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  • Ancient sea floor fossils lie in rocks exposed at Tuctucpampa in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Andes Mountains, Peru, South America. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 2 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash.
    14PER-2776_Huayhuash-fossils.jpg
  • Orange, yellow, and white rock pattern, in Rio Achin Valley. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 9 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, near LLamac, Peru, South America.
    14PER-5028_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Orange lobed rock pattern, in Rio Achin Valley. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 9 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, near LLamac, Peru, South America.
    14PER-5022_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Orange and white rock pattern, in Rio Achin Valley. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 9 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, near LLamac, Peru, South America.
    14PER-5019_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Lichen on blue-grey rock pattern with white dikes. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 6 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, Peru, South America.
    14PER-4457_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Erosion created a hoodoo (rock pinnacle) at Punta Cuyoc (a pass at 16,200 feet or 4950 m) in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Andes Mountains, Peru, South America. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 5 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash.
    14PER-4277_hoodoo-Punta-Cuyoc.jpg
  • Rock pattern, in Rio Achin Valley. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 9 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, near LLamac, Peru, South America.
    14PER-5024_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Rock pattern, in Rio Achin Valley. Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 9 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, near LLamac, Peru, South America.
    14PER-5026_rock-pattern.jpg
  • Nevado Jirishanca Chico (5446 m). Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 3 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, Peru, South America.
    14PER-3053_Jirishanca-Chico.jpg
  • Nevado Jirishanca Chico (5446 m). Geology: Cordillera Huayhuash is comprised of uplifted sedimentary sea floor rocks (quartzite, limestone, slate) with a base of granodiorite. Day 3 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Andes Mountains, Peru, South America.
    14PER-3033_Jirishanca-Chico.jpg
  • See colorful geologic rock patterns exposed by the Pacific Ocean at Harris Beach State Park, on US Highway 101, north of Brookings, Curry County, Oregon, USA.
    1202ORC-027_Oregon-coast.jpg
  • See colorful geologic rock patterns exposed by the Pacific Ocean at Harris Beach State Park, on US Highway 101, north of Brookings, Curry County, Oregon, USA.
    1202ORC-022_Oregon-coast.jpg
  • See colorful geologic rock patterns exposed by the Pacific Ocean at Harris Beach State Park, on US Highway 101, north of Brookings, Curry County, Oregon, USA.
    1202ORC-025_Oregon-coast.jpg
  • See colorful geologic rock patterns exposed by the Pacific Ocean at Harris Beach State Park, on US Highway 101, north of Brookings, Curry County, Oregon, USA.
    1202ORC-010_Oregon-coast.jpg
  • See colorful geologic rock patterns exposed by the Pacific Ocean at Harris Beach State Park, on US Highway 101, north of Brookings, Curry County, Oregon, USA.
    1202ORC-005_Oregon-coast.jpg
  • Devils Tower National Monument. Bear Lodge Mountains, Black Hills, Wyoming, USA. Devils Tower is a butte of intrusive igneous rock exposed by erosion in the Bear Lodge Mountains, part of the Black Hills, near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County. Devils Tower (aka Bear Lodge Butte) rises dramatically 1267 feet above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet from base to summit, at 5112 feet above sea level. Devils Tower was the first United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.
    171013_153315.jpg
  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center.
    1212CA-3100.jpg
  • Los Cuernos soar above Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, South America. "The Horns" (about 2100 meters elevation) are a pinkish-white granodiorite intrusion formed 12 million years ago topped with an older crumbly dark sedimentary rock, exposed by freeze-thaw erosion and glaciation. Beyond a small pond (laguna) is turquoise Lake Nordenskjold. The foot of South America is known as Patagonia, a name derived from coastal giants, Patagão or Patagoni, who were reported by Magellan's 1520s voyage circumnavigating the world and were actually Tehuelche native people who averaged 25 cm (or 10 inches) taller than the Spaniards.  Published in 2008 for a Music Contact International trip brochure for Vermont Public Radio fundraising. Panorama stitched from 2 overlapping images.
