The mountains to the north has eight of the ten highest in the world

News about Npal.Latest result Npal.All Npal.Search Npal.Singapore Npal.The trend information services for students NPal site offered to you conditioned on your agreement to the terms and conditions. I am looking for motivated, talented students for the laboratory. Strong background cognitve psychology.Nepal (नेपाल) (I / nɛpɔ ː l / N-Pawl [5] Nepali: नेपाल [Nepal] (listen)), officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, a landlocked sovereign state located in the south East Asia. It is located in the Himalayas, and is limited to the People's Republic of China in the north and south, east and west of the Republic of India. When the area is 147,181 square kilometers (56,827 square kilometers) and a population of about 30 million, Nepal is the world's third largest mass ninety Mon March [6], and 41 most populous country. Kathmandu is the capital and largest metropolis.Nepal the country has a rich geography.

The mountains to the north has eight of the ten highest in the world, including mountains the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, Sagarmatha in Nepali called. It contains more than 240 peaks over 20,000 feet (6,096 m) above sea level. [7] The south fertile, moist is highly urbanized.

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Rare Earthquake Hits Virginia, Rattles U.S. East Coast

Tremors felt in Washington, D.C., New York City.

Evacuees crowd Manhattan streets after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the U.S. East Coast.

Photograph by Justin Lane, European Pressphoto Agency

Ker Than

for National Geographic News

Published August 23, 2011

The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that struck Virginia today was a rare but significant event for the region, according to one quake expert.
"It was quite sizable," said seismologist Hua-wei Zhou of Texas Tech University.
The Virginia earthquake struck at about 1:51 p.m ET near Mineral, Virgina, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Richmond (map).
The tremors shook buildings and prompted evacuations as far away as Washington, D.C., and New York City. The quake was followed by a magnitude 2.8 aftershock 45 minutes later.
(Related: "Japan Earthquake Vibrations Nearly Reached Space.")
Earthquakes rarely strike the U.S. East Coast and are generally less severe when they do.
Before this latest quake, for example, the largest earthquake on record in central Virginia was a magnitude 4.8 temblor that occurred in 1875, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Eastern Earthquakes Smaller But Farther Reaching
Earthquakes are rare in the eastern U.S. because the region is farther from a plate boundary—a region where tectonic plates meet and grind together. The closest such boundary is several hundred miles away in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea.
By contrast, California has a major fault line, the San Andreas fault, running vertically through most of the state, Zhou explained.
(See "Mexico Earthquake Zone Linked to California Faults.")
Plate boundaries are especially prone to earthquakes because the motion of tectonic plates creates tension that can cause significant shaking when the stress gets released.
Zhou said he suspects the Virginia earthquake was due to the much less frequent release of stress from a small thrust fault in the region.
Still, earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. are typically felt over a much broader region than on the West Coast.
"A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 kilometers [300 miles] from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 kilometers [25 miles]," according to the USGS.
Being far from plate boundaries, the older and denser continental crust is much more like a solid sheet of bedrock than the fault-filled crust on the West Coast, allowing seismic waves to travel farther.
"Most bedrock beneath central Virginia was assembled as continents collided to form a supercontinent about 500 to 300 million years ago, raising the Appalachian Mountains," the USGS says.

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Top 10 Amazing Volcano Lakes

This list will focus on any volcano made lake. Volcano lakes can occur in a few different ways: The first would simply be a crater filled with water. Another way that these lakes can form is that when a volcano erupts, such large amounts of magma are released that the emptied magma chamber beneath it collapses under the weight of the earth, thus forming a large indentation called a caldera, which eventually fills with water. All these lakes have an explosive past, a beautiful and majestic present, and a potentially devastating future. They each hold their own story.

10

Ijen Lake

Ijen Lake is a crater lake that is found in East Java, in Indonesia. It is situated in a group of stratovolcanoes, inside the Ijen Volcano. It is a 1km wide acid lake which has a beautiful turquoise color. This is also a site for sulphur mining, as there is an active vent at the one side of the lake, which continually brings sulphur to the surface, from where it is broken into pieces and carried out of the crater in baskets. The molten, red hot, sulphur is guided out of the vent through ceramic pipes, which deposits it on the floor, where it cools, turning into a bright yellow color. [Image Source]

9

Coatepeque Caldera

Coatepeque Caldera is a volcanic caldera in El Salvador. The Caldera was formed after a series of huge eruptions 72,000 and 54,000 years ago. Since those two large eruptive eras, cinder cones and volcanic domes have formed, as well as large areas of lava flow along the western edge of the caldera. On the eastern side of the caldera is a crater lake called Lake Coatepeque. This lake is about 26km2, making it one of the largest lakes in El Salvador, and it has hot springs all along its borders. In the lake there is an Island called Teopan, which was a sacred Mayan Site of importance.

