Jacob’s Well - One of the world's most dangerous diving spot

Jacob's Well in Texas Hill Country is a perennial karstic spring located on the bed of Cypress Creek in Wimberley. The mouth of the well is four meters in diameter through which thousands of gallons of water surges up per minute feeding Cypress Creek that flows through Wimberley, sustaining Blue Hole and the Blanco River, recharging the Edwards Aquifer, and finally replenishing estuaries in the Gulf of Mexico.

The well was first discovered in the 1850s when a couple of early settlers followed Cypress Creek to its source. They described the crevice in the creek bed which was overflowing with an abundance of clear, cool water as "like unto a well in Bible times." Since then, the location has been a beloved swimming hole for generations, a gathering place for Native Americans and early settlers, and a rich habitat for aquatic species. It is also a popular diving spot for thrill seekers despite the fact that at least eight divers have lost their lives here over the years.

 

18 frames on how built Ostankino tower

April 30, 1967 was put into operation the Moscow Ostankino TV Tower. Now it seems that it was once the tallest building in the world, survived a fire in 2000, has always been. But once it was just starting to build! Introduce you to a very interesting, in our view, a report on the construction of a television tower - with the technical details, based on historical photographs.

Tower, weighing more than 32 tons, built on a monolithic reinforced concrete foundation ring width of 9.5 meters, 3 meters in height and diameter (the circumscribed circle) of 74 meters. In decagonal concrete foundation tape with the help of hard reinforcement ring (it consists of 104 beams, each beam 24 wire with a diameter of 5 mm each) created prestressing - each bundle is tensioned by hydraulic jacks with a force of about 60 tons.

One day in Chinese Venice

A small but very picturesque village on the water - Uzhen that is a couple of hours drive from the city of Hangzhou.

National Geographic Photo Contest - 2013

The National Geographic Photo Contest for 2013 ends tomorrow, Nov. 30, but for procrastinators there’s still time to enter.The contest officially closes at 11:59:00 p.m. US Eastern Time Saturday. This post features a sampling of the entrants work. Winners in the three categories (people, nature, places) will be published in the National Geographic magazine. The caption information is provided and written by the individual photographer.

(Nature) An over/under water split level image of beautiful crimson red waratah anemones in a rock pool at low tide. What I really love about over/under photographs is that it gives the underwater element a sense of place. For the viewer it marries the underwater environment with our own familiar world. It links the unknown with the known. (Photo and caption by Matt Smith/National Geographic Photo Contest)

The Majestic Tufa Towers of Mono Lake, California (USA)

Mono Lake is a shallow salt water lake located in the high desert on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in California in the United States. The lake has no outlet to the ocean causing high levels of salts to accumulate in the waters. As a consequence of its high salinity, no fish live in Mono Lake, but there are plenty of brine shrimp that thrive in its waters. Over two million annual migratory birds use Mono Lake as a stop over and resting place as they fly to South America or the tropical oceans. They feed on the shrimps, lay eggs and hatch their young ones here.

The most unusual feature of Mono Lake are its dramatic tufa towers emerging from the surface. These rock towers form when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with the waters of the lake, which are rich in carbonates. The resulting reaction forms limestone. Over time the buildup of limestone formed towers, and when the water level of the lake dropped the towers became exposed.