    05CHI-10147-48pan_Los-Cuernos_Mirado...jpg
  • Fantastic rock spires of Meteora rise above a blue house with red tile roof in Kastraki, near Kalambaka, in central Greece, Europe. Meteora (which means "suspended in the air") is a complex of six Eastern Orthodox Christian monasteries built by medieval monks on natural rock pillars near Kalambaka, in central Greece, Europe. The sandstone and conglomerate of Meteora were formed in the cone of a river delta estuary emerging into a sea about 60 million years ago, then later uplifted and eroded into pinnacles. The isolated monasteries of Meteora helped keep alive Greek Orthodox religious traditions and Hellenic culture during the turbulent Middle Ages and Ottoman Turk occupation of Greece (1453-1829). UNESCO honored Meteora as a World Heritage Site in 1988. Visit early in the morning and in the off season to avoid crowds. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    01GRE-41-35_Blue-house-Meteora-pinna...jpg
  • Sitting on the edge of the Pulpit (Prekestolen) invokes fear and takes your break away, 1959 feet above Lysefjord, Forsand municipality, Rogaland county, Ryfylke traditional district, Norway, Europe. The nearest city is Jørpeland, in Strand municipality. 1981 photo.
    81NOR-08-38_Lysefjord,_legs_perch_Th...jpg
  • Billion-year-old orange sedimentary rocks erode in complex patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0186.jpg
  • Billion-year-old rock breaks into blue, orange, and red patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0129.jpg
  • Borrego Badlands desert in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, USA.
    94SW-02-36-Anza-Borrego-Badlands.jpg
  • The coastal fishhook cactus (Mammillaria dioica) is a member of the Ferocactus family, meaning fierce cactus. Photographed in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California. It usually blooms February to April, and also grows in Baja California, Mexico. Published in "Bizarre Blooms of Baja", April 2006 issue of Americas, the official magazine of the Organization of American States, or OAS.
    94SW-02-16-fish-hook-cactus-blooms.jpg
  • Naches Peak Loop Trail in October, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA. In altitude, Washington varies from sea level up to 14,411 feet (4,392 meters) at the summit of Mount Rainier, which is the highest peak in the Cascade Range. With 26 major glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states, with 35 square miles (91 square km) of permanent snowfields and glaciers. This active stratovolcano (composite volcano) is in Pierce County, 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle. Published since 2013 on StayRainier.com and AltaCrystalResort.com web sites. Global warming and climate change: Mount Rainier’s glaciers shrank 22% by area and 25% by volume between 1913 and 1994 in conjunction with rising temperatures (Nylen 2004). As of 2009, monitored glaciers are continuing to retreat (NPS). Over the last century, most glaciers have been shrinking across western North America (Moore et al. 2009) and the globe (Lemke et al. 2007) in association with increasing temperatures.
    02RAI-01-13-MtRainierEast.jpg
  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center. The panorama was stitched from 9 overlapping photos.
    1212CA-3106-3114pan_Bowling-Ball-Bea...jpg
  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center.
    1212CA-3106-p1.jpg
  • Bowling Ball Beach, Schooner Gulch State Park, south of Point Arena, Mendocino County, California, USA. Pacific Ocean waves have weathered coastal bluffs (steeply tilted beds of Miocene Galloway Formation, Cenozoic Era mudstone) to expose spherical sandstone concretions resting on bowling lanes. Concretions form because minerals of like composition tend to precipitate around a common center. The panorama was stitched from 2 overlapping photos.
    1212CA-2314-2315pan_Bowling-Ball-Bea...jpg
  • Self portrait under a balanced rock near Lee's Ferry, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona, USA. Published in PC Photo, June 2003, page 55 battery advertisement.
    90AZ-19-37-Balanced_Rock_Tom.jpg
  • Grand Meteora Monastery (Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron) was built in the mid 1300s on a rock pinnacle in Greece, Europe. It was restored and embellished in 1483 and 1552, and is the largest monastery at Meteora. Meteora (which means "suspended in the air") is a complex of six Eastern Orthodox Christian monasteries built by medieval monks on natural rock pillars near Kalambaka, in central Greece, Europe. The sandstone and conglomerate of Meteora were formed in the cone of a river delta estuary emerging into a sea about 60 million years ago, then later uplifted and eroded into pinnacles. The isolated monasteries of Meteora helped keep alive Greek Orthodox religious traditions and Hellenic culture during the turbulent Middle Ages and Ottoman Turk occupation of Greece (1453-1829). UNESCO honored Meteora as a World Heritage Site in 1988. Visit early in the morning and in the off season to avoid crowds.
