Nestled in the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia, Alula is the gem that’s been hiding in plain sight—until recently. Here's everything you need to know:

Thanks for your visit. Comments, faves and invitations are very appreciated. The elephant is a basalt rock formation on Heimaey, the largest of the Westman Islands, Iceland. It is made of columnar basalt. The columns are pentagonal (5-sided) in cross section. Columnar basalt forms during the cooling of a thick lava flow when contractional joints or fractures are created. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical…

This basalt sea-cliff on the island of Heimaey in Southern Iceland looks just like a giant elephant or wooly mammoth dipping its trunk into the sea.