malformalady:

Located in Japan’s Tomamu Resort,  on the island of Hokkaido, the Unkai Terrace is a unique scenic spot perched high atop a mountain peak that is often above the clouds, offering tourists breathtaking views of the white, fluffy sea beneath them. The “unkai” or sea of clouds phenomenon has been attracting tourists to the resort town on Tomamu for years. The natural hot springs in the area and the differences in temperature during the few hours when night turns into day determine the formation of an immaculate white blanket of clouds over the mountainous region.

malformalady:

Black sand beach of Vik on the southern tip of Iceland displaying the
contrast between the black sand on the beach and the foam that covers the waves

mysticplaces:

Jarlshof archaeological site | Shetland, Scotland

malformalady:

Water from a mountain stream runs through a snowy winter landscape near Oberstdorf, Bavaria, Germany, Jan. 6

Photo credit: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / EPA

malformalady:

Frost Flowers are delicate, cotton-candy-like structures that need the perfect conditions to form. They occur when the temperature is right around freezing, and commonly appear on rotten, waterlogged plants.  It has to freeze very gently because the water contained in the vessels and tubes of woody plants needs to freeze slowly, from the top to the bottom. If temperatures get too cold, the plant will freeze too quickly. As water is wicked up, the ice gets pushed out the top by forces not totally understood. The result is extruded sheets or ribbons of ice that look like frozen blooms attached to the vegetation.

Photo credit: Katie Solari

malformalady:

Ice washed up on a black sand beach Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, Iceland

Photo credit: Mel Sinclair

malformalady:

Quartz specimen, Dachang, Quinglong, Guizhou, China.

(Source: spirits-creeping-in-my-yard)

cabinporn:

Cabin on Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington.

Photograph by Colin Brooks.

malformalady:

Opalized wood. Petrified wood is basically fossilized wood that has had it’s organic matter replaced by a mineral such as agate, bit by bit, as it decomposes. The wood structure is maintained, but the wood fibers are slowly changed into stone. Sometimes a jasper, quartz, pyrite or even opal(shown above) can be found fossilized in wood.