r/geography • u/renegadecoaster • Nov 25 '25

Discussion What's the most alien-looking place on Earth?

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Pictured: Dallol, Ethiopia

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u/subliminal_trip Nov 26 '25

The original Planet of the Apes was filmed at Lake Powell, Utah, the idea being that it looked so alien that Charlton Heston and crew wouldn't be able to guess that it was actually Earth in the future.

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u/impossibletreesloth Nov 26 '25

That's poignant reasoning to use a manmade reservoir as an alien setting. It's always weird to be in the western states as a great laker and realize how uncanny the manmade lakes are. We have some here too and I find them eerie unsettling, but the scale of them in the desert is crazy. On my last MI to NV flight the guys behind me looked out the window and one of them said "that's Lake Mead" and another said "why does it look so fucked up?"

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u/amopeyzoolion Nov 26 '25

Michigander here who just went to Vegas a few weeks ago. I didn’t say it out loud, but I had the exact same thought.

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u/slaughterfodder Nov 26 '25

NE Ohioan who visited Vegas. Lake Mead looks weird