8

Lake Towada

Lake Towada is the largest crater lake in Japan, and the 12th largest lake in Japan. It is located in an active volcano caldera, with the last big eruption dating back about 13,000 years. The lake is actually situated in a double caldera, as a smaller eruption caused another caldera under the lake to collapse about 5,400 years ago. The volcano’s eruptions stretch well into recorded history, and the last known eruption was about 1000 years ago, causing devastating ash and pyroclastic flows to retard crops, and lower the temperature considerably bringing with it a very cold winter and harsh famine.

7

Mount Katmai

Mount Katmai is a complex stratovolcano found on the Alaskan peninsula, in Southern Alaska. In the center there is a lake filled caldera, about 4km in diameter. The caldera was formed in the Novarupta eruption of 1912, and the caldera rim now reaches a maximum 6,716 feet. Little is known about the volcano before the huge eruptions in 1912, due to the uninhabitable aspect of the area, but some record was left by nearby villages, from the 1800s, that a volcano in the area would smoke on occasion.
The eruption in 1912, was one of the two largest eruptions that the 20th century ever saw (the other being Mt Pinatubo in 1991). The 60 hour long eruption actually took place about 6 miles away from the mountain, in an active vent. The eruption caused the caldera to fall exactly in the crater of the mountain, creating a crater caldera lake.

6

Laach Lake

Laach Lake, also known as Laacher See, is a caldera lake, about 9km in diameter and can be found in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the towns of Koblenz (24 km), Bonn (37 km), Andernach (8 km), and Mayen (11 km), and only 8km away from the river Rhine. The caldera was formed after the massive Laacher See eruption, which occurred about 12,900 years ago. Approximately 6km3 of magma was erupted, causing almost 16km3 of tephra to be blasted into the atmosphere. The eruption had a VEI of 6, the same VEI as the massive eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1991, which blasted less than 10km3 of tephra out. The Laacher See eruption caused global cooling, and the tephra from the eruption can be found across Europe, with many unique minerals now being found in the area.

Lake Taupo

Lake Taupo is situated on the North Island of New Zealand, and is the largest lake in New Zealand. It has a surface area of about 616km2 and is believed to have been created around 26,500 years ago. The eruption is the largest known eruption in at least 69,000 years and it measured 8 on a VEI scale. It blasted an estimated 1170km3 of material into the atmosphere, which caused the large caldera to collapse and create the lake. It is believed to have erupted about 27 times after the initial event, and the last big eruption can be dated back to 180 CE, when 30km3 of materials was blasted out of the volcano within 5 minutes, in a VEI 7 eruption. The eruption column would have been twice as high as the one from the Mount St Helen eruption, and historical records from both China and Rome stated that the sky turned red. This volcano is currently considered dormant but will probably wake from its long slumber in a few hundred years.

4

Lake Toba

Lake Toba is a huge caldera lake found on Sumatra Island, in Indonesia. It is over 100km long and 30km wide, and is the largest lake in Indonesia, and the largest Volcano Lake in the world. It was created +/- 70,000 years ago when a massive super volcano erupted in the largest volcanic explosion in at least 25 million years. The eruption is believed to have had a VEI reading of 8, and it caused a global winter, in which most of the humans alive at the time died. This created a population bottleneck in Central Eastern Africa and in India, which has affected the genetic diversity of everyone on earth today.

3

Crater Lake

Crater Lake is a beautiful caldera lake found in South-central Oregon State, USA. It has a stunning deep blue color and brilliant water clarity, and forms the main feature in Crater Lake National Park. The lake has almost no signs of pollution, and is one of the purest bodies of water in the States, with a record clarity of 43.3 meters. The lake was formed about 7,700 years ago when volcano Mount Mazama, fell into the caldera beneath it. It is believed that the Native American Klamath tribe saw Mount Mazama fall and the formation of Crater Lake. Their legends and stories tell of a great battle between the sky god, Skell and Llao, the god of the underworld. The Mountain was destroyed during the battle and the lake was created. The Klamath people used the lake for vision quests, and the lake is still held in high spiritual regard by the tribe. The lake is also known for the “old man of the lake”, which is a full tree, now a stump, which has been bobbing around, vertically, in the lake for over a century. It has been very well preserved due the cold water inside the lake.

