Our tour begins not on a remote mountainside but in North Beach, an urban neighbourhood at the heart of San Francisco. Not only is San Francisco built on top of 50 different hills, it also lies in one of the world’s most seismically-active areas, meaning slumps and collapses are always an issue. Google’s 45° imagery captured the aftermath of a 2007 slide that came crashing down on several apartment buildings (and a strip club!).

Further down the California coast is the small village of La Conchita, where in 1995 a large mudslide slumped directly behind the town. In 2005, the southeastern portion of the slump collapsed, sending 200,000 m3 (7 million cu ft) of mud and soil into La Conchita, destroying 13 houses and killing 10 people.

In the Los Angeles neighbourhood of San Pedro, Paseo del Mar is a street that has been slowly eaten away from below by cliffs collapsing into the sea. A closer look reveals not only the pieces of the old roadway lying in the rubble, but also the foundations of buildings removed for safety purposes.

Halfway around the world in Crimea, we see where human activity has caused a landslide, as the side of a limestone quarry is falling into the Black Sea.

In 1903, much of the Albertan coal mining village of Frank was buried when the entire east face of Turtle Mountain suddenly collapsed, sending 90 million tonnes of rock into the Crowsnest River valley and killing 90 people. Over a century later, the scar is still as plain as day, and the Frank Slide is a major tourist attraction. The current highway through the valley was built right through the middle of the slide’s debris field.

The 1987 Val Pola landslide in the Italian Alps obliterated five villages and six hamlets. Heavy rainfall accelerated erosion on the mountainside, causing a large fracture on the east side of the mountain. Most of the valley’s residents were evacuated a day before the slip occurred, but what was not expected was the resulting rock avalanche ploughing into a nearby lake and sending a massive wave of water 2 km up the valley, killing 22 people.

Often, landslides and landslips falling into river valleys end up damming the rivers and creating new lakes. Two recent examples are Bolivia’s Laguna Verde, where the slope was destabilised by excessive coca farming, and Dominica’s Miracle Lake, created in 1997.

All of these slides serve to remind us that in the battle of man and nature, nature usually wins.

Locations: Alberta, Bolivia, California, Italy, Ukraine / Categories: Natural Landmarks

View in Google Earth

The Atacama desert in South America is the driest desert in the world, and scientists often compare it to the arid surface of Mars. This place is so dry that weather stations collect an average rainfall is just 1 millimetre (0.04 in) per year in some regions, while mountains in other areas show no signs of even having prehistoric glaciers… ever. NASA uses this desert landscape to test out life-detecting instruments on future Mars missions.

The Atacama covers 105,000 km2 (40,600 square miles) of Northern Chile between the Chilean Coast Range and the Andes Mountains. The desert’s dry atmosphere is a result of mountains on both sides blocking incoming moisture and a coastal inversion layer from the cold Humboldt Current in the Pacific Ocean. You can see how the moisture just stops at the Andes using Google’s satellite mapping. This unique weather pattern results in the near complete and total absence of rain aside from some an occasional marine fog that keeps the algae, lichens and even some cacti hydrated.

Human population is scarce in this desert. Towns that do exist are often built around a natural desert oasis much like the village of San Pedro de Atacama. The town was founded around 1450 and today only holds a population of near 5,000. Visitors to San Pedro often report mild altitude sickness such as dizziness, lethargy and headaches due to the town’s high altitude of 2,400 m (7,874 ft) and dry atmosphere.

The Atacama’s nearly non-existent cloud cover, dry atmosphere, high elevation, and low population (meaning no pollution and radio interference) makes it an ideal location for astronomical studies. There are two major observatories in the desert including the La Silla Observatory, and the Paranal Observatory (which has great Google imagery resolution as well).

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Atacama was used on a large scale for mining sodium nitrate. When synthetic nitrate was invented in the early 1900s, many of these towns subsequently became abandoned – leaving as many as 170 deserted locations that can be seen across the desert today. Some of the most popular locations include Humberstone and Chacabuco. The desert does a great job of preserving these places by preventing natural erosion and decay.

The Atacama’s Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) gives you a chance to experience what it’s like to actually walk on the moon! Like its name suggests, this region west of San Pedro that looks an awful lot like the surface of the moon due to salt deposits that give the ground a white colour and lunar texture. Scientists believe that some of these grounds have not seen a drop of rain in over a hundred years!