    01GRE-44-10_Grand-Meteora-Monastery.jpg
  • A mountain goat rests at Hidden Lake by Bearhat Mountain in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus, or Rocky Mountain Goat) is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. It is an even-toed ungulate in the family Bovidae, in subfamily Caprinae (goat-antelopes), in the Oreamnos genus, but is NOT a true "goat" (or Capra genus). Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Glaciers carved spectacular U-shaped valleys and pyramidal peaks as recently as the Last Glacial Maximum (the last "Ice Age" 25,000 to 13,000 years ago). Of the 150 glaciers existing in the mid 1800s, only 25 active glaciers remain in the park as of 2010, and all may disappear as soon as 2020, say climate scientists.
    02GLA-06-26_Mountain-goat_Hidden-Lak...jpg
  • A mountain goat surveys Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus, or Rocky Mountain Goat) is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America. It is an even-toed ungulate in the family Bovidae, in subfamily Caprinae (goat-antelopes), in the Oreamnos genus, but is NOT a true "goat" (or Capra genus). Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks.
    02GLA-05-03_Mountain-goat_Hidden-Lak...jpg
  • Blue and white patterns penetrate brown sedimentary rocks at Dawson Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks.
    10GLA-2326.jpg
  • Blue dikes penetrate yellow orange sedimentary rocks at Dawson Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks.
    10GLA-2322.jpg
  • Billion-year-old seabed ripples are fossilized in a blue rock pattern on broken yellow and purple rocks above Logan Pass, in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0182.jpg
  • Billion-year-old sedimentary rock erodes into yellow and purple patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0102.jpg
  • Billion-year-old sedimentary rock erodes into yellow and purple patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0100.jpg
  • Billion-year-old rock breaks into a jagged pattern in Glacier National Park, Montana. This image is permanently displayed on the glass of two large lightboxes measuring 19.6 by 8.4 meters (64.3 ft wide x 27.5 ft high) and 16.3 by 3.5 meters (53.6 ft wide x 11.6 ft high), which wrap corners of the following skyscraper constructed by Axiom Builders in June 2019: SODO & Residence Inn by Marriott, 610 10th Ave SW, in Calgary, Alberta, CANADA (on the Corner of 5th St and 10 Ave SW). Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976). Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these older sediments over newer Cretaceous age rocks.
    02GLA-04-38_Rock-edge-pattern.jpg
  • Wavy sandstone pattern by Carol Dempsey, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada, USA. Starting more than 150 million years ago, great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs were compressed, uplifting, faulted, and eroded to form the park's fiery red sandstone formations. The park adjoins Lake Mead National Recreation Area at the Virgin River confluence, at an elevation of 2000 to 2600 feet (610-790 m), 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Las Vegas, USA. Park entry from Interstate 15 passes through the Moapa Indian Reservation.
    99NV-C2-13-wavy-sandstone_Valley-of-...jpg
  • Yellow lichen grows on fractured bedrock exposed along the Lake Superior shoreline, in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Michigan, USA. (Native Ojibwa people named the local mountains for their porcupine silhouette.)
    03MI-G0047_lichen-rocks-Lake-Superio...jpg
  • On Mount Rainier (14,411 feet elevation or 4392 meters), a climber at 12,000 feet ascends Emmons Glacier, which terminates 7,000 feet below in the White River which flows northwest into Puget Sound. Watersheds in the upper right flow south into the Columbia River. Little Tahoma (11,138 feet) rises at right.  Permitted climbers can ascend Mount Rainier via the Camp Sherman route starting at White River Campground, in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    82RAI-99-01-EmmonsGlacierClimber_16-...jpg
  • Naches Peak Loop Trail in October, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA. In altitude, Washington varies from sea level up to 14,411 feet (4,392 meters) at the summit of Mount Rainier, which is the highest peak in the Cascade Range. With 26 major glaciers, Mount Rainier is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states, with 35 square miles (91 km²) of permanent snowfields and glaciers. This active stratovolcano (composite volcano) is in Pierce County, 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle. Published by www.brightmountainfinancial.com, Seattle.
    02RAI-01-20-MtRainier-pond.jpg
  • A side view reveals a long vertical crack in the Pulpit (Prekestolen), 1959 feet above Lysefjord, in Forsand municipality, Rogaland county, Ryfylke traditional district, Norway, Europe. The nearest city is Jørpeland, in Strand municipality. 1981 photo.