2

Heaven Lake

Heaven Lake is situated on the border between China and North Korea. The lake is situated inside a caldera and covers about 9.82 km². It is a stunningly beautiful lake that is typically covered in Ice from October to June. It is also the home of a legendary monster called the Lake Tianchi Monster. The first sighting came in 1903, and it was said that there was a buffalo like creature that attacked 3 people and then retreated back into the water, after being shot six times. In 1962, a man looking through his telescope reported that he saw two creatures chasing each other in the water, and hundreds of people confirmed the sighting on the same day. The description of the monster changed over the years, to a human like head on a 1.5 meter neck, with a white ring around the base of its neck and gray skin. In 2007, a reporter named Zhuo Yongsheng said he shot 20 minutes of video, showing six unidentified creatures swimming in the lake. He released still frames of the film, in which six messy creatures were swimming and interacting with each other. He said they swam around for almost 1 hour and a ½ before retreating under the water.

1

Lake Nyos

Lake Nyos is a 2km long crater lake located in the North Western part of Cameroon. The lake has a magma chamber beneath it, which constantly seeps Carbon dioxide into the lake, changing the water into carbonic acid. Over thousands of years of carbon dioxide seeping into the lake, it has become saturated with carbon dioxide, which had some devastating effects, on 2 August, 1986. A land slide caused the lake to release 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide, which rose at about 100 km per hour and came spilling over the lip of the lake. The cloud suffocated over 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock which were in a 25km radius of the lake. This is the first known mass asphyxiation due to a natural event, and the lake was named the most dangerous lake by Guinness World records after the event. Scientists are still working at degassing the lake to render it safer.

+

Lava Lakes

Even though these are not lakes, in the general sense, they are still of volcanic origin, and very interesting, so I decided to add a bonus
A lava lake is a rare occurrence, which can happen in three ways. Either a new vent erupts enough lava just to partly fill the crater, Lava flows into a depression or a new vent erupts for several weeks, building a crater around its self. The result is a lake of molten lava. There are currently just 5 lava lakes on earth: Erta Ale (pictured above), Ethiopia; Mount Erebus, Antarctica; Kīlauea, Hawaii; Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Marum, Ambrym, Vanuatu.

++

Chapagne Pool

Again this is not strictly a lake but it is a stunning consequence of a volcanic eruption. Champagne Pool is a prominent geothermal feature within the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area in the Bay of Plenty Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The terrestrial hot spring is located about 30 km (20 mi) southeast of Rotorua and about 50 km (30 mi) northeast of Taupo. The name Champagne Pool is derived from the abundant efflux of carbon dioxide (CO2), similar to a glass of bubbling champagne. The hot spring was formed 900 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption, which makes it, in geological terms, a relatively young system. Its crater is around 65 m (213 ft) in diameter with a maximum depth of approximately 62 m (203 ft) and is filled with an estimated volume of 50,000 m3 (1,800,000 cu ft) of geothermal fluid. The orange tinge around the edges is due to deposits of arsenic.

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Apple iPad 3 release date and iPad 3 new features

The iPad 2 is old in the market? Most of people taking about iPad 3 and it’s new features.

Apple’s iPad is holding over 80% of the market share of the US tablet market. Not only in the US but across the world, people have gone crazy to have the new iPad 2. Although being the best tablet ever, Apple’s followers are still looking for an even greater iPad 3 and eagerly exploring the Internet for “iPad 3 release date.” Nowadays, numerous rumors about iPad 3 are being spread in the market.

“DigiTimes“said that; iPad 3 release date have been scheduled somewhere around in 2012, But based on various other resources talking it will be release on September 2011. May be you still not buy iPad 2 because of high price rate,I will tell good news for you. According to various sources reviews, Apple going to dropped down the selling price of iPad 3.

 

iPad 3 New  Features

NFC Chips in iPad 3

NFC technology is already set to be included in the iPhone 5 which is a concept where by the iPhone itself can take control of near by Macs so that you do not need to be working on multiple devices to get your work done. Since the iPad is a bigger device that makes working more feasible. This feature will be very handy to iPad 3 users.

USB / Thunderbolt port

As much as the Apple disappoints the general public with iPads that are lacking with USB ports. It looks like the new version might come with it eventually. Tell tale signs come from the codes in the i-OS 5 for iPads actually features support for USB devices.

Cloud computing

Apple has already started its cloud service and thus incorporating this feature into the newer iPads is nothing strange or suprising. After all its MobileMe service is nothing alien to Apple users.

Improved camera

The previous camera that comes with the iPad 2 don’t seem to be as impressive as the one with iPhone 4. And yet it also lacks flash. Thus the iPad 3 may come with a camera and also flash LED.

Carbon Fibre chassis

Apple has always tried to make its devices with light weight But how do you make something even lighter when it is already so thin and light? Apple’s actions in hiring carbon fibre hired a carbon fibre expert, Kevin Kenney should shed some light that they have the intention to use carbon fibre as the solution.

3D feature and Retina Disply

News mentions that  Apple iPad 3 will display the 3D view .It is too early to argue about the 3D features of the iPad 3. On the other hand, the market LG Optimus claims can record videos in 3D and output through the HDMI port to 3D TV. Foxconn mention the upcoming  iPad will provide 3D feature.

