surrounded by old growth forests.

3. Whitewater rafters, paddlers and fishermen love this valley. So too, do nudists — in the same valley, there is a nudist beach and swimming spot. It may not be legal to swim or be nude in the area, but rumor has it the site has been noted for its au natural swimming and sunbathing for more than 100 years.

Name this valley and its location.

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Clues:

1. Twenty-five million years ago, this bay’s host island was connected to the mainland. By 8 million years ago, a sea had grown up around it, turning it and many nearby locales into islands. Millions of years of uplift and subsidence, and sea-level rise and fall, have left the island rugged and difficult to pass, with some 3,000 caves and caverns and more than 100 gorges and bays, including the one seen here.

2. This location is prone to natural hazards. An earthquake in A.D. 365 caused massive uplift of the western half of the island, including the Mesozoic limestone visible in the picture. The quake also caused considerable damage to both cities on the island and far away via a tsunami. Even longer ago, a nearby volcanic eruption that blanketed the region in ash gave rise to the myth of a people and society that mysteriously vanished.

3. This popular bay on the southern part of the island is well-known for its cave diving and fishing opportunities, as well as centuries’ worth of archaeological ruins high atop the mountains and in the caves and caverns — including a famed monastery of St. John the Theologian, just above the water in the surrounding mountainsides.

Name this location.

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Clues:

1. A 200-square-kilometer state park shares the name of this waterfall, which cascades nearly 15 meters down and measures more than 60 meters across. At its maximum, a flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water per second has been recorded. This region has many waterfalls, due to harder Ordovician-aged dolomite overlying softer, eroded-away Cambrian-aged sandstones.

2. These “upper” falls are often called the root beer falls, due to the color of the water. The brownish water is caused by many different kinds of dissolved solids in the water, including organic materials such as tannic acids — the remains of the cedar, maple and hemlock forests surrounding the river.

3. Attracted by an abundance of fish and wildlife, including moose, deer and bears, natives lived along the shores long before lumberjacks settled the area in the late 1800s. During the thriving lumber industry, the river carried millions of logs to downstream lumber mills.

Name these falls and their location.

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Clues:

1.Early in the 20th century, a National Geographic explorer named this remote and desolate volcanically formed valley for the many smoking fumaroles he saw. The valley no longer emits smoke and ash, but the name remains, as does evidence of a cataclysmic eruption several years prior to the explorer’s visit.

2.Dozens of earthquakes, some up to magnitude 7, preceded the eruption here that buried more than 100 square kilometers of previously lush greenery with ash and pumice up to 215 meters deep.

3. This valley is part of a national park, which today hosts more than a dozen active volcanoes, as well as the world’s largest population of protected brown bears.

Name this valley and its location.

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Clues:

1.Part of a national park, a sulfur-rich lake rests in one of four craters found atop this peak, the country’s tallest active volcano, at more than 3,400 meters above sea level.

2.The volcano was named for both its noisy rumbling and its trembling, and has erupted multiple times over the last 300 years. A recent period of activity, ending a 20-year hiatus, began at the volcano on the day of a U.S. president’s official visit to the country and lasted for two years.

3. On a very clear day, two oceans reportedly may be visible from this volcano’s summit.

Name the volcano and its location.

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Clues:

1.In a region famed for its flatness and tornadoes, these spires and pinnacles appear to rise out of nowhere. Remnants of a Cretaceous-aged sea, these sedimentary “monuments,” which stand 21 meters high, formed through wind and water erosion and are held together by harder layers within the soft white rock.

2.The area is extremely rich in Cretaceous fossils, including swimming marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.

3. These formations are popular with tourists and geologists alike. They are the region’s first national natural landmark and are located on private property. Early pioneers used the monoliths as a landmark.

Name the site and location.

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Clues:

1.This lake and mountain, located in the backcountry of an immensely popular national park, are only accessible via a 13-kilometer hike from a trailhead. The trails usually do not even open until mid-summer due to heavy bear activity.

2.The lake, either named after its shape or a local hunter who frequented the region in the 1800s, is a popular fishing destination. The mountain at 3,142 meters high, was originally named for the color of the volcanic rocks that form its slopes. That original name now applies to the entire mountain range encompassing this mountain, and this highest peak in the small range has been renamed.

3. A significant portion of this area burned almost two decades ago, so the hike to the mountain and lake offers a good look at nature in recovery.

Name the mountain and its location.

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Clues:

1.Translated from its original native name into English, this mountain, one of the tallest in its home country, shares its name with a popular jewel.

2.The largely granitic mountain has weathered over time to create thousands of unique rock formations, including stone pillars, sharp cliffs and deep ravines. The 10,000-plus formations are thought to have cultural and spiritual significance for this region. The mountain also features deep ponds and waterfalls.

3. A major source of tourism for the region, with as many as 1 million people reported to have visited last year, this mountainous area will soon host a family resort complex, complete with an 18-hole golf course, skiing, several hotels and restaurants, as well as armed guards.

Name the mountain and its location.

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Clues:

1.This mountain’s name is based on the color and type of rock that composes it. The small mountain range in which this mountain is located and the surrounding wilderness area also derive their names from the rock.

2.Volcanic, tectonic and glacial activity have extensively shaped the region in which this 2,100-meter-tall mountain is located.

3. The surrounding wilderness area, first set aside in 1931, is well-known among spelunkers for its numerous caves and among fishermen for its dozens of lakes chock-full of trout. Although some visitors to the area have reported sightings of Bigfoot, people are more likely to see black bears and deer.

Name the mountain and its location.

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Clues:

1. This mountain is the tallest in its host mountain chain and is one of 14 mountains in the world taller than 8,000 meters.

2. The mountain has many layers of different rocks, beginning with metamorphic schist and gneiss at the base, which is topped by granite. The summit is composed of sedimentary rocks that are the remnants of an ancient sea dating back to 325 million years ago.

3. Despite its pristine look and remote location, some researchers estimate that in less than half a century, dozens of tons of glass, plastic and metal trash have been collected at this site. The host government began a cleanup plan in the 1990s, and has already removed several tons of trash.

Name the mountain.

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Clues:

1. A 12- to 15-day trek circumnavigates the 50-kilometer-long mountain range that is home to the glacially carved valley and moraine-blocked lake pictured here. Located in the northern part of the host country, the range is part of a much larger volcanic mountain range that runs the length of a continent.

2. Many peaks here have nearly vertical walls with overhanging ice, making them incredibly difficult to ascend. One of the highest peaks in this range was immortalized in a recent movie about two climbers’ perilous trek to the summit.

3. The name of this circuit trek and range means “weasel” (an indigenous animal of the region) in the local native language.

Name the range and location.

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Clues:

1. At about 1,915 meters above sea level (just over a mile high), this mountain is one of the highest points along a famous and arduous hiking trail. It boasts some of Earth’s most severe weather, with an average temperature in July only reaching about 48 degrees Fahrenheit and record wind speeds topping 350 kilometers per hour.

2. The mountain shares its name with an early leader of the host country — all of the
connected peaks in the mountain range are named after leaders of the host country.

3. The mountain range began as sediments in a shallow sea several hundred million years ago. The range was extensively shaped by glaciers during the last ice age. Today, significant freeze-thaw fracturing continues to break up the rocks in the range.

Name the mountain.

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