    81NOR-08-29_Pulpit_side_view_people.jpg
  • Billion-year-old sedimentary rock erodes into yellow and blue patterns in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010. Rocks in the park are primarily sedimentary layers deposited in shallow seas over 1.6 billion to 800 million years ago. During the tectonic formation of the Rocky Mountains 170 million years ago, the Lewis Overthrust displaced these old rocks over newer Cretaceous age rocks. Since 1932, Canada and USA have shared Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site (1995) containing two Biosphere Reserves (1976).
    07GLA-0164.jpg
  • An Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens, or coachwhip) desert plant flowers red, along a dirt road traveled by a camper beneath mountains of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California, USA.
    94SW-02-31-Ocotillo+camper+mountains.jpg
  • Volcanic ash layers (tuff), at Taranaki / Mount Egmont National Park, New Zealand, North Island
    07NZ_7058_ash-layers_Mt-Egmont.jpg
  • Pohara Beach sunset, South Island, New Zealand
    07NZ_4198_Pohara-Beach-sunset.jpg
  • Karst formation on Takaka Hill, South Island, New Zealand
    07NZ_4185_Takaka-Hill-karst.jpg
  • South Pacific Ocean waves released the spherical Moeraki Boulders onto Koekohe Beach, between Moeraki and Hampden on the Otago coast, South Island, New Zealand. These ancient concretions grew 2 meters (6 feet) in diameter over 4 to 5.5 million years from marine mud (Moeraki Formation mudstone) near the surface of the Paleocene sea floor.  After the concretions formed, large cracks (septaria) formed and filled with brown calcite, yellow calcite, and small amounts of dolomite and quartz when a drop in sea level allowed fresh groundwater to flow through the enclosing mudstone.
    07NZ_2006_Moeraki-Boulders.jpg
  • South Pacific Ocean waves released the spherical Moeraki Boulders onto Koekohe Beach, between Moeraki and Hampden on the Otago coast, South Island, New Zealand. These ancient concretions grew 2 meters (6 feet) in diameter over 4 to 5.5 million years from marine mud (Moeraki Formation mudstone) near the surface of the Paleocene sea floor.  After the concretions formed, large cracks (septaria) formed and filled with brown calcite, yellow calcite, and small amounts of dolomite and quartz when a drop in sea level allowed fresh groundwater to flow through the enclosing mudstone.
    07NZ_1190_Moeraki-Boulders.jpg
  • Anapai Beach sea stacks, Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand
    07NZ_5008_Anapai-Bay-seastacks_Abel-...jpg
  • Sulphur crystals condensed from a fumarole in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand, North Island.
    07NZ_7254-sulphur-crystals.jpg
  • A hiker admires hoodoos at Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona, USA. The Heart of the Rocks Loop Trail (7 to 9 miles) makes an excellent day hike through fascinating arrays of hoodoos. 27 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice which fused into rhyolitic tuff. This rock has eroded into fascinating hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding desert grasslands at elevations between 5100 and 7800 feet. At Chiricahua, the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky Mountains meet Mexico's Sierra Madre, making one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere. While we drove the dirt road to nearby Portal, Arizona, Carol saw a mountain lion crossing the road! Other animals here include javelina, coatimundi, bears, skunks, and deer. For licensing options, please inquire.
    03AZ-12-01_Chiricahua-NM.jpg
  • Hoodoos kiss at Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona, USA. The Heart of the Rocks Loop Trail (7 to 9 miles) makes an excellent day hike through fascinating arrays of hoodoos. 27 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice which fused into rhyolitic tuff. This rock has eroded into fascinating hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding desert grasslands at elevations between 5100 and 7800 feet. At Chiricahua, the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky Mountains meet Mexico's Sierra Madre, making one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere. While we drove the dirt road to nearby Portal, Arizona, Carol saw a mountain lion crossing the road! Other animals here include javelina, coatimundi, bears, skunks, and deer.
