Salt mountain. Amazing planet Earth. Geography: secrets and discoveries

KHOJA ENVER (1908-1985) Since 1954, First Secretary (in 1948-1954 General Secretary) of the Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor (APR). 1946-1954 Prime Minister of Albania. Created a regime of the Stalinist type. Ruled the country in conditions of almost complete international isolation. Enver Hoxha

Khoja Nasreddin In many ways Eastern countries popular stories about Khoja Nasreddin. This character is considered by some to be a historical figure, others - a collective image from folk anecdotes. Perhaps, as Hodge himself used to say, both are right, and others. One might object: but

This symbol is directly related to many fairy tales and legends. According to the ancestors, the mountains harbored secret forces and served as a haven for their masters.

Many believed that treasures are stored inside the mountains that are inaccessible to people, and bring misfortune to those who go in search of them.

For those who lived near the mountains, there were forbidden places on which it was not allowed to walk, so as not to disturb the spirits.

Slavic oral art interprets the mountains as eternal, not subject to human forces. The mountain is a big and serious obstacle on the way.

There is a well-known expression: “A smart man will not go uphill, smart mount go around” and one more thing: “If the mountain does not go to Mohammed, then Mohammed goes to the mountain,” which means: do not wait in vain for the impossible, do what you can.

If in a dream you climb a mountain, then this means your desire to realize some kind of idea.

To reach the top of the mountain is to achieve what you want, to make dreams come true. If, despite all your efforts, you fail to climb to the top of the mountain, then this indicates that external circumstances will interfere with the implementation of your plans, it may be worth waiting for a while and trying again to achieve your goal.

Seeing a mountain with two peaks - such a dream predicts success in some important business, because you have the support of an influential person.

If a river flows along the slopes of a mountain, this means that many events await you ahead, but they will be small and insignificant.

The work will not bring satisfaction, but this period of hectic pursuits of empty deeds will soon end.

Seeing a chain of mountains is a warning dream. If a mountainous chain blocks your way, it means that you will encounter insurmountable obstacles on your way.

If a chain of mountains stretches along your path, then this is a sign that you will achieve your goal despite the actions of ill-wishers.

If you dreamed of a mountain with settlements on its slopes, then this means that you are surrounded big amount friends and good acquaintances who will help you in difficult times, which will not keep you waiting.

To dream about how a person moves a mountain from one place to another at will - you are looking for strength to carry out your plan, but do not overestimate your capabilities and do not rely on outside help.

To dream that you are going to the mountain and understand that it is approaching you by itself - this dream means that external circumstances will turn out favorably and you will receive what you have long been owed according to your merits.

To dream of a friend who came at night looking to ask for help: you need to dig a mountain, and you immediately go to help him.

This dream means that you do not spare yourself for the sake of others, but every day you become more and more disappointed in those whom you help and for whom you sacrifice yourself.

To dream that the mountain begins to move, like the belly of a pregnant woman, and after that many mice appear in the area, you foresee the futility of what you are doing now and what your best forces are going to.

To dream of a nag that is barely dragging itself uphill - the endless hard work is too tiring for you, so you do not see a gap ahead; You have to work hard to complete what requires close attention.

According to the planned plan, we drove by car to the nearby city of Cardona. In this note, I will talk about our visit to one of the main attractions of Cardona - Salt Mountain.

The Salt Mountain of Cardona is an unexploited this moment place of extraction of table salt, as well as salts of potassium and magnesium. Entrepreneurial Catalans found a way to get some money even after the cessation of work in the mines of the mountain through tourism, building the so-called "Cultural Park Salt Mountain".

Quite quickly finding the Cultural Park on the outskirts of Cardona, we left the car in a vast free parking lot and visited tourist office. By following this link on the official page of the park, you can see the current schedule of its work, the time of excursions inside the Salt Mountain of Cardona, as well as current prices. For us, an excursion in the mines cost 34 euros for a family of two adults and two children.