Also according to various rumours, iPad 3 has Retina disply which was absent in previous iPad, but iPhones are using this display and  ipad 3 resolution 2048 x 1536 pixels.

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SF Giants Home Opener Today: Here's What You Need To Know

by Eve Batey

April 8, 2011 12:00 PM

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I'm really not sure how you could be unaware that the World Champion SF Giants' home season opening is today. But I suppose anything is possible. Here's what you need to know:

t's going to be a wild weekend at AT&T Park
At least, that's what CBS5 promises us. "The reigning
champions will raise the winning flag Friday in their first home game, receive their championship rings Saturday night with Commissioner Bud Selig in the house, and recognize Rookie of the Year catcher Buster Posey in a pregame ceremony on Sunday." WILD!
Security is being upped
In light of the beating of Giants fan Brian Stow at the Giants' season opener in LA, there's a "new focus" on security at AT&T Park.
"What we're going to do is we are going to be very proactive. We'll be in the stadium, in the parking lot, and around the exterior of the stadium. Any type of activities that are criminal is zero tolerance," SFPD spokesperson Officer Albie Esparza told ABC7.
See something fucked up going down? SFist reminds you that (presuming you can get a signal) you can text security at "'80899' followed by 'security' in the body of the text, then your seat number (or area of concern) and a detailed message about the problem."
And for pete's sake, be nice to each other!
Traffic and parking will be a mess
Better to take public transit or walk from, say, Market Street. If you must drive, Akit has tips.
You can ride the N-Judah, T-Third Street, 10-Townsend, 30-Stockton, 45-Union, and 47-Van Ness straight to the game. Parking in one of the 4000 spaces available in AT&T Park's A, C and D lots (as well as the one at Pier 48) is $30 for cars.
This is fun!
SFist brings you a Giants bingo card. The Ex has a neat story of Annie Lewis, who's been going to games since they moved here in 1958. SF Giants fans in NY have a place to go. And that weird looking boat? It's the Splash Craft.

Want more news, sent to your inbox every day? Then how about subscribing to our email newsletter? Here's why we think you should. Come on, give it a try.

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Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ACN, ALU, ARMH, SID, CPX, BEN, MON, NOK, SIVB, TXN)

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.
Accenture PLC (NYSE: ACN) Reiterated Buy with $62 target at Argus.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs; Raised target to $7 at BofA/ML.
ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) Started as Neutral at Cowen.
Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (NYSE: SID) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Complete Production Services, Inc. (NYSE: CPX) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB) Raised to Outperform and $61 target at Credit Suisse.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.
JON C. OGG

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10 Fascinating Things Associated With The Night

Night: from time immemorial, it has been a human fascination. From ancient moon worship to art, music and literature references throughout the ages. From historical celestial calendaring and mathematics, to men walking on the moon, there are innumerable interesting things that are associated with the night. Below is just a sampling of why the moon’s play period continues to inspire us.

10

Astronomy

Polaris is the North Star; most people know this, but what they may not know is that, due to a process known as precession, it wasn’t always the North Star. As recently as 12,000 BCE, it was Vega — and sometime around the year 5,200 CE, it will be a totally different star. The night sky, as you look at it at any given moment, is always changing, and though the changes are sometimes imperceptible to Earth-based observers, the sky will never be exactly the same again as that point in time at which you just observed it.

9

Health

In addition to those late nights making you groggy, did you know that some studies also link artificial indoor light at night to poor health and psychological toll? There have been myriad health problems linked to light pollution, particularly to its disruption of normal human circadian rhythms and the suppression of melatonin production, which primarily occurs nocturnally. One of these major issues being studied is the tentative link between artificial lighting at night and breast cancer. There is even a “dark sky” movement which aims to reduce artificial light, not only for purposes of astronomy and energy savings, but also to counter the possible deleterious health effects that excessive unnatural lighting can have on humans and animals.

8

Mythology

Not only do the commonly-known constellation patterns represent people, animals and objects that are familiar to us (Taurus the bull, for example), but they also have mythological stories associated with them. One example is Aries, which represents the ram of the Jason and the Argonauts story. Bonus fact: Aries was made the first constellation in the zodiac because it was formerly tied to the vernal equinox; this is no longer the case, due to precession, but Aries remains the first symbol. (http://comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/myth.html)

7

Geography

Though the word has fallen into disuse, numerous people have a set of perioecians and don’t even realize it. Perioecians are people who live on the same geographical parallel, but at opposite meridians, so that when one of them has noon day, the other has midnight. A volume from 1826 gives the antiquated formula for finding the perioeci, and here’s a site that will roughly tell you who has midnight when you have midday. Note that not all of us have a perioecian, due to the distribution of land mass (some live opposite an ocean).

