From Australia’s bubblegum-pink lake to a blood-red waterfall in Antarctica, these seven destinations are some of the world’s strangest sights.
从澳大利亚的粉色口香糖状湖泊到南极洲的血红色瀑布，这七处地理奇观绝对震撼人心。
Majestic mountains and sparkling seas always attract travellers – but sometimes nature has a bigger trick up her sleeve. To track down some of the world’s strangest sights, we turned to question-and-answer site Quora, asking: What are some of the best rare natural phenomena that occur on Earth?
雄伟庄严的群山和波涛汹涌的海洋总是旅客的必游之地——但有时自然会在袖口下变魔术。为了寻找世界上最奇特的景观，我们在问答网站Quora上提问：地球上有哪些最难得一见的自然现象？
From Australia’s bubblegum-pink lake and a blood-red waterfall in Antarctica to a secret beach-in-a-hole in Mexico and a US valley where stones eerily move, these seven spots are Mother Nature’s eyeball-popping sideshow.
从澳大利亚的粉色口香糖状湖泊和南极洲的血红色瀑布，再到墨西哥的神秘沙滩窟窿和美国峡谷的风帆石，这七处地理奇观是地球母亲的点睛之作。
Frozen methane bubbles, Canada
加拿大冰冻沼气泡泡
they look otherworldly, like flying saucers that dropped into the water and froze, or ancient, ice-encapsulated jellyfish. In fact, these icy circles are frozen methane bubbles – pockets of gas that, when trapped underwater and frozen, form a spectacular landscape.
它们看起来像鬼斧神工的杰作，就像飞碟不小心掉进水里又被冻住了，又像是冰封的古代海蜇。其实，这些冰圈是冰冻的沼气泡泡——当大量气体被困在水中并冰冻起来时，这一地理奇观就显现在世人面前了。
Found in winter in high northern latitude lakes like Lake Abraham in Alberta, Canada, these gas bubbles are created when dead leaves, grass and animals fall into the water, sink and are eaten by bacteria that excrete methane. The gas is released as bubbles that transform into tens of thousands of icy white disks when they come into contact with frozen water, Quora user Mayur Kanaiya explains.
冬季时北半球高纬的湖泊，比如加拿大阿尔伯塔省的亚伯拉罕湖，就会有这样的沼气泡泡景观。湖底的微生物蚕食沉入水底的枯叶、枯草或动物死尸，并释放沼气， 由此便形成了沼气泡泡。当这些气体包裹在泡泡里被释放到水中时，它们与冰冻的湖水接触就变成了成千上万的冰碟子。Quora的一位用户马尤尔•卡奈雅这样 解释。
It’s a stunning, but potentially dangerous sight. This potent greenhouse gas not only warms the planet, but also is highly flammable. Come spring, when the ice melts, the methane bubbles pop and fizz in a spectacular release – but if anyone happens to light a match nearby, the masses of methane will ignite into a giant explosion.
沼气泡泡的景观固然震撼人心，但其危险性不能忽视。这种强效的温室气体不仅能使全球气温升高，而且具有极高的易燃性。当春天到来，冰雪消融时，这些沼气泡泡会嘶嘶作响，场景很是壮观——但是如果恰巧周围有人在划火柴，大量的沼气会引发一场巨大的爆炸。
Curious travellers can see these gassy hiccups in lakes across Canada’s Banff National Park, or in the Arctic Ocean off Siberia, where researchers have found gargantuan gas bubbles as large as 900m across.
好奇的游客们可以在加拿大班夫国家公园周边的湖泊看到沼气泡泡“打嗝”，研究者们还在西伯利亚附近的北冰洋发现蔓延900米的大量沼气泡泡。
Blood Falls, Antarctica
南极洲血红瀑布
The name says it all. Blood Falls, in East Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, looks like slowly pouring scarlet-red blood, staining snowy white Taylor Glacier and Lake Bonney below. It’s a surprising – and creepy – sight to behold.
景如其名。位于南极洲东麦克默多旱峡谷的血红瀑布看上去就像鲜红的血液在慢慢流淌，染红了雪白的泰勒冰川和下游的邦尼湖。这场景相当出人意料，令人毛骨悚然。
The trickling crimson liquid isn’t blood, however. Nor is it water dyed by red algae, as early Antarctica pioneers first speculated. In fact, the brilliant ochre tint comes from an extremely salty sub-glacial lake, explains Quora user Aditya Bhardwaj.
