Hewn from a near-mythic Scottish mountain, colossal Cruachan Power Station in Argyll is a model for renewable and low-carbon energy production and a pioneer in sustainable tourism.
Turkey s mysterious portal to the underworld
By Bella Falk29th June 2021
The ancient city of Hierapolis has long hidden a poisonous secret in its mysterious Gate to Hell . But modern science has finally uncovered the truth behind the Roman myths.
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In Pamukkale in western Turkey, an enormous white rock formation towers over the surrounding plain. The gleaming mountain of petrified limestone cascades to the valley floor, creased with frozen stalactites and tessellated with hundreds of pools of sparkling turquoise water.
These otherworldly formations are travertines, limestone cliffs slowly created over 400,000 years by the bubbling up of mineral springs. As the water flows down the hillside it degasses, leaving behind a vast deposit of bright white calcium carbonate that s almost 3km long and 160m high. This is not the only place where travertines occur – Huanglong in China and Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park are other famous examples – but the ones at Pam
Ancient Roman Gate to Hell Killed Victims With Its Deadly Lake
10 MAY 2021
A cave ancient Romans believed to be a gate to the underworld was so deadly that it killed all animals who entered its proximity, while not harming the human priests who led them.
Millennia later, scientists believe they have figured out why - a concentrated cloud of carbon dioxide that suffocated those who breathed it.
Dating back 2,200 years, the cave was rediscovered by archaeologists from the University of Salento back in 2011.
It was located in a city called Hierapolis in ancient Phrygia, now Turkey, and it was used for animal sacrifices of bulls led through the Plutonium - or Pluto s Gate, for the Classical god of the underworld - by castrated priests.