    03AZ-13-17_Chiricahua_Hoodoos_Kissin...jpg
  • Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona: The Heart of the Rocks Loop Trail (7 to 9 miles) makes a perfect day hike through the hoodoos here. 27 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice in this area, which fused into a rock known as rhyolitic tuff.  Since then this rock has eroded into fascinating hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding desert grasslands at elevations between 5100 and 7800 feet. At Chiricahua, the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky Mountains meet Mexico's Sierra Madre, making one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere. While we drove the dirt road to nearby Portal, Arizona, Carol saw a mountain lion crossing the road! Other animals here include javelina, coatimundi, bears, skunks, and deer. Published in "Light Travel: Photography on the Go" book by Tom Dempsey 2009, 2010.
    03AZ-13-07-Chiricahua-NM.jpg
  • A hiker rests on a hoodoo at Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona, USA. The Heart of the Rocks Loop Trail (7 to 9 miles) makes an excellent day hike through fascinating arrays of hoodoos. 27 million years ago, huge volcanic eruptions laid down 2000 feet of ash and pumice which fused into rhyolitic tuff. This rock has eroded into fascinating hoodoos, spires, and balanced rocks which lie above the surrounding desert grasslands at elevations between 5100 and 7800 feet. At Chiricahua, the Sonoran desert meets the Chihuahuan desert, and the Rocky Mountains meet Mexico's Sierra Madre, making one of the most biologically diverse areas in the northern hemisphere. While we drove the dirt road to nearby Portal, Arizona, Carol saw a mountain lion crossing the road! Other animals here include javelina, coatimundi, bears, skunks, and deer.
    03AZ-11-15_Chiricahua-Hoodoos.jpg
  • Arthur’s Seat (822 feet elevation) rises behind Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park above Edinburgh, in Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe. Holyrood Park holds a special place in the history of science: Edinburgh geologist James Hutton (1726-97), the father of modern geology, recognised that the Crags' rock had been injected in a molten state into older sedimentary rocks, disproving previous theories. He suggested that the Earth was very old, and continually changing. This startlingly new idea changed the way people thought about the earth, influencing other scientists such as Charles Darwin. The Crags' hard dolerite was quarried for street cobblestones from the mid-1600s until 1831, when the House of Lords decreed that no more stone should be removed, in order to protect the iconic landscape. The Crags are the glaciated remains of a Carboniferous dolerite sill, injected between sedimentary rocks which formed in a shallow sea some 340 million years ago. Glaciers sweeping outwards from the center of Scotland within the past 2 million years scraped this ancient geology into its present form.
    17SC1-4493_Scotland.jpg
  • Large column, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive. This panorama was stitched from 6 overlapping photos.
    1404NM-5169-71pan_Carlsbad-Caverns-N...jpg
  • Snow coats a tree in a mossy canyon in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2055_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Bands of pink and white layers demark the 1.19-billion-year-old Bass limestone of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1675.jpg
  • Roxborough State Park features strikingly tilted red sandstone formations in Colorado, USA. We hike up the pleasant Carpenter Peak Trail and back via Elk Valley loop and Fountain Overlook, 8.5 miles with 1600 feet gain. A shorter walk is to the Peak then directly back (6.2 miles and 1400 ft). Roxborough State Park is in Douglas County 25 miles south of Denver, Colorado, USA. Honored as a National Natural Landmark, Roxborough State Park features the spectacularly tilted sandstone of the Fountain Formation, laid down over 300 million years ago with the gradual erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. After millions of years of uplift and erosion, these red sandstones stand dramatically at a sixty degree angle. Also exposed is geology from the Precambrian to Late Mesozoic, including hogbacks of Cretaceous, Permian, and Pennsylvanian age. Erosion of steeply dipping monoclinal sedimentary sections has resulted in the series of three major hogbacks and strike valleys, exposing scenic dipping plates, spires and monoliths. Precambrian gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite are exposed on Carpenter Peak. The park is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District, due to archaeological sites.
