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Cayman Brac
Cayman Brac is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the Caribbean Sea about north-east of Grand Cayman and east of Little Cayman. It is about long, with an average width of . Its terrain is the most prominent of the three Cayman Islands due to "The Bluff (Cayman Islands), The Bluff", a limestone outcrop that rises steadily along the length of the island up to above sea level at the eastern end. The island is named after this prominent feature, as "brac" is a Goidelic languages, Gaelic name for a bluff. History Christopher Columbus sighted Cayman Brac and its sister island, Little Cayman, on 10 May 1503 when his ship was blown off course during a trip between Hispaniola and Panama. He named them "Las Tortugas" because of the many turtles he spotted on the islands. The Cayman Islands were renamed by Sir Francis Drake, who came upon the islands during a voyage in 1586. He used the word "Caymanas", taken from the Island Caribs, Carib name for crocodiles af ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, and South America to the south, it comprises numerous List of Caribbean islands, islands, cays, islets, reefs, and banks. It includes the Lucayan Archipelago, Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies; the Quintana Roo Municipalities of Quintana Roo#Municipalities, islands and Districts of Belize#List, Belizean List of islands of Belize, islands of the Yucatán Peninsula; and the Bay Islands Department#Islands, Bay Islands, Miskito Cays, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, Corn Islands, and San Blas Islands of Central America. It also includes the coastal areas on the Mainland, continental mainland of the Americas bordering the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclura
''Cyclura'' is a genus of lizards in the family Iguanidae. Member species of this genus are commonly known as "cycluras" (or more commonly as rock iguanas) and only occur on islands in the West Indies. Rock iguanas have a high degree of endemism, with (in most cases) a single species or subspecies originating on an individual island. Taxonomy The genus ''Cyclura'' was first circumscribed by Richard Harlan in 1825 to include two new species of lizard: ''C. carinata'' and ''C. teres''. ''C. teres'' eventually turned out to be a junior synonym of '' Ctenosaura acanthura''. In the 20th century there were eight recognised species of ''Cyclura'' and nine additional subspecies (one extinct) besides the nominotypical subspecies. Recently, certain subspecies were elevated to species status. Currently, there are ten species in this genus. Habitat Rock iguanas most often inhabit subtropical zones, of Caribbean island dry forest biomes. These landscapes are characterised b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. There is some evidence that karst may occur in more weathering-resistant rocks such as quartzite given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes. In regions where the dissolved bedrock is covered (perhaps by debris) or confined by one or more superimposed non-soluble rock strata, distinctive karst features may occur only at subsurface levels and can be totally missing above ground. The study of ''paleokarst'' (buried karst in the stratigraphic column) is important in petroleum geology because as much as 50% of the world's Oil and gas reserves and resource quantification, hydrocarbon reserves are hosted in carbonate rock, and much of this is found in porous karst systems. Etymology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these regions for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in the park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking (a term mostly used for hillwalking in northern England). The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers Club in 1927. In New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is a popular activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide, and studies suggest that all forms of walking have health b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Climbing
Traditional climbing (or trad climbing) is a type of free climbing in rock climbing where the lead climber places removable protection while simultaneously ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber (or belayer) then removes this protection as they ascend the route. Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing where the protection equipment is already pre-drilled into the rock in the form of bolts. Traditional climbing is still the dominant format on longer multi-pitch routes, including alpine and big wall. Traditional climbing carries a much higher level of risk than bolted sport climbing as the climber may not have placed the protection equipment correctly while ascending the route, or there may be few opportunities to insert satisfactory protection (e.g. on very difficult routes). Traditional climbing was once the dominant form of free climbing but since the mid-1980s, sport climbing — and its related form of competition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Climbing
Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in climbing guidebook, guidebooks, and on online databases, detailing how to climb the route (called the beta (climbing), beta), and who made the first ascent (or FA) and the coveted First ascent#In rock climbing, first free ascent (or FFA). Climbers will try to ascend a route onsight, however, a climber can spend years projecting (climbing), projecting a route before they make a redpoint (climbing), redpoint ascent. Routes range from a few metres to over a in height, and traverse (climbing), traverses can reach in length. They include slab climbing, slabs, face climbing, faces, crack climbing, cracks and overhang (climbing), overhangs/roofs. Popular rock types are granite (e.g. El Capitan), limestone (e.g. Verdon Gorge), and sandstone (e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1932 Cuba Hurricane
The 1932 Cuba hurricane, known also as the Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur or the 1932 Camagüey hurricane,Millás, p. 1 was the deadliest and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record to have made landfall in Cuba. It is the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in November. The cyclone had a path through the Caribbean Sea atypical to most hurricanes developing late in the Atlantic hurricane season. The storm's strong winds, storm surge, and rain devastated an extensive portion of central and eastern Cuba, where the storm was considered the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. Though the effects from the hurricane were concentrated primarily on Cuba, significant effects were also felt in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, with lesser effects felt elsewhere. The tropical depression that would later develop into the destructive hurricane was first located east of the Lesser Antilles on October 30, and tracked westward into the Caribbea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caving
Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave environment.Caving in New Zealand (from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Accessed 2012-11.) The challenges involved in caving vary according to the cave being visited; in addition to the total absence of light beyond the entrance, negotiating pitches, squeezes, and water hazards can be difficult. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cave
Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock shelters). Caves which extend further underground than the opening is wide are called endogene caves. Speleology is the science of exploration and study of all aspects of caves and the cave environment. Visiting or exploring caves for recreation may be called Caving, ''caving'', ''potholing'', or ''spelunking''. Formation types The formation and development of caves is known as ''speleogenesis''; it can occur over the course of millions of years. Caves can range widely in size, and are formed by various geological processes. These may involve a combination of chemical processes, erosion by water, tectonic forces, microorganisms, pressure, and atmospheric influences. Isotopic dating techniques can be applied to cave sedime ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, the term Western Hemisphere is often used as a metonym for the Americas or the "New World", even though geographically the hemisphere also includes parts of other continents. Geography The Western Hemisphere consists of the Americas, excluding some of the Aleutian Islands to the southwest of the Alaskan mainland; the westernmost portions of Europe and Africa, both mainland and islands; the extreme eastern tip of the Russian mainland and islands ( North Asia); numerous territories in Oceania; and a large portion of Antarctica. The center of the Western Hemisphere is located in the Pacific Ocean at the intersection of the 90th meridian west and the Equator, among the Galápagos Islands. The nearest land is Genovesa Island at . The hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuban Navy
The Cuban Revolutionary Navy () is the navy of Cuba. History The Constitutional Navy of Cuba was the navy of Cuba that existed prior to 1959. During World War II, it sank the German submarine U-176, German submarine ''U-176'' on 15 May 1943. During the Cold War, the Cuban Navy successfully Leyla Express and Johnny Express incidents, captured the freighters Leyla Express and Johnny Express, both vessels blamed for CIA-related activities against Cuba. In 1988, the Cuban Navy boasted 12,000 men, three Submarine, submarines, two modern Guided-missile frigate, guided-missile frigates, one Spy ship, intelligence vessel, and a large number of patrol craft and Minesweeper, minesweepers. However, most of the Soviet-made vessels have been Ship commissioning#Ship decommissioning, decommissioned or sunk to make Artificial reef, reefs. By 2007, the Cuban Navy was assessed as being 3,000 strong (including up to 550+ Marine (military), Navy Infantry) by the International Institute for Strat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet Union, it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country by area, extending across Time in Russia, eleven time zones and sharing Geography of the Soviet Union#Borders and neighbors, borders with twelve countries, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of Republics of the Soviet Union, national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, Government of the Soviet Union, its government and Economy of the Soviet Union, economy were Soviet-type economic planning, highly centralized. As a one-party state go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