6

Music

Love the night, and love music, too? Experience a nocturne sometime! Nocturnes are songs that comprise a category of music that is specifically inspired by or evocative of the night. While they are generally hallmarked by tranquility, these songs can run the gamut of moods. The musical distinction “nocturne” was first made in the 1700s, and at that time included pieces that were not necessarily inspired by, nor evocative of, the night, but which were meant to be played at night, such as Mozart’s Serenata Notturna, K. 239.

5

Companionship

Many people associate themselves with a pet of preference. The most common two pets for this pit “dog people” against “cat people.” A not-so-obvious difference between these two pets is that one is diurnal (the dog) and one is nocturnal (the cat). Though studies have been done regarding personality associations with one’s pet of preference, no studies have yet shown whether the pet owners are more inclined to be diurnal or nocturnal — “morning people” versus “night owls” — themselves.

4

Festivity

There are many holidays that are specifically based on the night time (Christmas Eve, Hallowe’en, New Year’s Eve, etc.). In some European cultures, there is also a festival called Walpurgisnacht, which is held the evening before May Day (May 1); though the origin of the festival was as a spring festival dedicated to Saint Walspurga, it has various connotations in different cultures, including one as a night during which witches and their gods party together. Celebrations include bonfires, dancing, drinking, and revelry.

3

Chronology

When is night not night? When it’s broad daylight! (Well, technically it’s still night, of course…) The phenomenon of “white nights” is when the sun remains visible at midnight, and this occurs more frequently the closer an observer gets to either of the poles. There is an opposite phenomenon called “polar night”, during which the sun never rises for an entire day.

2

Meteorology

Auroras — beautiful displays of atmospheric light also known as the “Northern Lights” and “Southern Lights” — are caused by emissions of photons in the Earth’s atmosphere, and associated reactions. Green, which is caused by oxygen emissions, is the most common color of the lights, but they can also be red, red-brown, blue, and even pink. The most spectacular auroras in recorded history occurred during the Solar Storm of 1859, which caused the auroral lights to be seen even as far away from the poles as the Caribbean.

1

Calamity

On the Doomsday Clock, which is a symbolic representation of the world’s proximity to global disaster, the end of the world is represented by midnight. The clock currently stands at 6 minutes until midnight, and has changed 19 times since its creation in 1947. Though the setting is somewhat arbitrary, the closest it has been to its death knell has been 2 minutes until midnight, which happened in 1953, when the US and the USSR both tested nuclear weapons within 9 months of each other.

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Socotra island

Socotra or Soqotra is a small archipelago of four islands and islets in the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Horn of Africa some 190 nautical miles (220 mi; 350 km) south of the Arabian peninsula, belonging to the Republic of Yemen. It has long been a part of the 'Adan Governorate, but in 2004 it became attached to the Hadhramaut Governorate, which is much closer to the island than 'Adan (although the closest governorate would be Al Mahrah).
The name of the island is believed to come from Sanskrit 'dvipa sakhadara', which can be translated with 'Island of Bliss'.

THE ROOF OF ARABIA: One of the oldest inhabited regions worldwide transports visitors back into the world of thousand and one nights. Close to nature and unspoiled natural beauty, Yemen this age-old center of civilization preserves a way of life that has hardly changed since the middle ages.

Geography and climate Socotra is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth of continental origin (i.e., not of volcanic origin). The archipelago was once part of the supercontinent of Gondwana and detached during the Middle Pliocene (ca 6 million years ago), in the same set of rifting events that opened the Gulf of Aden to its northwest.
The archipelago consists of the main island of Socotra (3,625 km² or 1,400 sq mi), the three smaller islands of Abd al Kuri, Samhah, and Darsa, and small rock outcrops like Ka’l Fir’awn and Sabuniyah that are uninhabitable by humans but important for birds.
The main island has three geographical terrains: the narrow coastal plains, a limestone plateau permeated with karstic caves, and the Haghier Mountains. The mountains rise to 5,000 feet (1,525 m). The island is a little over 80 miles (130 km) long east to west and typically 18-22 miles (30-35 km) north to south.
The climate is generally tropical desert, with rainfall being light, seasonal (winter) and more abundant at the higher ground in the interior than along the coastal lowlands. The monsoon season brings strong winds and high seas.