    1709US1-1697.jpg
  • Campground. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site is popular for birding and bouldering (rock climbing) in El Paso County, Texas, USA. Geology: In the park, three oddly lumpy mountains rise from the Chihuahuan Desert. In this area 320 million years ago, an inland sea laid thick sediments which later solidified into limestone. Around 35 million years ago, hot magma (molten rock) pushed up into the underground limestone layers and cooled into a syenite pluton (a form of igneous rock or cooled magma). Over millions of years, wind and water wore away the limestone covering then sculpted the syenite into the present hills. Cracks and hollows (huecos in Spanish) in the rocks hold rain for several days to several months. Most of the huecos occur naturally, but early residents also built dams and tanks. To better preserve the sensitive ecosystem, visitors should avoid touching the pools, which host the eggs of freshwater shrimp and spadefoot toads. History: Throughout the last 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. People left clues to their stories in unique pictographs and petroglyphs visible today. Starting in 1858, Hueco Tanks served for a year as a relay station and water source for the historic Butterfield Overland Mail (which was then shifted south to a safer route). Twice a week, the Butterfield stagecoach carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri; for the first time, people separated by nearly 2000 miles of wilderness could communicate. Escontrias Ranch started here in 1898, became a tourist attraction by the 1940s and became a country park in 1965, then a state park in 1969. Directions: From El Paso's Montana Avenue (US Highway 62/180), turn north at RM 2775. This panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
    1404TX-1146-49pan_Hueco-Tanks_Texas.jpg
  • Dolls Theater, soda straws and columns, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5190_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Large column, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive. This panorama was stitched from 6 overlapping photos.
    1404NM-5163-68pan_Carlsbad-Caverns-N...jpg
  • White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2008. This panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
    1404NM-6057-60pan_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • A family dune boards at White Sands National Monument, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritag
    1404NM-6073_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • Wet gypsum sand cakes together. White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2008.
    1404NM-6038_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5139_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • People dune board at White Sands National Monument, near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves one of the world's great natural wonders - the glistening white sands of New Mexico. Here in the northern Chihuahuan Desert rises the largest gypsum dune field in the world. Visit the park 16 miles southwest of Alamogordo, NM, USA. White Sands National Monument preserves 40% of the gpysum dune field, the remainder of which is on White Sands Missile Range and military land closed to the public. Geology: The park’s gypsum was originally deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea that covered this area 250 million years ago. Eventually turned into stone, these gypsum-bearing marine deposits were uplifted into a giant dome 70 million years ago when the Rocky Mountains were formed. Beginning 10 million years ago, the center of this dome began to collapse and create the Tularosa Basin. The remaining sides of the original dome now form the San Andres and Sacramento mountain ranges that ring the basin. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because rain dissolves it in runoff which usually drains to the sea; but mountains enclose the Tularosa Basin and trap surface runoff. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) comes from ephemeral Lake Lucero (a playa), which is the remnant of ice-age Lake Otero (now mostly an alkali flat) in the western side of the park. Evaporating water (up to 80 inches per year) leaves behind selenite crystals which reach lengths of up to three feet (1 m)! Weathering breaks the selenite crystals into sand-size gypsum grains that are carried away by prevailing winds from the southwest, forming white dunes. Several types of small animals have evolved white coloration that camouflages them in the dazzling white desert; and various plants have specially adapted to shifting sands. Based on an application by two US Senators from New Mexico, UNESCO honored the monument on the Tentative List of World Heritage S
    1404NM-6033_White-Sands-NM.jpg
  • Abstract flowstone pattern, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5031_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Cliff near Upper Emerald Pool waterfall, Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1215.jpg
  • Deer cross Kolob Terrace Road at entrance to Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    1303UT-1118.jpg
  • A seasonal waterfall plunges from Weeping Rock in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2252_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Hikers ascend impressive switchbacks of the West Rim Trail on the way to Angels Landing and Scout Lookout. Zion National Park adjoins Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2220_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Snow coats a tree in a mossy canyon in Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2052_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Morning sun backlights a cottonwood tree in Zion National Park, which adjoins Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet.
    11UT1-2022_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • The sandstone cliffs of the Court of the Patriarchs tower over the Virgin River in Zion National Park, near Springdale, Utah, USA. The North Fork of the Virgin River carved spectacular Zion Canyon through reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone up to half a mile (800 m) deep and 15 miles (24 km) long. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Zion and Kolob canyon geology includes 9 formations covering 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation, from warm, shallow seas, streams, lakes, vast deserts, and dry near-shore environments. Mormons discovered the canyon in 1858 and settled in the early 1860s. U.S. President Taft declared it Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909. In 1918, the name changed to Zion (an ancient Hebrew name for Jerusalem), which became a National Park in 1919. The Kolob section (a 1937 National Monument) was added to Zion National Park in 1956. Unusually diverse plants and animals congregate here where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert meet. (Panorama stitched from 6 photos.)
