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Natural Wonders of the World

A Reading A–Z Level V Leveled Reader

Word Count: 1,822

LLEEVVEELLEEDD RREEAADDEERR •• VV

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Written by Jane Sellman

Natural Wonders of the WorldLevel V Leveled Reader© 2005 Learning Page, Inc.Written by Jane SellmanMaps by Craig FrederickIllustrations by Cende Hill

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Natural Wonders

of the World

www.readinga-z.com

Written by Jane SellmanCorrelation

LEVEL VFountas & Pinnell RReading Recovery 25

DRA 40

Photo Credits:Front cover, back cover, title page, pages 4, 5, 6, 8, 16, 19, 20: © ArtToday;page 7: © DSL Library; page 12: © Royalty-Free/CORBIS; page 9: © CORBIS;page 10: © Danny Lehman/CORBIS; page 14: © Louise Gubb/CORBIS SABA;page 17: © Adam Crowley/Royalty-free; page 18: © Bettmann/CORBIS

43

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Grand Canyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Parícutin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Victoria Falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Mount Everest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Great Barrier Reef . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Wonders Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Introduction

What makes something a natural wonder? A wonder is a natural structure so amazing andbeautiful that it makes you ponder how it wasformed. Natural wonders are landforms thathave been created by nature, not by humans. Our planet is home to many natural wonders. In this book, we will learn about five of them:

• A layered canyon carved by a river

• A young volcano that took over a village

• A breathtaking waterfall

• An immense coral reef

• A towering mountain

Arizona’s Barringer Meteorite Crater shows how space rockscolliding with Earth create amazing land forms.

GrandCanyon

VictoriaFalls

Great BarrierReef

MountEverest

Parícutin

N

NorthAmerica

Africa

Australia

AsiaEurope

SouthAmerica

65

These rocks make up the layers in the Canyonwalls. The top of the Canyon, where most visitorsenjoy their first view, is the youngest layer of theCanyon. The bottom layer, near the river, is theoldest. Scattered rocks located at the bottom ofthe Canyon date back as long ago as 2 billion years.

The Grand Canyon is a great place to studyrocks and the earth’s history because the rocklayers are so easy to see and reach. Geologistsoften visit the site. One of the first geologists tovisit was John Newberry, who traveled to theCanyon in 1858. Newberry was the first scientistto record the Canyon’s layers, although he wasn’tthe first to see them.

Grand Canyon

Between 5 and 6 million years ago, theColorado River wound through a large plateau(pla-TOE), or an area of raised ground. Over time,the river picked up small pieces of the plateauand carried them as it flowed to the sea. Thisprocess is called water erosion (e-RO-zhun).

Different kinds of rocks factor into watererosion. Some rocks are soft and break easily,while other rocks are hard and resist breakage. In the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River floweddownstream, carrying pieces of the softer rocksand leaving behind the harder rocks. Overmillions of years, this process carved deep canyonsin the rocks.

The layers of rocks that form the Canyon walls show geologistswhat happened in the area over a period of 2 billion years.

Grand Canyon

Colorado River

plateau

The Colorado River slowly carved the rock of the Grand Canyoninto the wondrous structure we see today.

NArizona

UNITED STATES

8

Native Americans lived in and around theGrand Canyon for more than 4,000 years beforeEuropean explorers arrived. By 1150, most of the original tribes had moved away. Only theHavasupai people remained. Some of them still live and work in the Canyon. Every year,millions of people travel to Grand CanyonNational Park to hike, raft, and see this majesticwonder of nature.

Rattling ReptilesMore than 47 different kinds of reptiles live in

the Grand Canyon. While most of these reptiles areharmless, visitors should keep an eye out for snakes.Although they rarely bite humans, the Grand Canyonrattler and the diamondback rattler are venomous.

In the winter, rattlesnakes hibernate in dens.Hundreds of rattlesnakes may live in one den. This is one of the only times rattlers live together. In thespring when the weather warms up, the snakes comeout of their dens and go their separate ways.

