DYK list

Portal:Geography/DYK/1

...that sandstone layers (pictured) now exposed in the Canyons of the Escalante in Utah were deposited during the Mesozoic period, when the area was covered with sand dunes about 180 to 225 million years ago?
...that the Iroise Sea on the Atlantic Ocean is France's first marine park?
...that the construction of Tellico Dam on Little Tennessee River in 1979 put several 18th century Overhill Cherokee towns underwater?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/2

...that Raspberry Island (pictured) in the Gulf of Alaska boasts some of the largest Roosevelt elk ever recorded?
... that Georgian daba Manglisi has been a mountain resort area for the people of Tbilisi since the 19th century?
...that only three of the largest islands of the United States – the Big Island of Hawaii, Kodiak Island, and Puerto Rico – are greater than 3,000 square miles (8,000 km²) in size?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/3

...that the volcano Mount St. Helens (pictured) is named after Alleyne FitzHerbert of Derby?
...that Goose Creek State Park, a North Carolina state park off Pamlico Sound, is in an inlet that once provided cover for Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet and other pirates?
...that the now-Polish Gliwice Canal was known as the "Adolf Hitler Canal" during WWII?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/4

...that in January 1859, over 30,000 people gathered on Dealul Mitropoliei in Bucharest in support of Alexander John Cuza (pictured) in his election to become the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia?
...that Singapore’s Fort Tanjong Katong, one of the oldest military forts built by the British colonial government, never saw combat action and was nicknamed the "Wash-out Fort"?
..that Heuneburg, an early Celtic settlement by the upper Danube, was already fortified with a massive ditch-and-bank enclosure by the Middle Bronze Age (15th to 12th century BC)?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/5

...that Stevens Arch (pictured) is one of the many geological features formed from Navajo Sandstone along Coyote Gulch in southern Utah, United States?
...that the Praetorian Building, a high-rise in Dallas, is regarded to be the first skyscraper constructed in the Southwestern United States?
...that the Mustagh Pass crosses the Baltoro Muztagh range in the Karakorams, from Pakistan to China?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/6

... that more than half of the Kappa V Archaeological Site (flooding pictured) has been destroyed by wave wash erosion?
...that the New Zealand Journal of Forestry was first published in 1925 with a title in Māori?
... that Gedser Odde on the island of Falster is Denmark's southernmost point?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/7

... that the Vätsäri Wilderness Area in Lapland, which covers an area of 1,550 square kilometers (600 sq mi), includes taiga forests of Scots Pine and thousands of small lakes (pictured)?
... that pottery from the Duffy Archaeological Site in Illinois is distinctive for its lack of decorative elements?
...that Summit Avenue in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a well preserved Victorian residential boulevard, is home to three National Historic Landmarks and five other structures on the National Register of Historic Places?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/8

...that the largest known metal vessel from antiquity is an elaborately decorated bronze volute krater (pictured) discovered at the Vix Grave in Burgundy, France in 1953?
...that the entire population of Exuma Island Iguanas on Leaf Cay in the Bahamas was translocated to Pasture Cay in 2002 in an effort to protect the species?
...that the freshwater weed Azolla may have grown in the Arctic Ocean with enough vigour to plunge the world into an ice age?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/9

...that the Cogan House Covered Bridge (pictured) in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States was built by a millwright who preassembled the frame in a field beside the sawmill to make sure it all fit?
... that the Tso Kar is a salt lake in Ladakh, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir?
...that Los Angeles considered changing the name of the geographic region known as San Fernando Valley in 2002 to San Angeles, the same name used for the fictional city in the 1993 movie Demolition Man?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/10

...that the stock for the captive breeding program of the Galapagos Land Iguana descended from iguanas which William Randolph Hearst translocated from Baltra Island to North Seymour Island in the 1930s?
...that the single known specimen of Houston's Whitebeam grows on a cliff in North Somerset and cannot be accessed without ropes?
...that at Bougon, a prehistoric burial mound in France, archeologists found the skull of a man who had undergone three trepanations during his lifetime?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/11

...that archaeological excavations near the Andries DuBois House (pictured) in Wallkill, New York, found evidence that it was built half a century later than previously believed?
...that the tsunami triggered by the 1979 Tumaco earthquake coincided with low tide, greatly reducing the area inundated and the likelihood of a far higher death toll?
...that the wine-producing region of Blackwood Valley is named after the longest continually flowing river in Western Australia?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/12

...that Lady Isle (pictured), a small Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde, is Britain's first seabird reserve?
... that the Syrian city of Tell Rifaat dates back to the Iron Age when it was an Aramaean settlement known as "Arpad"?
... that a grey sandstone wall is all that remains of Caludon Castle in Coventry, whose history stretches back to pre-Norman times?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/13