Cultural Park on the map:

After buying tickets, we waited about 20 minutes for the appointed time, after which a jeep with a covered trolley-trailer for transporting people drove up behind the formed group of tourists, on which we were taken down to the foot of the Salt Mountain:

Excursions inside the mountain are of course only with a guide. Only one excursion per day English language, the rest are in Catalan. There are no audio guides. Since we didn’t have to wait for the tour in English, we agreed to Catalan as well☺. In any case, when buying tickets, you may be given an explanatory English text, and in order for the story about the Salt Mountain of Cardona to be more professional, I will give its translation here (with abbreviations and my notes):

• The tour lasts 50 minutes, takes place on flat surfaces (my note: climbing, as when visiting natural caves, is really not necessary anywhere), the temperature inside the mine galleries is 17-20 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
• It is mandatory to wear a helmet during the tour.
• Filming inside Salt Mountain is allowed only in places indicated by the guide (note: there are enough opportunities to shoot in unauthorized places, standing at the end of the group; however, in fact, it turned out that shooting in a place where it is allowed by the guide makes much more sense - there is an order of magnitude more interesting and beautiful, so I recommend not to waste time and nerves on "underground" shooting).
• It is forbidden to take minerals and salt fragments with you (note: at the end, the guide offers specially selected 3 types of salt mined in the mine for a taste test - these samples, if there is such a child's interest, you can take with you)

The first gallery of Salt Mountain.

We are now inside a salt storage facility called Cardona's Diapira. Minerals around us: on the ceiling, walls and floor, this is ordinary rock salt. If you look at it up close, you can see that it is red-orange due to an excess of iron, which turns into an oxide when interacting with oxygen and it is in this form that gives the salt its color. That is why this type of salt is commonly known as Red Salt. Looking at such huge salt reserves, the question comes to mind: how could they have arisen in the middle of central Catalonia?

To get an answer, you need to rewind time to about 40 million years ago. At that time these places were covered by the sea entering into Atlantic Ocean. Over time, this sea turned into a closed one, surrounded by land. The temperature on Earth was then very high, so over time, the water in the sea evaporated, and the salt settled to the bottom. The least soluble type of salt, rock salt, formed the first layer; then a layer of sylvin, or potassium salts, settled, and only then - carnallite, or magnesium-potassium salts. When the sea finally evaporated, the layers of salt were covered with sand and sediments (looking at the Salt Mountain from the outside, you can understand how thick the sediments were).

Salt deposits occurred in an orderly manner, creating horizontal layers. Later, during the formation Pyrenees mountains the pressure applied to the layers of salt caused them to fold, ripple, and rise. As a result, our outstanding Cardona Salt Mountain was created.

Dead end.

Now we are at a depth of 82 meters compared to the Maria Theresa mine, where minerals were mined. Only at the office can one observe the visible element of this shaft - the green tower, which is the dominant element of the surrounding area. In fact, in general, the project consists of two mines called Maria Teresa and Alberto.

The depth of the Maria Teresa mine was 720 meters, it was used from 1929 to 1972.

The depth of the Alberto mine is 1000 meters, miners were lowered and raised along it. Up to 50 people moved at a time.

One of the main reasons for digging two different shafts was the need for ventilation, to create a natural movement of air flow.

Minerals lie 2000 meters under our feet. There we can find a huge number of galleries and underground cavities. The miners have unearthed over 300 km of galleries, and the open cavities are as big as 2 football stadiums! As if under our feet there is a huge anthill!

Coral room.

This room got its name because of the similarity of stalactites and stalagmites with corals.

Here we can see stalactites, deposits growing from the ceiling down to the floor as rainwater seeps through layers of salt. It is easy to see and hear the drops of salt water dripping. Salt from drops that fall on the floor gradually crystallizes, forming stalagmites growing from the floor to the ceiling. Over time, a matching stalactite and stalagmite can fuse together to become a salt column.