In late summer, females give birth to live babies.The babies only stay in the area where they wereborn for about 7 to 10 days. Then they shed their firstbaby skin, add their first rattle,and move on in search offood.

As a rattlesnakegrows, it sheds its skin at leastonce a year,adding a newrattle to its tailwith each shed.A maturediamondback maygrow to be 2 meters(about 7 ft.) long and weigh up to 6.8 kilograms (15 lbs.). Rattlers can live to be 25 years old. Havasu Falls on the Havasupai Reservation is an example of how

water continues to carve the western Grand Canyon.

7

109

Parícutin

Many of nature’s creations are millions ofyears old. They began forming long beforehumans lived on Earth. Other creations haveformed in modern times. The Parícutin (pa-REE-ku-ten) volcano in Mexico is one such formation.

Parícutin beganforming in 1943—less than 70 yearsago—in a field. Afarmer discovereda fissure (FISH-ur),or opening in theground, in hiscornfield. Thecrack was about 1.8 meters (6 ft.) long. Soon morefissures appeared. Black smoke came from theholes, and ash piled up on the ground, forming

a cone. In about 12 hours, thecone had grown to 10 meters(33 ft.) high and after a day, ithad grown to 30 meters (98 ft.).The volcano continued to grow,reaching a height of 100 meters(328 ft.) in just a week.

The people of Parícutin hoped that theirvillage would be safe, but after a few months thecone had grown so large that lava started to reachtheir town. The villagers had to evacuate, leavingbehind their homes and farms. Over a nine-yearperiod, lava and ash eventually covered the entirevillage of Parícutin and most of the nearby townof San Juan. Eventually, all that was left ofParícutin was the church steeple rising out of the black rock as a reminder of nature’s power.

A church steeple is all that remained visible after volcanic debriscovered the town of Parícutin.

Parícutin

N

MEXICO GULF OFMEXICO

PACIFICOCEAN

Parícutin volcano erupting in 1943

UNITED STATES

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is the largest mass of fallingwater on the planet. The water drops 108 meters(355 ft.) into a deep pool. The people of Zambiacall the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke thatthunders). It’s a perfect name. The thunder refersto the booming sound created by the watercrashing over the falls into the pool below. Thesmoke refers to the water vapor, or mist, thatcomes up from the bottom of the Falls.

Volcanoes such as Parícutin are called cindercones. They are the simplest type of volcano.Cinder cones are formed when lava, which isunder pressure inside the earth, shoots out from a central vent in the ground. As the lava explodesinto the air, it cools and breaks into small piecesthat harden and fall as rocks and ash, or cinders,around the central vent to form a cone. Mostcinder cones have a bowl-shaped crater at the top.

Because Parícutin volcano is young, scientistshave been able to observe its growth since it firstappeared. Today, the volcano stands about 1,396meters (300 ft.) tall and covers 26 squarekilometers (10 sq. mi.).

1211

Victoria Falls, like the GrandCanyon, was formed by water.

AFRICA

Zambia

Zimbabwe

INDIANOCEAN

VictoriaFalls

N

rockfragments

cinder conecrater

central vent

Victoria Falls is located on the border betweenZambia and Zimbabwe in Africa. The Falls beganforming millions of years ago when a shallowcrack in the rock appeared across the path of theZambezi River. The crack was caused when partsof the earth shifted about 150 million years ago.Over the years, the river flowed over hard rock.Eventually, the water wore down the soft rock,forming a cliff over which the river now falls.The pool into which the water falls is called aplunge pool.

An English explorer, David Livingston, visitedthe Falls in 1855. He was probably the first personfrom outside of Africa to see the wondrousformations. He named the Falls after QueenVictoria of England. But many people think thatMosi-oa-Tunya is a more accurate name. The Fallsis now part of two national parks, one in Zambiaand one in Zimbabwe.

1413

Victoria Falls Fun Facts • Victoria Falls is actually divided into six waterfalls:

Devil’s Cataract, Armchair Falls, Horseshoe Falls,Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and the EasternCataract.

• A bridge at the Falls is a popular site for bungeejumping.

