Ever since of the discovery of Adobe Photoshop, every amazing image that is on the Internet is believed to be fake. Almost any awe-inspiring picture has hundreds of comments screaming “Fake!” or “Photoshopped!” Contrary to popular belief, there are thousands of naturally occurring phenomena in nature that look so amazing, it would actually be hard to create the image yourself.
Below are 15 of some of the craziest natural phenomena that look fake, but are totally real. Each and every one has a scientific explanation, too.
1. Lake Kaindy’s undewater forest in Kazakhstan.
Near the city of Almaty, this forest is entirely underwater and over 400 meters long.
2. Volcanic lightning that sometimes occurs over erruptions.
This impressive – and frightening – phenomena is known as “dirty thunderstorms.”
3. Abraham Lake’s frozen air bubbles.
The artificial lake is located on North Saskatchewan River in western Alberta, Canada. When plants on the bottom of the lake release air, it floats up towards the surface but then freezes because of the lake’s extreme temperatures.
4. Giant clouds over Bejing, China.
This cloud is known as a “cumulonimbus cloud,” which is fairly common, but the unusual weather pattern in China that day caused the cloud to become GIANT.
5. Underground springs in Mexico; this is the Ik-Kil Cenote in Chichen Itza. A “cenote” is where a deposit of spring water is found underground.
6. A giant crystal cave in Mexico. The crystals inside dwarf human beings. The cave is 950 feet (290 meters) underground.
7. The glowing shores of Vaadhoo beach in the Maldives. The neon water is caused by bioluminescence; basically, the plankton in the water is reacting to minerals. No camera flash needed!
8. Reflective salt flats in Bolivia. Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat; the surface is entirely covered in crystallized salt, causing the surface to look like a mirror.
9. Pillars of light over Moscow, Russia. It looks like a vertical Aurora Borealis, but the light is actually reflections from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces.
10. Saltwater fountains in Oregon. The Spouting Horn at Cook’s Chasm and the Thor’s Well are are saltwater fountains caused by the powerful ocean tide.
11. The Wave sandstone formation in Arizona. The unusual “wave” formation was created when the rock was originally formed. As the top layers of stone eroded away over time, we were left with this beautiful pattern!
12. Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.
In Kailua, Hawaii, you can find these unusual trees that are caused by patches of outer bark that are shed annually at different times. The result is a rainbow-esque bark!
13. Trees completely cocooned in spider webs.
During a terrible flood in Pakistan, spiders fled up into the trees. They were there for so long, they covered the trees entirely with their webs.
14. Waterfalls made out of blood… or that’s what it seems like! Blood falls in Antartica is an iron oxide-rich plume of saltwater, causing the unique coloration.