然而，这流淌着的绯红液体不是血液。之前南极考察开拓者推测是红藻玷染了湖水，这也并非正解。事实上，这鲜亮的赭石色来自一个盐度非常高的冰川下湖泊，Quora的用户阿迪蒂亚•巴德瓦杰这样解释。
About two million years ago, a hyper-saline body of water became trapped beneath Taylor Glacier, isolated from light, oxygen and heat. As the saltwater trickles through a fissure in the glacier, it reacts with the oxygen in the air to create this spectacular, rust-hued cascade.
大约两百万年前，一股含盐度极高的湖水被困在泰勒冰川下，与阳光、氧气和热量隔绝。当这股盐水流经一条冰川裂缝时，盐水与空气中的氧气反应形成这片壮观的红锈瀑布。
It’s a visual and scientific wonder, and Taylor Glacier – accessible only by helicopter from McMurdo Station or Scott Base, or cruise ship in the Ross Sea – is the only spot on Earth to see it.
这既是视觉饕餮也是科学奇观，而地球上只有在泰勒冰川——也就是从麦克默多站或者斯科特站乘直升机或在罗斯海乘游艇——才能看到这一景观。
Sailing Stones, US
美国风帆石
When visitors stumbled upon scores of heavy stones that appeared to have moved across the dried lake bed of Racetrack Playa in California’s Death Valley National Park, leaving a tell-tale trail in their wake, scientists were baffled. How had so many boulders, some weighing 300kg, moved as much as 250m across this remote part of the valley, asks Quora user Farhana Khanum?
在加利福尼亚死亡谷国家公园，游客无意中发现几十块大石头在赛马场盐湖的干湖床上移动，留下神秘的尾波，科学家们也不知道如何解释这一现象。Quora用户法尔哈纳•哈姆问道，这些卵石中有的重达300千克，它们是怎么做到移动近250米到达峡谷的另一头？
Adding to the mystery, some trails were gracefully curved, while others were straight with sudden shifts to the left or right. Who, or what, had moved the stones? A slew of theories emerged, from magnetic fields to alien intervention to dust devils to pranksters.
更为神秘的是，一些痕迹竟然还有优美的弧度，还有一些痕迹是直线状，但伴有突然左拐或右拐的印记。到底是谁还是什么东西在移动这些石头？从磁场作用到外星人事件到尘卷风再到恶作剧，人们对此猜测不断。
It took a NASA scientist to crack the case. In 2006, Ralph Lorenz developed a kitchen table model using a small rock frozen in an inch of water in a Tupperware container to demonstrate ice shove, the phenomenon behind the mysterious sailing stones.
一位美国航空航天局(NASA）的科学家解开了谜团。2006年，拉尔夫•洛伦茨发明了一个餐桌模型——在保鲜盒里装一英寸高的水，放入小石粒并将水冰冻。用这个模型解释冰壅，神秘的风帆石背后的真相。
In winter, Racetrack Playa fills with water and the lakebed’s stones become encased in ice. Thanks to ice’s buoyancy, even a light breeze can send those frozen boulders sailing across the muddy bottom of the lakebed. Stones with rough bottoms leave straight tracks, while those with smooth bottoms drift and digress. Warmer months melt the ice and evaporate the water, leaving only the stones and their mysterious trails.
一到冬季，赛马场盐湖涨满了水，而湖床里的石头则被冰封起来。由于冰有浮力，即使是一阵轻风也能帮扶着冰冻卵石一直划过湖床的泥泞底部。底部不光滑的石头 会留下直线划痕，而底部光滑的石头则会漂移，偏离原路。天气开始转暖时，冰雪消融，水汽蒸发，留下的只剩那些风帆石和它们神秘的移动轨迹。
Visitors can see these sailing stones in a few locations, including Little Bonne Claire Playa in Nevada and most famously, Death Valley’s Racetrack Playa.
