Death Valley, part of the Mojave Desert, is located in California, USA. It holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, reaching 56.7°C in 1913.

The Atacama Desert, located primarily in northern Chile, is one of the driest places on Earth. Its extreme aridity makes it a unique environment, used as a testing ground for Mars exploration technologies.

Puncak Jaya, at 4,884 meters, is the shortest listed mountain, slightly shorter than Vinson Massif (4,892 meters).

The successful rescue of all 33 miners was a globally televised event.

The volcano in Iceland ejected an ash cloud that led to the closure of airspace over most of Europe for several days.

The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet submarine while evacuating civilians and personnel; an estimated 9,000+ people died.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.

Eyjafjallajökull’s 2010 eruption in Iceland produced a massive ash cloud that disrupted air travel across Europe for weeks, highlighting the global impact of volcanic activity.

The catastrophic Haiti earthquake struck near Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

P-waves (Primary waves) are compressional waves that travel fastest through the Earth and arrive first at seismic stations.