Flora and fauna Socotra is considered the "jewel" of biodiversity in the Arabian sea.[2] The long geological isolation of the Socotra archipelago and its fierce heat and drought have combined to create a unique and spectacular endemic flora (which may, therefore, be vulnerable to introduced species such as goats and to climate change). Surveys have revealed that more than a third of the 800 or so plant species of Socotra are found nowhere else. Botanists rank the flora of Socotra among the ten most endangered island flora in the world. The archipelago is a site of global importance for biodiversity conservation and a possible center for ecotourism.One of the most striking of Socotra's plants is the dragon's blood tree (Dracaena cinnabari), which is a strange-looking, umbrella-shaped tree. Its red sap was the dragon's blood of the ancients, sought after as a medicine and a dye. Another unusual plant is Dorstenia gigas.The island group also has a fairly rich bird fauna, including a few types of endemic birds, such as the Socotra Starling Onychognathus frater, the Socotra Sunbird Nectarinia balfouri, Socotra Sparrow Passer insularis and Socotra Grosbeak Rhynchostruthus socotranus.As with many isolated island systems, bats are the only mammals native to Socotra. In contrast, the marine biodiversity around Socotra is rich, characterized by a unique mixture of species that have originated in farflung biogeographic regions: the western Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, Arabia, East Africa and the wider Indo-Pacific.

History Socotra appears as Dioskouridou ("of the Dioscurides") in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a 1st century A.D. Greek navigation aid. In the notes to his translation of the Periplus, G.W.B. Huntingford remarks that the name Socotra is not Greek in origin, but derives from the Sanskrit dvipa sukhadhara ("island of bliss").
A local tradition holds that the inhabitants were converted to Christianity by Thomas in AD 52. In the 10th century the Arab geographer Abu Mohammed Al-Hassan Al-Hamdani stated that in his time most of the inhabitants were Christians[citation needed]. Socotra is also mentioned in The Travels of Marco Polo according to which "the inhabitants are baptized Christians and have an archbishop" who, it is further explained, "has nothing to do with the Pope at Rome, but is subject to an archbishop who lives at Baghdad". They were Nestorians but they also practiced ancient magic rituals despite the warnings of their archbishop[citation needed].
In 1507, Portugal landed an occupying force at the then capital of Suq, to "liberate" the assumed friendly Christians from Arab Islamic rule. However they were not welcomed as enthusiastically as they had expected and abandoned the island four years later.
The islands passed under the control of the Mahra sultans in 1511. Later, in 1886 it became a British protectorate, along with the remainder of the Mahra State of Qishn and Socotra. For the British it was an important strategic stop-over. The P&O ship Aden sank after being wrecked on a reef near Socotra, in 1897, with the loss of 78 lives.
In October 1967 the Mahra sultanate was abolished. One of the last living direct descendents of the ruling Mahra sultanate, Dushi Parameswaran, is currently residing in Chicago, Illinois, USA. On November 30th Socotra became part of the People's Republic of South Yemen (later to become the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen). Today it is part of the Republic of Yemen.

NATURE While the people help make Socotra a haven in a hostile world, the island is also a natural wonderland. From the aqua lagoon at Qalansiya to the snow-white dunes at Ras Momi, from the alpine meadows of the Haggier Mountains to the desolation of Nowgad, Socotra is a land of surprising contrasts. Rising to over 1700 meters, the Haggier Mountains loom over Hadibo, Socotra's administrative capital. The red granite of the peaks has been stained a ghostly gray by the lichens, which grow thickly above tree line. Perennial streams radiate from the misty heights, green ribbons of life teaming with endemic fish and freshwater crabs. Limestone plateaus fan east and west, providing alkaline soils for the iconic Dragon's Blood Tree. Bottle trees grow in such profusion that entire hillsides turn pink following winter rains. Cucumber trees, statuesque relative of the melon, provide fodder for starving animals during times of drought.

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Top 10 Most Terrifying Natural Disasters in History

Natural disasters cause fascination in everyone – as is apparent from the enormous amounts of press coverage that they give – Haiti being a good example of this. We all fear the day that we might be caught in one, and perhaps that is the reason for our fascination. This list looks at ten of the most terrifying natural disasters ever.

10

Typhoon Tip

Pacific typhoons are generally more powerful than Atlantic hurricanes, because the former have much more water over which they can gather strength.

On October 12, 1979, Tip made history with the lowest air pressure ever recorded at sea level on Earth: 870 mbars. Standard sea level air pressure is 1,013.25 mbars. Hurricane Andrew only made it to 922 mbars.

Tip had one 1 minute sustained winds of 190 mph. It killed 99 people, a low number compared to some of the others on this list, but this must be placed in the perspective of a long warning before the typhoon strikes.

44 of the fatalities were fishermen in the open Pacific. Tip sank or grounded 8 ships. One of these was a giant freighter that the storm broke in half. Not only was it the strongest cyclone, it was also the largest ever recorded, half the size of the United States, excluding Alaska.

9

The Lake Nyos Limnic Eruption

Limnic eruptions are one of the most bizarre natural disasters known. The criteria required for one to occur make them very rare. Lake Nyos is in a very remote area of the Cameroonian jungle. It is not very large, only 1.2 miles by 0.75 miles, but it is quite deep, 682 feet. Under the bed, a magma chamber is leaking carbon dioxide into the water. This changes the water into carbonic acid. Carbon dioxide is 1.5 times denser than air, which is why it will not rise from the bottom of a lake, unless shoved up by another force. There are only three such lakes known on Earth.

