Picture of the Day: Snorkelling Between Two Tectonic Plates

Photograph by Diego Delso, Wikimedia Commons, License CC-BY-SA 4.0

 

Seen here are a group of snorkelers at the Silfra canyon, a rift between the tectonic plates (North American and Eurasian) at Þingvellir National Park, Southern Region, Iceland.

Silfra was formed as a consequence of the two tectonic plates drifting apart. Each year, the plates drift about 2 cm farther apart, which builds up tension between the plates and the earth mass above. This tension is released through a major earthquake approximately every ten years. In these earthquakes, cracks and fissures are formed in Þingvellir. Silfra is one of the largest cracks and started with a deep cave where most of the underwater wells feed it. The site lies at the rim of the Þingvallavatn Lake. [source]

 

via Diego Delso on Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Picture of the Day: Swim Call in the Gulf of Aden

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Megan Anuci

 

Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Iwo Jima participate in a swim call on 18 April 2015. During ‘swim calls’ sailors and marines get to take a casual dip in the sea while onlookers above keep an eye out for sharks and other undersea creatures.

The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen, on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. The region was once a hotbed for piracy but that has subsided in recent years. The USS Iwo Jima is an amphibious assault ship (LHD 7).

 

U.S. Navy on Flickr via Wild_Animuss on reddit

 

 

Picture of the Day: Diving Into the Abyss

© Dean Treml/Red Bull Cliff Diving

 

Seven divers perform a mass dive from 19 metres (62 ft) after the second training session of the seventh and final stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at the famous Ik Kil cenote in Yucatan, Mexico, on October 16th 2014.

A cenote is a natural pit or sinkhole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Ik Kil is located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula and is part of the Ik Kil Archeological Park near Chichen Itza. It is open to the public for swimming and is often included in bus tours.

The cenote is open to the sky with the water level about 26 metres (85 ft) below ground level. There is a carved stairway down to a swimming platform. The cenote is about 60 metres (200 ft) in diameter and about 40 metres (130 ft) deep. There are vines which reach from the opening all the way down to the water along with small waterfalls. [source]

 

via Red Bull