• During a full moon, the park stays open late sopeople can enjoy the rainbow that is made whenmoonlight shines through the water vapor.

• People go rafting and kayaking on the waterbelow the Falls. They can even surf on the rapidsbelow.

cliff hardrock

softrock

plunge pool

Although Mount Everest is beautiful to look at, the conditions on the mountain are very harsh.The average temperature is about -36°C (-33°F)and can drop to -60°C (-76°F). Even in July, thewarmest month, the temperature only reaches -19°C (-2°F). It never gets above freezing and, as a result, the ice and snow at the top of themountain never melt.

1615

Mount Everest

Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in theworld, is one of the most spectacular sites onEarth. Called “Forehead in the Sky” by theNepali people, this magnificent landform in theHimalayan Mountains reaches a height of 8,848meters (29,028 ft.).

The snowcapped Himalayas might appearold, but they are actually quite young formountains. The mountains were formed millionsof years ago when two parts of the earth’s crustcollided, or hit each other. Over time, thepressure of the two parts rubbing against eachother caused the ground to crumble and riseabove the sea. Since Mount Everest is a youngmountain, its peaks are still jagged and steep.They haven’t yet been eroded and smootheddown by endless years of wind, ice, and snow. Storms dump more snow on Mount Everest every year.

Mount Everest’s summit

CHINA

MountEverest

PACIFICOCEAN

N

NEPAL

The extremeconditions onMount Everestmake it hard foranimals and plantsto survive. One ofthe only animalsthat can live on themountain is thewild yak. This largeanimal can weighmore than 454kilograms (1,000lbs.) and grow up to1.8 meters (6 ft.) tall. One of the reasons the yak is able to survive is because its blood can takein more oxygen than the blood of other animals.This adaptation is a lifesaver on Mount Everest,where the air contains little oxygen.

The people who originally settled in theHimalayan Mountains believed that the godsmade their homes in the peaks. As a result, noone tried to climb Mount Everest until explorersarrived in the early 1900s. The earliest climbersquickly learned about the harsh conditions on themountain—freezing temperatures, powerfulwinds, changing weather, and rough terrain.

1817

Despite all the obstacles,mountaineers continued tocome to Mount Everest, hopingto be the first to make it to thetop. No one was successful until1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary(from New Zealand) andTenzing Norgay (a Sherpa fromNepal) became the first men tosuccessfully climb the mountain.Since then, many climbers fromall over the world have riskedtheir lives to get to the top of the “Forehead in the Sky.”

The yeti (ye-TEE),or Abominable (a-BOM-in-a-bal)Snowman, is alegend of MountEverest and theHimalayas. Sherpastell stories aboutseeing largefootprints andgnawed yak bonesin the mountains.Hillary’s team tookwhat was said to be a yeti scalp andskins to Europe andthe United States,where scientistsagreed that the scalpwas from a goat andthe skins were froma bear. To this day,no one has beenable to prove theexistence of the yeti.

Wild yak grazing

MountaineersHillary andNorgay acceptawardsrecognizingtheirachievement.

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef—really a collection of many reefs—is more than 1,609 kilometers(1,000 mi.) long. It is located off the northeastcoast of Australia and is full of enchanting seacreatures, from sea slugs and urchins todolphins, whales, and sharks.

A reef is a chain, or range, of rocks that lies ator near the surface of the water. The Great BarrierReef is a coral reef.

2019

Coral reefs are found in all tropical oceans of the world, but none is as large as the GreatBarrier Reef. Most established coral reefs arebetween 5,000 and 10,000 years old.

At first glance, the Great Barrier Reef mightlook like a rock, but it’s not. It’s made from theskeletons of millions of animals called polyps(POL-ips). As the polyps die, new ones grow ontop of the old skeletons. The many layers ofskeletons form the limestone base of a coral reef.Other kinds of plants and animals also help makeup the reef, such as algae, sponges, and shellfish. But the tiny polyp is responsible for most of this natural wonder’s structure.

The life and death of coral polyps are responsible for theformation of coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef.

AUSTRALIA GreatBarrierReef

N

A diver explores coral formations on the Great Barrier Reef.