...that some experts believe a cylinder seal (pictured) from the prehistoric San Andrés site is evidence for an Olmec writing system?
...that Shyampukur was the site of one of the two tents Jamshetji Framji Madan set up to screen films when he entered the ‘bioscope’ scene in Kolkata in 1902?
...that the medieval Noraduz cemetery contains the largest cluster of khachkars (stone crosses) in Armenia?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/14

... that Tarsar Lake (pictured) is separated from its twin sister in the Kashmir Valley by a mountain?
... that Saul Steinberg's famous New Yorker cover, View of the World from 9th Avenue, was named the fourth greatest magazine cover in a 40-year survey?
...that the Kerguelen Shag, a species of cormorant of the Kerguelen Islands, is the smallest species amongst Blue-Eyed Shags?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/15

... that Vanguard Cave (pictured) is one of four caves in Gibraltar which have been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
...that one of the first discoveries of atmospheric neutrinos was made at India's Kolar Gold Fields?
...that technology from 18th-century France and China was used to improve the economy of Mysore kingdom?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/16

...that the Kaiparowits Plateau (pictured) in Utah contains fine details of bones, teeth, eggshells, and even tracks of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and other animals?
...that Central Asia plus Japan is an ongoing dialogue between Japan and the Central Asian republics to promote regional cooperation?
...that Amsterdam has a concentric belt of canals around it?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/17

...that the megalithic Niedertiefenbach tomb in Hesse (pictured), Germany has at least ten discernible layers of burials from the New Stone Age?
... that Broad Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, went from vacant storefronts to a vibrant arts district in less than a decade?
... that forest degradation and illegal exports threaten the survival of the Rainforest Chameleon?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/18

...that archaeological finds from the German Glauberg plateau include a life-sized statue of a warrior (pictured) dating from around 500 BC?
...that the Solarium Augusti in ancient Rome was the largest sundial in history?
...that the Indo-Burma barrier, a 1,624 kilometer-long barrier between India and Burma, is being built to curtail gunrunning and illicit drug trafficking?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/19

...that the tidewater glacier cycle describes the centuries-long cycle of alternating advances and retreats of fjord-carving glaciers (pictured) terminating in tidewater?
...that in Orangeville, Illinois, four of the five Registered Historic Places: Union House, Masonic Hall, People's State Bank, and Central House are all within three blocks of each other?
...that the Shrapnel Valley Cemetery at Gallipoli is named after the distinctive sound produced by shrapnel in the area?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/20

...that the Gagarin's Start rocket launch site (pictured) at Baikonur Cosmodrome was used for over 400 space missions, including the world's first artificial satellite and the first human spaceflight?
...that the Great Wall of China has impacted the process of evolution in plants?
...that the U.S. state of Oregon has a rail network of over 2,400 miles?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/21

... that the camera used to create Google Street View images (example pictured) of the Great Barrier Reef is controlled by a Samsung Galaxy Tab?
... that the historic La Playa Trail in San Diego is the oldest commercial trail in the western United States?
... that the Opa-Locka Thematic Resource Area includes 20 buildings developed by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss using an "Arabian Nights" theme?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/22

... that Gamleborg (fortress ruins pictured) represents Bornholm's oldest defence works?
... that Chao Mae Tuptim in Bangkok is a site crammed full of wooden circumcised penis statues which are said to endow good fortune and fertility on anybody coming into contact with them?
... that the Bab al-Nairab neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria, was originally a 13th-century gate planned by the Ayyubid ruler az-Zahir Ghazi, but built by his successor al-Aziz Muhammad?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/23

... that at least one species of the extinct termites Parastylotermes (fossil pictured) was found in the Calico Mountains?
... that the Phoenician settlement of Tell Sukas in modern Syria was located at the center of the fertile plain of Jableh on a hill with access to two natural harbors?
... that excavations at the town of Jayrud in the Qalamoun Mountains of Syria produced microliths, blades, scrapers and other lithic tools dating back to the Natufian culture?
... that the island of Golem Grad in Lake Prespa has over five archaeological sites and is a Macedonian tourist destination, located in North Macedonia.

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Portal:Geography/DYK/24

... that Colorado State Highway 82 (pictured, as Aspen's Main Street) intersects only one other state highway along its 85-mile (137 km) length?
... that the 6th-millennium BC settlement of Tell Sabi Abyad in northern Syria featured multi-room rectangular buildings with round structures called tholoi that were probably used for storage?
... that Shanghai Botanical Garden has a penjing garden that covers 4 hectares (9.9 acres)?

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Portal:Geography/DYK/25

... that the lapis lazuli inlays used in the 25th-century BC Statue of Ebih-Il (pictured), discovered in ancient Mari in Syria, were imported from as far east as Afghanistan?
... that the rediscovery of the long-lost Roman colony of Carteia in Spain led to Sir Isaac Newton's niece finding a husband?
... that at 12,095 feet (3,687 m) in elevation, Colorado's Independence Pass is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in the United States?