On August 21, 1986, the carbon dioxide at the bottom of the lake suddenly erupted all at once, 1.6 million tons of it, and released a cloud of carbon dioxide from the lake. This cloud, being heavier than air, hugged the ground contours, and blew out of the lake at 60 mph, went downhill throughout the area at up to 30 mph, and displaced all the oxygen in several small villages, suffocating between 1,700 and 1,800 people, not counting all their livestock.

The force of the gas expulsion also blew out the lake water itself, in an 80 ft high tsunami that stripped the trees, shrubs, and soil off one side of the shore.

8

The 1960 Chile Earthquake

The most powerful earthquake ever recorded struck near Valdivia, Chile on May 22, 1960, at 2:11 PM local time. As many as 6,000 people were killed. Many more would have been, had it not been for Chile’s preparedness for earthquakes, and the remote location of the epicenter.

Eyewitnesses reported that the entire world appeared as if God had seized one end of it like a rope, and slung it as hard as he could. 40% of the houses in Valdivia were razed to the ground. Cordon Caulle, a nearby active volcano, was ripped open and forced to erupt.

The quake measured 9.5 in magnitude, and 35 foot high waves were recorded 6,000 miles away. Of all the seismic energy of the 20th Century, including the 2004 Indian Ocean quake, 25% was concentrated in the 1960 Chile quake.

It caused 82 foot high waves to travel down the Chilean coast. Hilo, Hawaii was destroyed. The quake possessed twice the surface energy yield the 2004 Indian Ocean quake, and equalled 178 billion tons of TNT. This would have powered the entire United States, at 2005 energy consumption levels, for 740 years.

7

The 2003 European Heat Wave

Europe is not accustomed to hot summers. Give them a break, hot summers almost never happen there. But in 2003, they got hit with one that would make the southeastern United States, or the Australian outback sit back and marvel.

This lister is from North Carolina, where hot summers are expected and prepared for. In Europe, most of the homes built within the last 50 years before 2003 were not equipped with air conditioners, because none had ever been needed. Now, well over half of them have equipped themselves for the future.

There were at least 14,802 deaths from the heat in France alone, most of them old people in nursing homes, or in single family homes without the ability to cool off. The heat dried up most of Europe, and severe forest fires broke out in Portugal. Some 2,000 people died there from the heat.

About 300 died in Germany, where the weather is usually very cold to delightfully mild; 141 in Spain, where the temperature actually gets into the 90s Fahrenheit once in a great while; 1,500 in the Netherlands. Multiple temperature records, having lasted since the 1700s, were broken, then broken again a week later: 106.7 Fahrenheit in Brono, Switzerland. This melted a lot of Alpine glaciers into flash floods. 104.7 in Bavaria, Germany. 103 in Paris. The new record in Edinburgh, Scotland is now 91.2, which is unheard of there.

The wine harvest came a month early to save the grapes. 75% of Ukraine’s wheat crops were parched to death.

6

The Storm of the Century

From March 12 to 13, 1993, a cyclonic storm formed off the east coats of the United States, so vast in size that it caused a unique hodgepodge of severe weather.

Rarely does a single storm system cause blizzards from the Canada/U. S. border all the way down to Birmingham, Alabama, but this one did, and Birmingham received 12 to 16 inches of snowfall in one day and night. This was accompanied everywhere with hurricane-force wind gusts of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The Florida panhandle received up to 4 inches, and the strange thing is that 5 people were killed by tornadoes, in the middle of this blizzard.

The Appalachians of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia received as much as 3.5 feet of snow, with drifts up to 35 feet. 300 people froze to death throughout the eastern half of the country when the electrical power was knocked out by falling trees. 100 mph wind gusts reached all the way to Havana, Cuba.

5

The Great Flood of 1931

The deadliest natural disaster ever recorded occurred through the winter, spring, and summer of 1931 in central China. There are three major rivers draining this area, the Yangtze, the Yellow, and the Huai. All three flooded catastrophically, because the winter snowstorms were particularly heavy in the mountains around the river basins, and when spring began, all this snow melted and flowed into the rivers.

Then the spring brought particularly heavy rains. Then the cyclone season, which usually brings only 2 storms per year, brought 10, 7 of them in July. All this water swelled the three major rivers, especially the Yellow River, and because they drain a very large, very flat area of China, somewhere between 3.7 and 4 million people were drowned or starved.

Nanjing City, China’s capital at the time, became an island surrounded by over 100,000 square kilometers of water, more area than the state of Indiana, or all of Portugal.

