NATURE's MYSTERIES SARA HOWELL Britannica Educational Publishing IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
4 A SWIRLING MYSTERY The world around us contains many amazing and mysteri ous features One such phenomenon is called a whirlpool Whirlpools are water that moves very quickly in a circle They can be found anywhere in Earth’s oceans rivers and lakes They can be any size Tiny whirlpools can be found in your home when water drains from your sink or bathtub Hundreds of years ago sailors wondered if whirlpools could be giant undersea monsters or gates to another world Today we know that Several different forces can cause water to swirl and form a whirlpool
5 whirlpools are not as mysterious as they seem and that they can be explained with science A combination of natural forces that exist in our world can cause whirlpools to form Situations created by nature or accidentally by humans may set off forces that result in whirl pools These situations can include ocean tides sinkholes or tsunamis Though scientists can now explain what whirl pools are and why they exist scientists continue to wonder at how beautiful and violently dangerous they can be A tsunami is a very high large wave in the ocean that is usually caused by an earthquake under the sea and that can cause great destruction when it reaches land VOCABULARY Some sinkholes such as the one seen here occur naturally Others are the result of human actions
