Environmental Graffiti

The Turquoise Waters of the Middle East’s Largest Salt Lake

Lake Urmia is a salt lake in northwestern Iran – the largest in the Middle East – known for its glittering turquoise waters and dozens of small, rocky islands. The lake is cherished by man and beast alike: People ascribe healing properties to the lake’s many minerals; and birds like flamingos, pelicans, storks, ibises and many others appreciate it as a food stop on their migration routes.

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The Amazing Mud Volcanoes Of Azerbaijan

Bubbling and belching away like witches’ cauldrons, mud volcanoes are one of nature’s more murky oddities. They’re found spattered throughout the world, but astonishingly around 300 of the earth’s estimated 700 mud volcanoes lie in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. Capable of ejecting millions of cubic metres of hydrocarbon gasses plus mountains of mud, these geological marvels – some of them over 200 metres high – are a sight to behold.

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