Fun159

Few very strange ,little known facts about your planet
In 1783 an Icelandic eruption threw up enough dust to temporarily
block out the sun over Europe.

About 20 to 30 volcanoes erupt each year, mostly under the sea.

A huge underground river runs underneath the Nile, with six times
more water than the river above.

Lake Bosumtwi in Ghana formed in a hollow made by a
meteorite.

Beaver Lake, in Yellowstone Park , USA, was artificially
created by beaver damming.

Off the coast of Florida there is an underwater hotel. Guests
have to dive to the entrance.

Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400
bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped a sky goddess called Nut.

The world's windiest place is Commonwealth Bay, Antartica.

In 1934, a gust of wind reached 371 km/h on Mount
Washington in New Hampshire, USA.

American Roy Sullivan has been struck by lighting a record
seven times.

The desert baobab tree can store up to 1000 litres of
water in its trunk.

The oldest living tree is a California bristlecone pine
name 'Methuselah' . It is about 4600 years old. The
largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia growing in
California. It is 84 meters tall and measures 29 meters
round the trunk. The fastest growing tree is the
eucalyptus. It can grow 10 meters a year.

The Antartic notothenia fish has a protein in its blood
that acts like antifreeze and stops the fish freezing in
icy sea.

The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's
electricity.

The industrial complex of Cubatao in Brazil is known as the
Valley of Death because its pollution has destroyed
the trees and rivers nearby.

Tibet is the highest country in the world. Its average
height above sea level is 4500 meters.

Some of the oldest mountains in the world are the
Highlands in Scotland. They are estimated to be about 400 million
years old.

Fresh water from the River Amazon can be found up to 180 km
out to sea.

The White Sea, in Russia, has the lowest temperature, only
-2 degrees centigrade. The Persian Gulf is the warmest sea. In
the summer its temperature reaches 35.6 degrees
centigrade.

There is no land at all at the North Pole, only ice on top
of sea. The Arctic Ocean has about 12 million sq km of
floating ice and has the coldest winter temperature of -34
degrees centigrade.

The Antarctic ice sheet is 3-4 km thick, covers 13 million
sq km and has temperatures as low as -70 degrees
centigrade.

Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol
instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.