Wonders Everywhere

From Arizona to the coast of Australia, naturalwonders are everywhere. Whether they wereformed millions of years ago or within the span of a lifetime, they are all unique. These amazinglandforms are some of the largest, highest, andmost breathtaking places on Earth. Travelers,scientists, and adventure seekers will continue tovisit these special places for generations to come.

The Grand Canyon, Parícutin, Mount Everest,Victoria Falls, and Great Barrier Reef are only five of the many wonders that surround us. Other well-known natural wonders include:

• The Northern Lights, a light show that brightensup the skies in the Northern Hemisphere

• The Barringer Meteorite Crater, a massive holein the Arizona desert that is almost a mile wideand 174 meters (570 ft.) deep

• Ayers Rock, the world’s largest solid rock,rising 862.5 meters (2,830 ft.) above sea level in Uluru, Australia

Do you live near an amazing and beautifulnatural wonder—an incredible mountain, amajestic river, a mysterious cave? These are allexamples of wondrous sites you can visit, learnfrom, and enjoy every day.

Reefs are made from animals, and they supplyfood and shelter for other animals. Thousands of species live on the reef, including 1,500 kindsof fish, 23 kinds of marine mammals, 50 kinds of seaweed, and 6 kinds of marine turtles. Thereef is also an important breeding area foranimals, including birds, sea turtles, and theendangered humpback whale.

As one of the most interesting and beautifulplaces on Earth, the Reef is a popular destinationfor groups of scientists, scuba divers, and tourists.Today, environmentalists are working with thesegroups to protect the Reef so future generationscan learn from it and enjoy its beauty.

2221

Look, But Don’t Touch!Reefs are alive and full of delicate creatures.

Responsible snorkelers and scuba divers shouldalways follow these important rules:• When snorkeling, float over the reef. Never stand

on it.• Take pictures, not coral souvenirs.• Stock saltwater aquariums with fish that are raised

in captivity, not those taken from a coral reef.• Always pack out your plastics and other trash.• Learn more about coral reefs and how you can help

protect them.

terrain the physical features of a piece ofland, such as cliffs and crevices (p. 17)

water vapor water in the form of a gas ordispersed through the air (p. 12)

yeti legendary Himalayan monster (p. 18)

Index

Australia, 19, 22

cinder cone(s), 11

coral, 4, 19-21

erosion, 5

Grand Canyon, 5-8, 22

Great Barrier Reef, 19-22

Havasu Falls, 8

Havasupai, 8

Hillary, Sir Edmund, 18

Himalayas(n), 15, 17, 18

Livingston, David, 13

Mexico, 9

Mount Everest, 15-18

National Park(s), 8, 13

Native Americans, 8

Newberry, John, 6

Glossary

breeding producing offspring (p. 21)

cinder cones volcanos formed when airborne lavacools and settles to the ground in theshape of a cone (p. 11)

downstream in the direction that water flows (p. 5)

erosion the act of wearing away, such aswater wearing away rock (p. 5)

fissure a narrow opening or crack (p. 9)

geologists people who study geology, thephysical history of the earth (p. 6)

landforms natural formations on the earth’ssurface, such as mountains (p. 4)

mountaineers people who climb mountains (p. 18)

plateau large, flat area of high land (p. 5)

plunge pool a deep pool at the base of a waterfall (p. 13)

polyps small sea animals whose bodies formcoral reefs (p. 20)

Sherpa one of a cultural group of peopleliving in the Himalayas; these peopleoften work as climbers’ guides (p. 18)

species a class of creatures of the same kindand with the same name, such astypes of fish or turtles (p. 21)

2423

Norgay, Tenzing, 18

Parícutin, 9-11, 22

plateau, 5, 6

plunge pool, 13

polyps, 20

rattlesnakes, 7

reef(s), 4, 19-21, 22

Sherpa(s), 18

Victoria Falls, 12-14, 22

volcano(es), 4, 9-11

yak, 17

yeti, 18

Zambia, 13

Zimbabwe, 13

Zambezi River, 13