2. The Grand Canyon is 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and is over 1,800m deep. Even now, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day shape. For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site and made pilgrimages to it. The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.

3. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 km over an area of approximately 344,400 square km. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.

4. Rio de Janeiro commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and in South America, approximately 6.3 million people within the city, making it the 6th largest in the Americas, and 26th in the world. Rio de Janeiro is one of the most visited cities in the southern hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, carnival celebrations and samba.

5. Mount Everest is the Earth's highest mountain, located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Its peak is 8,848m above sea level and the 5 th furthest point from the center of the Earth. The international border between China and Nepal runs across the precise summit point. The 8,848 m height given is officially recognized by Nepal and China, although Nepal is planning a new survey. The elevation of 8,848 m was first determined by an Indian survey in 1955, made closer to the mountain.

6. An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere. Most aurorae occur in a band known as the auroral zone. There are 2 types of aurorae, diffuse or discrete. The diffuse aurora is a featureless glow in the sky that may not be visible to the naked eye, even on a dark night. Discrete aurorae are usually seen in only the night sky, because they are not as bright as the sunlit sky.

7. Parícutin is a volcano in the Mexican state of Michoacán, close to a lava-covered village of the same name. The volcano is unique in the fact that its evolution from creation to extinction was witnessed, observed and studied by human beings. It is part of the Ring of Fire.

8. Victoria Falls is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. While it is not the highest or the widest waterfall in the world, it is classified as the largest, because of its width of 1,708 metres and height of 108 metres resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North America's Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls.

9.  en.wikipedia.org  adventure.howstuffworks.com  sevennaturalwonders.org  www.familyholiday.net  commons.wikimedia.org  www.bugamerica.com  Aurora_australis.jpg  icestories.exploratorium.edu  world-visits.blogspot.com  http://www.fourmilab.ch/images/eclipse_2001/figures/H18vultures.html  www.123rf.com  volcano.oregonstate.edu