FIve Top Geosights

The Aurora
Interplanetary particle physics visible to the naked eyes. Places such as Scandinavia, southern New Zealand and Alaska are favoured for viewing them. Once you get there, the rules are simple enough: pick a time when Sun is lively, and look upward at night.




The Icelandic Ridge
The Mid- Atlantic Ridge emerges above sea level. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is normally hidden below about 2.5km of seawater, where it can only be explored with high-technology submersibles and other expensive gear. But for a more accessible view of ocean floor spreading in action, get on a plane to Iceland.




The Niagara Falls
One of the best-loved and most accessible geosights of all. They stretch across the Niagara River between the US and Canada, interrupted by Goat Island. Just over a kilometre wide, they carry 100,000 litres of water a second. They over 50m high, and are the biggest barrier on the short river which flows from Lake Erie and Ontario.




The Great Barrier Reef
The reef is undoubtedly the largest living thing on Earth, running for 2300km off the north-east coast of Australia. Its northward boundary seems to be the point at which the water gets too hot for the corals that build it to survive.




The Lake District
The Lake District in north-west England has become the beautiful place it is via a complex range of causes. It is on the edge of Europe and has a harsh climate in which its sub-1000m mountains can be as challenging as peaks three times as big in the Alps.