Mount Fuji - Japan

You cannot help but be calmed by this beautiful shot of Mount Fuji, looking over Lake Kawaguchi. 

Indeed such is the beauty of this volcano that TES has posted pictures and stories of it in almost every situation:

sunset: http://on.fb.me/1lgGLJM
moonlight: http://on.fb.me/1qecbs5
under a comet: http://on.fb.me/1yR3juK
from space: http://on.fb.me/1qydsaT
under a cloud: http://on.fb.me/1mhqAfn
and even the chance to climb it using Google Street View: http://on.fb.me/1qKNsLX

The Japanese football team’s dreams of rising majestically above the competition will have to wait until four years time, as they finished bottom of a tough Group C. They were tipped to perform well, but football is often unpredictable, just as volcanic activity can be.

Many factors are taken into account in trying to predict volcanism, which can be read about in relation to Mount Fuji’s individual situation here: http://on.fb.me/1nKVKNH and more generally here: http://on.fb.me/Tm3lKa .


Image credit (non commercial): Masaru Minoya (http://bit.ly/1lgDKsU)

Sunrise over Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi sits near the southern end of the East African Rift Zone and borders the nations of Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Some of the bordering countries refer to the lake as Lake Nyasa, using the name that predated the founding of Malawi as a country.

The lake sits in a tectonic basin being formed as the eastern side of Africa pulls apart. The East African Rift Zone is a feature formed over the last several million years as tectonic forces are splitting the very continent apart. On land, these forces result in the formation of rift valleys; deep, linear valleys surrounded by steep cliffs and normal faults. Some of those steep cliffs can be seen in the far distance in this photo.

Lake Malawi National Park sits at the southern end of this lake in Malawi and has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site due to the setting, surrounded by the scarps of the Great African Rift Valley, and due to the variety of fish and other wildlife sustained by its waters.


Image credit: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2368169377
(Creative commons)