On the ceiling here we can see red salt. This is what we call carnallite or magnesium salt, which usually crystallizes in a rhomboid system, unlike the other two minerals of the Cardona Salt Mountain, which give crystals in the form of perfect cubes. In addition, magnesium salt absorbs moisture very well.

Video I shot inside Cardona Salt Mountain:

Saint Barbara and the Salt Stairs.

Here we can see the image of St. Barbara (to whom the miners and demolition workers prayed). Her feast is celebrated on December 4th, a special day for all the Cardona miners. The salt sculpture was made by Juan Ruiz. In front of this image, a very curious element can be seen - a broken wooden staircase left by the miners and, over time, completely covered with salt.

Miners' equipment.

Inside this gallery you can see how the miners were able to dig more than 300 km of underground passages. For example, here is this drill. This tool was placed perpendicular to the wall, the miner hit it with a hammer to make holes, which were then filled with gunpowder. With the help of explosions, miners broke off pieces of minerals from the wall, which were taken out to the Maria Teresa mine, for which they were loaded with shovels into carts. From there, the salt was already lifted out.

Later, mining techniques were improved: miners began to use electric drills, gunpowder cartridges and mechanized transport.

The Sistine Chapel.

This huge cavity (the largest of its kind here) was opened in the 20s of the last century with the help of gunpowder. This was done in order to study salt reserves and search for valuable potash salt. However, searches here were unsuccessful and were later abandoned. When these galleries were open to tourists, the place was named Sistine Chapel because of the exceptional beauty of the colors of its frontal surface.

It is in this place that photo and video shooting is allowed.

Outside the mine, you can see a huge grayish mountain. It has an artificial origin: all this is salt waste that was not used during the period 1929-1972. During the period 1972-1990, another mountain of waste was accumulated, but it was completely recycled and no longer exists.

Today there is a plan to completely recycle the waste from the Cardona Salt Valley in order to obtain caustic soda.

I can compare the Salt Mountain of Cardona inside with only one at least somewhat close object that I happened to visit - Kungur cave (Perm region). There is beauty here and there. I do not regret that I took the time to visit both of these places.

Not far from the office there is a museum of pretty decent souvenirs made of stone and minerals, there is a simple cafe and a set of exhibits dedicated to the development of the Cardona Salt Mountain:

Tajikistan has salt mountain-mushroom, which is visible from a distance of several kilometers, with a height of 900 meters. This Mount Khoja-Mumin. It is located 22 kilometers from city ​​of Kulyab. The uniqueness of this mountain is that it consists almost entirely of salt. Why "almost" - because at the top and on some slopes it is still slightly covered with a small layer of soil.

Since ancient times, the inhabitants of Tajikistan have been extracting salt here. In shape, Khoja-Mumin resembles a mushroom that has lowered its leg into the ground, the thickness of which is 1 square kilometer. And the area of ​​​​the upper part of the Khodja-Mumin mountain has 40 square kilometers. Experts calculated that a small city could be built on the top of the mountain in which to live. mountain of salt shimmers in the sun in many shades, but bluish-green and pinkish colors prevail over the rest.

On the mountain there steep slopes, which enable salt to "play" with all the colors of the rainbow. For many millennia, salty rivers have flowed from Mount Khodja-Mumin. Their number reaches 160. This is explained by the fact that the rains that fall over the mountain fall into the funnels of the mountain and salt water flows out of the bowels.

On soils that are located on slopes salt mushroom, grow low shrubs. There are also caves that are washed by streams of water. If people could take all the salt of this mountain, then humanity would be provided with salt for several centuries to come. There are about 60 billion tons of salt only in the lower part of the Khoja-Mumin mountain.

A remarkable fact is that, despite "all its salinity", there are reservoirs with fresh water. Which, however, do not feel bad here. This means that in the bowels of the salty mountain there are other minerals that contribute to the rise underground water to the surface. It is thanks to this fresh water that flowers and grass flourish on the surface of Khoja-Mumin, and in spring Khoja-Mumin peak even covered with a beautiful bright red carpet of blooming tulips...

