But things changed not too long after. Today, Villa Epecuén can be called the "Atlantis" of Argentina, as it lies abandoned and half swallowed by the lake that was once the resort's selling point.

A former Air Force base responsible for potentially exposing hundreds of thousands to toxic chemicals is now a desolate wasteland that has remained abandoned in California for 32 years.

In 2008, as local environmental restoration efforts began, a long-abandoned mining pit in China's eastern coastal city of ...