Earth Feature

Venezuela holds the world record for the highest free-fall waterfall in the entire world. Found in the southeastern Canaima National Park, it rushes over the edge of a mountain top plunging 3,230 feet to the bottom while 2,230 feet of the falls is uninterrupted. To get an idea of the actual distance you can compare it to being 14-15 times the Niagara Falls or stacking 2 1/2 Empire State Buildings atop one another.

The area is of coarse surrounded by a constant mist from the falling water. This brings the beautiful wildlife surrounding the area into a unique environment. Along with the bold mountain of seemingly sheared, smooth, rocky cliffs and the abundant moisture feeding plenty of moss, makes for a "picture-perfect" waterfall. The top of the mountain is known as a "Tupay", which is full of many gorges, crevices, streams and waterways. that flow together culminating at the edge of the mountain top, spilling over into freefall.

We have some serious issues in oceanography and sea life these days. One major issue currently being studied is the rise of acidity in our waters. The ph of our oceans and seas is getting to high and effecting ecosystems around the globe. PH is a measurement of acidity or alkaline of a liquid, in this case being water. Currently on the rise, this high acidity can reduce fertilization many aquatic invertebrates. One of the geological locations that ranks the worst for this issue is the west coast of the United States where the ph range averages about 7.7 (ph is on a scale of 1-10, 1 being alkaline and 10 being acidic).

For some time now scientists have known that acidic waters has been affecting marine life, like eating away the shells of turtles and clams. Now they fear that if this continues it could wipe out entire colonies of marine life such as: oysters, sea urchins, lobsters, and mussels. The now escalating climate change will have a great impact on the successful fertilization of many aquatic species by the year 2100 as reported by Swedish and Australian scientists of marine biology.

Check-out this big catfish! This is the newest world record for the largest freshwater fish ever caught. This catfish was caught in Thailand back in 2005 and still holds the record today. In fact, this cat is 5 times larger then the last record that was caught in North America. It new record catch measured over 9 feet long and weighed a whopping 646 pounds. It is believed by scientists that this catfish had traveled from the China sea up the Mekong River where they go to spawn.

This giant catfish was handed over to the Department of Fisheries. The fishery harvests the eggs and sperm for a captive breeding program, to ensure the safety of the species, and avoid it ever becoming extinct.

Once upon a time water was simply taken for granted. Essential to all life as we know it, and considered the most universal solvent. In it's pure form water is tasteless, colorless, and odorless. Water elements consist of 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, abbreviated as H2O. Water is one of the most abundant substances on Earth and is the single most factor in supporting life as we know it. Without water there can be no life is the scientific way of seeing things, when it comes to this subject.

Water is found in all over the earth and even in our atmosphere. From the land we see it in oceans, rivers, lakes, and polar ice. In the atmosphere we see it in the clouds and through rain and snow. Water is constantly being filtered and is moving always. Through a cycle of evaporation into the atmosphere, and condensating back into droplets of precipitation, or rain, then falling back to earth, and finally "running off" back into the bodies of water all around us.

Many places today in our world are lacking this natural resource. Our populations have grown to an epic level where this resource is now more important than it ever was. Water that is consumable by humans is called "potable" water. The lack of this consumable water is become more evident as we move into the future. The availability of this resource has become a major economic and social concern around the world.