    11UT1-2001-06pan_Zion-NP-Utah.jpg
  • Ancient fractal rock pattern displayed in a geology exhibit outside of the Mammoth Site museum building, in Hot Springs, South Dakota, USA. The Mammoth Site is a fascinating museum and active paleontological site in the town of Hot Springs, in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
    2109SD-007.jpg
  • Folded Vishnu basement rock on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Formed 1.75-1.66 billion years ago, Vishnu basement rocks show how Earth's continental plates collided in this region and island chains were compressed and welded. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1688.jpg
  • Folded Vishnu basement rock on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Formed 1.75-1.66 billion years ago, Vishnu basement rocks show how Earth's continental plates collided in this region and island chains were compressed and welded. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1692.jpg
  • Grand Canyon Supergroup stromatolite pattern, on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1671.jpg
  • Bands of pink and white layers demark the 1.19-billion-year-old Bass limestone of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1677.jpg
  • Grand Canyon Supergroup Awatubi limestone pattern (750 million years old), on the fascinating Trail of Time interpretive exhibit on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Starting west of Yavapai Geology Museum, walk for 1.3 miles on the paved trail backward in time from today toward the oldest rock in Grand Canyon, Elves Chasm gneiss, 1.840 billion years old. Or begin east of Verkamp's Visitor Center, walking forward in time toward the youngest rock in the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Limestone, 270 million years old. Starting at least 5 to 17 million years ago, erosion by the Colorado River has exposed a column of distinctive rock layers, which date back nearly two billion years at the base of Grand Canyon. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon 6000 feet deep, 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1669.jpg
  • Roxborough State Park features strikingly tilted red sandstone formations in Colorado, USA. We hike up the pleasant Carpenter Peak Trail and back via Elk Valley loop and Fountain Overlook, 8.5 miles with 1600 feet gain. A shorter walk is to the Peak then directly back (6.2 miles and 1400 ft). Roxborough State Park is in Douglas County 25 miles south of Denver, Colorado, USA. Honored as a National Natural Landmark, Roxborough State Park features the spectacularly tilted sandstone of the Fountain Formation, laid down over 300 million years ago with the gradual erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. After millions of years of uplift and erosion, these red sandstones stand dramatically at a sixty degree angle. Also exposed is geology from the Precambrian to Late Mesozoic, including hogbacks of Cretaceous, Permian, and Pennsylvanian age. Erosion of steeply dipping monoclinal sedimentary sections has resulted in the series of three major hogbacks and strike valleys, exposing scenic dipping plates, spires and monoliths. Precambrian gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite are exposed on Carpenter Peak. The park is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District, due to archaeological sites.
    1709US1-1693.jpg
  • Roxborough State Park features strikingly tilted red sandstone formations and yellow fall colors in Colorado, USA. We hike up the pleasant Carpenter Peak Trail and back via Elk Valley loop and Fountain Overlook, 8.5 miles with 1600 feet gain. A shorter walk is to the Peak then directly back (6.2 miles and 1400 ft). Roxborough State Park is in Douglas County 25 miles south of Denver, Colorado, USA. Honored as a National Natural Landmark, Roxborough State Park features the spectacularly tilted sandstone of the Fountain Formation, laid down over 300 million years ago with the gradual erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. After millions of years of uplift and erosion, these red sandstones stand dramatically at a sixty degree angle. Also exposed is geology from the Precambrian to Late Mesozoic, including hogbacks of Cretaceous, Permian, and Pennsylvanian age. Erosion of steeply dipping monoclinal sedimentary sections has resulted in the series of three major hogbacks and strike valleys, exposing scenic dipping plates, spires and monoliths. Precambrian gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite are exposed on Carpenter Peak. The park is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District, due to archaeological sites. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-1677-78-Pano.jpg
  • Roxborough State Park features strikingly tilted red sandstone formations in Colorado, USA. We hike up the pleasant Carpenter Peak Trail and back via Elk Valley loop and Fountain Overlook, 8.5 miles with 1600 feet gain. A shorter walk is to the Peak then directly back (6.2 miles and 1400 ft). Roxborough State Park is in Douglas County 25 miles south of Denver, Colorado, USA. Honored as a National Natural Landmark, Roxborough State Park features the spectacularly tilted sandstone of the Fountain Formation, laid down over 300 million years ago with the gradual erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. After millions of years of uplift and erosion, these red sandstones stand dramatically at a sixty degree angle. Also exposed is geology from the Precambrian to Late Mesozoic, including hogbacks of Cretaceous, Permian, and Pennsylvanian age. Erosion of steeply dipping monoclinal sedimentary sections has resulted in the series of three major hogbacks and strike valleys, exposing scenic dipping plates, spires and monoliths. Precambrian gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite are exposed on Carpenter Peak. The park is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District, due to archaeological sites.