The only thing missing from the lunar surface at Valle de la Luna are impact craters, but not to worry because south of this region you can find the Monturaqui meteorite crater. This 460 m (1,509 ft) diameter crater makes the experience of being in another world complete!

To read more about the Atacama, visit Wikipedia.

Locations: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru / Categories: Abandoned, Buildings, Deserts

View in Google Earth

We’ve previously covered Very Large Buddhas (which were seriously large), so now it’s time to seek out which is the largest Christ statue in the entire world!

Cristo de la Concordia, Bolivia

In Cochabamba, Bolivia we find the Cristo de la Concordia a 33.8m high statue (including 6.2m base), which makes it the third largest Christ in the world. One interesting feature of this monument is that you can climb up the stairs inside his chest, and get an excellent view of the city by way of reward.

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil

Possibly the best recognised of all the statues of Christ in the entire world, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil stands 709 m above sea level and measures in at 38 metres tall (including an 8m pedestal). The monument was inaugurated in 1931, and currently receives over two million tourists every year.

Christ the King, Colombia

Located 1,440 m above sea level and weighing in at around 464 tonnes, Christ the King, in Cali Colombia is a seemingly modest 41m, but is considered the largest representation of Jesus Christ in the world¹. The figure was completed in 1953, and at night the view is pretty impressive.

Cristo-Rei de Almada, Portugal

Now we’re talking! The world’s tallest Jesus Christ is surely the Cristo-Rei de Almada in Portugal, as it’s 110 metres tall! Unfortunately this is only the case if we include the height of the base – if not then it’s only a paltry 28m! Completed in 1959 it is of course an important religious and conventional tourist location.

Christ of Copoya, Mexico

Our last Christ is of truly epic proportions. The Christ of Copoya in the Mexican state of Chiapas began its construction in 2006, and when finished will top out a truly enormous 62 metres tall, which will make it the largest figure of Christ in the entire world. At least for a while

Finally, I recommend you also take an aerial tour of the Cristo del Otero in Palencia Spain, the Cristo de las Noas in Coahuila, Cristo del Cubilete in Guanajuato and the Cristo de la Habana.

Locations: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal / Categories: Monuments, Shadows

View in Google Earth

Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain as much as 10 billion tonnes of salt, and about 25,000 tonnes is collected here each year, using the traditional method of sweeping the salt up into neat piles to dry before being carted away.

However, salt is not Salar de Uyuni’s only valuable mineral: it also contains an estimated 5.4 million tonnes of Lithium, which is estimated to be between 50% and 70% of the world’s entire lithium supply! As a vital part of many electric batteries demand for lithium is on the increase, but Bolivia has been reluctant to let foreign mining companies onto the flat, instead opting to build their own modest plant which should be operational by 2012.

In the meantime, Salar de Uyuni still helps the economy through tourism. Hotel de Sal Playa Bianca, or “The White Beach Hotel” was built right in the middle of the salt flat and constructed from the very same salt. Unfortunately, due to the difficulties in sanitation, it was closed down in 2002.

Thankfully tourists can still experience living in a house of salt at either Hotel Luna Salada or the newer Palacio del Sal, both of which are built just on the edge of the salt flat. In an effort to protect their building from degradation, the Palacio del Sal enforces a strict “no licking the walls” policy.

Tourists to the area may also take a visit to Incahuasi island, also known as Island of the Fish. Located within the salt flat it is technically not an island, and is home to no fish. If that doesn’t tempt you, you could always visit the nearby town of Uyuni, which has a massive train boneyard.

Locations: Bolivia / Categories: Islands, Natural Landmarks

View in Google Earth

Running from Bolivia’s capital La Paz into a rainforest region known as the Yungas, the road has no barrier to the edge, and the two-way traffic shares a space just 12ft wide.

From the aerial shots, the road looks relatively safe as it casually winds through the trees. But load up the terrain layer in Google Earth, and you’ll see scary hairpin bends leading around the edge of a cliff face.

In fact, it seems “Death Road” is a very suitable nickname, as it’s estimated between 200 and 300 people die in this area each year!

Notoriety hasn’t helped the death toll here, as thrill-seeking tourists now visit the area just to drive on the road and it’s even popular with mountain biking lunatics.

More information and pictures on BBC, Wikipedia and Bolivian Geographic

Thanks: nova72

Locations: Bolivia / Categories: Other Vehicles

View in Google Earth