在内华达州的小女仆克莱尔盐湖以及著名的死亡谷赛马场盐湖等地方都可以发现这些风帆石。
Kawah Ijen Lake, Indonesia
印尼卡瓦伊真火山
Travellers flock to the Indonesian island of Java to see the magnificent Kawah Ijen volcano – but what they don’t expect to find is the stunning turquoise-hued caldera lake at the volcano’s summit. To add to the drama, bright, citrine-coloured stones and billows of white gasses surround the 1km-wide aquamarine lake in a spectacular show.
游客蜂拥着去印尼爪哇岛是为了亲眼目睹壮观的卡瓦伊真火山——但他们从未想过能够在火山顶上看到这蓝绿交加的火山口湖。更令人叹为观止的是，柠檬黄色的明亮石头和翻腾不息的白雾环绕笼罩着这一千米宽的海蓝宝石般的火山口湖。
One element is responsible for the entire, striking scene: sulphur. The magma chamber below the volcano pours sulphuric gases into the lake. Combined with a high concentration of dissolved metals, the gases turn the water a brilliant shade of blue. They also render the Ijen crater-lake the world’s largest highly acidic lake with a pH of 0.5.
这震撼人心的景观都要归功于一种化学物质：硫磺。火山下的岩浆房向湖中排放硫磺气体。大量被腐蚀了的金属与硫磺气体反应，使得湖水变成深蓝色。事实上，pH值达0.5的伊真火山口湖是世界上酸性最高的湖泊。
“Hydrogen chloride released from Ijen volcano mixed with the lake and turned it into an acidic monstrosity that it is today,” writes Quora user Vinay Sisodia. “What makes this place even more stunning, especially at night, is shots of sulphuric gases that combust into glints of bright blue upon contact with air.”
Quora用户维奈•西索迪亚这样解释道，“伊真火山还会释放氯化氢，氯化氢混入湖水，造就了今天奇特的酸性湖泊。而这个地方更具震撼力的是，尤其在夜间，几束硫磺气体在与空气接触的过程中会迸发出闪烁的蓝色光芒。”
Intrepid travellers can join three-hour hikes to the bank of the crater to experience the lake in person.
喜欢冒险的游客可以参加三小时游火山口湖岸的远足活动，更好地亲身体验火山湖的壮观。
Hidden Beach, Mexico
墨西哥世外桃源沙滩
It’s a vacationer’s dream: a secret beach tucked away from the masses, with shade, sun and pristine water. And this dream comes true at Playa Del Amor, more commonly known as Hidden Beach, on one of the Marieta Islands off the coast of Mexico.
这是度假者梦寐以求的地方：一片有阳光、阴凉处和未被污染的海水而又远离喧嚣的沙滩。埃莫海滩便是他们最理想的度假场所，这片位于墨西哥海岸玛丽埃塔群岛的沙滩也被称为世外桃源沙滩。
The unlikely source of this magical little secret: a bomb blast, according to Quora user Siddhartha Das. Mexico began testing bombs in the uninhabited Marieta Islands in the early 1900s, resulting in a gaping hole in the surface of one of the islands. Over time, tides filled the hole with sand and water, creating a secluded watery Eden where determined beach bums can swim, sunbathe and kayak largely out of sight.
Quora用户悉达多•达斯说，造就这片非凡之地的奥秘是一场炸弹引爆事件。墨西哥在上世纪初开始在无人居住的玛丽埃塔群岛试验炸弹，他们在其中一个小岛 上炸出了窟窿。时间一长，潮水带来的细沙和海水覆盖了这个炸弹洞，造就了这个远离喧嚣的海上伊甸园，海滨达人在这里游泳，晒日光浴，划皮艇。
Playa Del Amor, literally Lover’s Beach, is invisible from the outside, but visitors can access it through a 24m-long tunnel that links the secluded beach to the ocean.
埃莫海滩的字面意思是“恋人海滩”。除了通过一条连接海洋的24米长的隧道，没有其他办法能到达这片沙滩。
Pink Lake Hillier, Australia
澳洲希利尔粉色湖
Fly over Western Australia for a rare visual treat: nestled among dense emerald-green woodlands surrounded by the deep blue of the Southern Ocean are a series of lakes in a shocking shade of bubblegum pink.