4

The Tunguska Explosion

On June 30, 1908, at about 7:14 AM local time, an asteroid or comet plummeted over the lower Tunguska River, in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, a remote area of Siberia, and detonated at an altitude of 3 to 6 miles.

It exploded with the energy of the largest thermonuclear bomb the United States has ever tested, the Castle Bravo bomb, 10-15 megatons. This is one-third the power of the largest thermonuclear weapon ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba. The airburst toppled about 80 million trees over 772 square miles of Siberian taiga, and would have registered at 5.0 on the Richter Scale.

Thankfully, no one was killed, because the nearest eyewitnesses were about 40 miles away from ground zero. They reported seeing a bright blue column of light streak across the sky, almost as bright as the sun, then a flash, and a report like artillery fire right beside them.

For one hundred miles around the epicenter, people were blown off their feet by the shockwave, their clothes were scorched off, windows were shattered, and trees seared to death and blown over. Iron locks were snapped off barn doors.

This detonation was more than sufficient to incinerate the entire population of Japan, the Sao Paolo metropolitan area, the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, or the entire United States’s New England megalopolis from Boston to Washington, D. C.

3

The 1999 Bridge Creek F5 Tornado

On May 3, 1999, a tornado outbreak lasting for 3 days, began with a bang, when an F5 formed at about 7:12 PM local time. This tornado was the most powerful windstorm ever recorded on Earth, at 318 mph. It killed 36 people, and traveled northeast from Amber, OK, through Bridge Creek and Moore. Moore is a southern suburb of Oklahoma City, and had the tornado veered north into the city, it would have probably caused more deaths than any other tornado in history, and become the costliest.

8,000 houses were obliterated. It shredded large vehicles with debris, and then wrapped them around telephone poles, threw them completely through warehouses, whipped 2x4s through wheel hubs, and pine straw all the way through 8-inch-thick pine trees.

This was the first time that the local weather stations reported over radio that if residents were not securely underground, they would be killed. Hiding under mattresses in bathtubs, in ditches, or under overpasses was insufficient.

2

The 1815 Tambora Eruption

Mt. Tambora is on Sumbawa Island, in south Indonesia. It erupted from April 6 to 11, 1815, but the worst of this was at the end, from 10 to 11 April. The power is rated as 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index, making this eruption the most powerful in recorded history, four times more powerful than the 1883 Krakatoa eruption.

This means that the Tambora eruption was 52,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima Bomb. All the vegetation on Sumbawa was incinerated or uprooted, mixed with ash, and washed out to sea. The trees formed rafts 3 miles across. Pumice ash does not mix well with water, and one of these rafts of ash and wood drifted all the way to Calcutta, India.

92,000 people were killed, most by starvation, the largest loss of life caused by a volcanic eruption in recorded history.

The finer ash remained in the atmosphere for 3 years and covered the entire planet, causing brilliant sunsets, and the famous “Year without a Summer,” in both North America and Europe. The ash disrupted the weather, and caused global temperatures to decrease as much as 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit on average, an enormous drop.

1816 was the coldest year of the 1810s, and the 1810s was the coldest decade of the century because of the eruption. 12 inches of snow fell in Quebec City from 6 to 10 June, 1816. Crops in the entire Northern Hemisphere were severely damaged.

1

The 1958 Lituya Bay Megatsunami

Megatsunamis were only theorized until July 9, 1958, when, in Lituya Bay, a very narrow fjord of the Alaskan panhandle, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook 90 million tons of rock and glacial ice off the mountainside at the head of the bay. It dropped off all at once, almost vertically, and landed as a monolith into the bay’s deep headwaters.

This generated the highest wave ever recorded on Earth, 1,720 feet. That’s 470 feet taller than the tip of the Empire State Building’s antenna. It is, in fact, taller than all but the five tallest skyscrapers on Earth today, and most scientists agree that it had sufficient power to rip these buildings from their foundations.

The wave traveled from the head of the bay out toward the open ocean, and because the bay is so narrow, the wave was funneled up the mountainsides. It snapped all the trees off at 3 to 6 feet above the ground, everywhere up to 1,720 feet high around the bay. Most of these were 6-foot-thick spruce trees.

There were a total of 3 fishing boats in the bay, near the mouth, and the wave sank one, killing the two on board. The other two were lucky to ride this wave up the mountainsides and then slosh with it back into the bay.

One of them was anchored, and the 3-foot-thick iron anchor chain was snapped like thread when the wave lifted the boat. One of the survivors estimated the length of time between the wave’s overtopping of the island in the bay to its arrival at his boat as 2 seconds. If this is true, the wave was traveling 600 mph.

It stripped away all the trees, grass, and soil down to the bedrock, and then dissipated in the open ocean.

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