For many tourists, Türkiye is mediterranean resort with a huge number of beaches, hotels and an abundance of entertainment. But this country has another side. There are many different sights of great beauty in Turkey. Pamukkale - amazing place, which was created by nature for about twenty thousand years.

"The Eighth Wonder of the World" or Pamukkale Türkiye (photo)

Almost every tourist who has arrived in Turkey, having seen Pamukkale travertines in the photographs, will certainly want to visit this place. Quite often, guides also call Pamukkale as the "eighth wonder of the world" and lure visitors to visit this place also because there you can swim in the famous pool with mineral waters , which is called "Cleopatra's pool". You can get to Pamukkale both with a tour and on your own.

So what lies behind this wonderful name Pamukkale?

According to ancient legend mythical titans, having harvested cotton, scattered it on the rocks to dry it, so the hills became snow-white and received the name "cotton castle".

What does Pamukkale look like? Türkiye (photo)

Hierapolis and Pamukkale are a single complex in which, on the one hand, there is a mountain with travertines, and on the other, a museum and the ruins of the city. Between them stretches the pool of Cleopatra.

Beautiful white springs with clear water turquoise, located on the side of the mountain, create a marvelous landscape, which is recognized calling card Turkey. However, you should be aware that it is forbidden to walk on travertines You can swim only in specially designated places that were created artificially. The rest of the beauty can be admired at the foot of the mountain or looking at the sights while walking on top, along special paths.

Healing properties of Pamukkale spring water

According to legend, the water in the springs gives beauty and youth who bathes in it. Once upon a time, a poor and ugly girl lived in these parts, no one married her, and she decided to die by throwing herself from the mountain. She climbed to the very top and rushed down, but fell into a pool of water. At this time, the son of Denizli Bey was returning from hunting, noticing the girl, he was struck by her beauty. He took her to him and soon got married. Since then, it is believed that in the waters of Pamukkale one can heal and find beauty.

The water temperature in thermal springs is 35-36 degrees all year round. She has a healing effect both during bathing and when taken orally. It will be useful for metabolic disorders, skin diseases, disorders of the nervous system, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

But due to the fact that water is not found in travertines all year round, in order to improve your health with the mineral waters of the springs, you can swim in the Cleopatra pool, which is located near the salt mountains and beyond. separate fee you can swim and even take with you healing water.

An important attraction of Hierapolis is the pool, named after the famous priestess.

Cleopatra's Pool - thermal pool filled with mineral waters. The water temperature ranges from thirty-five to thirty-six degrees. It's surprising that sparkling water in the pool, according to the guides, every minute two hundred liters of liquid enter the pool from underground. The pool is divided into two parts, one is shallow and the other is deep. Because most people prefer to be in the shallow zone, the deep zone is often spacious. Children are only allowed to swim in the shallows.

The bottom of the pool is decorated with fragments of ancient columns, which were left from the buildings around the pool, destroyed during the earthquake. According to legend, only Cleopatra took baths here, and ordinary people there was no access to the pool. But this is just a legend. At the moment, you can swim in the pool for a fee, so that the effect has an effect, you should be in the water for at least forty minutes.

Where is Pamukkale located and how to get there

The salt mountains of Turkey are located in the southwest of the country in the province of Denizli, 17 km from the city. You can get here different kind transport from different parts of the country.

Often guides in hotels offer excursions to thermal springs, but as practice shows, their cost is too high in comparison with local travel agencies.

The distance from Kemer to Pamukkale is two hundred and eighty kilometers, and from Antalya two hundred and fifty.

What else to see in Pamukkale

So, going on vacation to Turkey, you should definitely visit the beautiful and marvelous place of Pamukkale with its snow-white travertines, ruins ancient city, to see how cotton turns into fabric, and various masterpieces are created from onyx stone.

The beauty of Pamukkale