为了去寻求一个珍稀的视觉盛宴，飞越西澳大利亚：深藏在浓密的祖母绿树林里，被深蓝色的南大洋半包围着的是一片口香糖粉色的湖群。
One of the most well known is Lake Hillier, a 600m-long lake on the edge of Middle Island in the Recherche Archipelago off Western Australia’s south coast. Surrounded by a thin ring of sand and an expansive forest of paperbark and eucalyptus trees, the rosy pink lake punctuates a stunning landscape.
其中最著名的是长达600米的希利尔湖，它位于西澳南海岸边的勒谢什群岛中的一座——中央岛边缘。这片玫瑰粉色的湖泊被细细的环形沙和大片千层树和桉树所包围，其景相当壮观。
But even more surprising than its Pepto-Bismol shade is that “nobody seems to be able to definitively explain its distinctive colour,” according to Quora user Garrick Saito. Possible causes include the presence of green algae that can accumulate high levels of beta-carotene, a red-orange pigment; haloarchaea, a type of microorganism that appears reddish in large blooms; or a high concentration of pink brine prawn.
Quora用户加里克•萨伊托说，然而比它那佩托比斯摩（Pepto-Bismol，美国一种粉红包装药物品牌）外形更令人诧异的是“几乎没有人能解释那 独一无二的粉色湖水成因。”可能的原因有：湖水中的绿藻含大量β胡萝卜素，这种胡萝卜素有橘红色染色功能；一种只要大量聚集就能呈现红色的微生物；或是大 量聚集的粉红色盐水虾。
Most tourists admire the chromatic splendour of Lake Hillier from a helicopter or plane ride. For on-the-ground visitors, there’s an added treat: Lake Hillier is highly saline but the water isn't toxic, so pack your swimsuit and go for a swim. Thanks to its high salinity, you’ll bob like a cork.
大多数乘直升机或客机鸟瞰希利尔湖的游客都对它那独一无二的色彩赞不绝口。而对于在陆上的游客，希利尔湖则另有一番风情：希利尔湖虽然含盐度极高，但湖水并没有毒，因此赶紧带上你的泳装，来游泳吧。由于它的高盐度，你能轻松地浮在水面。
Fairy Circles, Namibia
纳米比亚精灵圈
Across the arid grasslands of the Namib Desert lies an eerie sight: millions of circular patches of land void of plants, each between 2m and 15m in diameter, arranged in a honeycomb-like pattern across 2,500km of land. These disks of bare soil, known as fairy circles, pockmark the landscape in Namibia, as if giant moths ate through the vast carpets of grassland.
在荒芜的纳米布沙漠中，有一样怪异的景观：在寸草不生的土地上有数百万的圆形补丁，每每相隔2到15米的直径，在纵横2500千米的沙漠中聚集成蜂巢形状。在纳米比亚，这些被称为精灵圈的沙碟塑造出凹痕景观，就好像巨型蛾子在大片沙漠毯子上肆虐吞食。
Adding to the mystery, no one knows for certain what causes these otherworldly formations, writes Quora user Prem Rathaur. But there’s no shortage of theories.
更为神秘的是，没有人知道这鬼斧神差般杰作的成因，Quora用户普雷姆•拉索尔这样写道。但是一直有很多关于它的理论。
Scientists have suggested radioactive soil, or that toxins released from plants kills the vegetation in circular patterns. Others believe the circles are the work of sand termites. To store water, they burrow in the soil in ring-like patterns and consume the roots of vegetation to allow underlying grains of sand to absorb falling rain.
科学家们考虑过是放射性土壤导致的，或者是某种植物释放的毒素杀死了圆形植被造成的。有人则认为是沙地中的白蚁捣的鬼。为了储存水，他们在土壤中挖出环状凹坑，吮食植物根茎，以便下层沙粒能够吸收降水。
Another hypothesis ascribes the circles to competition for resources. In harsh landscapes, plants compete for water and nutrients. As weaker plants die and stronger ones grow, vegetation “self-organizes” into unusual patterns.
另一种猜测认为这些环状物与资源争夺相关。在艰苦的条件下，植物为水分和养分而相互争斗。在适者生存的过程中，植被自我调节到这种不寻常的模式。
Considering the eerie beauty of these phenomena, perhaps the most fitting theory is that of local bushmen, who say fairy circles are nothing less than the footprints of gods.
而对于这怪异而美丽的自然现象，大概能给出最合适的解释的是当地的布须曼人——他们说精灵圈是上帝的脚印。