    1709US1-1602.jpg
  • Roxborough State Park features strikingly tilted red sandstone formations in Colorado, USA. We hike up the pleasant Carpenter Peak Trail and back via Elk Valley loop and Fountain Overlook, 8.5 miles with 1600 feet gain. A shorter walk is to the Peak then directly back (6.2 miles and 1400 ft). Roxborough State Park is in Douglas County 25 miles south of Denver, Colorado, USA. Honored as a National Natural Landmark, Roxborough State Park features the spectacularly tilted sandstone of the Fountain Formation, laid down over 300 million years ago with the gradual erosion of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. After millions of years of uplift and erosion, these red sandstones stand dramatically at a sixty degree angle. Also exposed is geology from the Precambrian to Late Mesozoic, including hogbacks of Cretaceous, Permian, and Pennsylvanian age. Erosion of steeply dipping monoclinal sedimentary sections has resulted in the series of three major hogbacks and strike valleys, exposing scenic dipping plates, spires and monoliths. Precambrian gneiss and biotite-muscovite granite are exposed on Carpenter Peak. The park is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District, due to archaeological sites.
    1709US1-1563.jpg
  • Hike the scenic Castle Dome Trail, in Castle Crags State Park, Castella, California. The majestic Castle Crags State Park is just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome. This panorama was stitched from 15 overlapping photos.
    1507CAL-2829-43pan_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • Granite pinnacles soar above Castle Dome Trail in Castle Crags State Park, just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome.
    1507CAL-2899.jpg
  • See Mount Shasta from the trail to Castle Dome in Castle Crags State Park, Castella, California. The majestic Castle Crags State Park is just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome.
    1507CAL-2900.jpg
  • Granite pinnacles soar above krumholtz trees atop Castle Dome Trail in Castle Crags State Park, just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome. This panorama was stitched from 13 overlapping photos.
    1507CAL-2869-81pan_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • Granite pinnacles soar above krumholtz trees atop Castle Dome Trail in Castle Crags State Park, just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome.
    1507CAL-2888_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • Granite spires soar above Castle Dome Trail in Castle Crags State Park, just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome.
    1507CAL-2864_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • See Mount Shasta from Castle Dome Trail, in Castle Crags State Park, Castella, California. The majestic Castle Crags State Park is just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome.
    1507CAL-2811_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • Hike the spectacular Castle Dome Trail, in Castle Crags State Park, Castella, California. The majestic Castle Crags State Park is just west of Interstate 5, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, in California, USA. One of my favorite hikes in the state is to Castle Dome, on an excellent trail 5.8 miles round trip with 2100 feet gain. Geology: although the mountains of Northern California consist largely of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granite plutons intruded in many areas during the Jurassic period. Heavy Pleistocene glaciation eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving soaring crags and spires exposed. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite made rounded towers such as the prominent Castle Dome. This panorama was stitched from 10 overlapping photos.
    1507CAL-2819-28pan_Castle-Crags-SP.jpg
  • A windy day kicks up dust, obscuring views. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site is popular for birding and bouldering (rock climbing) in El Paso County, Texas, USA. Geology: In the park, three oddly lumpy mountains rise from the Chihuahuan Desert. In this area 320 million years ago, an inland sea laid thick sediments which later solidified into limestone. Around 35 million years ago, hot magma (molten rock) pushed up into the underground limestone layers and cooled into a syenite pluton (a form of igneous rock or cooled magma). Over millions of years, wind and water wore away the limestone covering then sculpted the syenite into the present hills. Cracks and hollows (huecos in Spanish) in the rocks hold rain for several days to several months. Most of the huecos occur naturally, but early residents also built dams and tanks. To better preserve the sensitive ecosystem, visitors should avoid touching the pools, which host the eggs of freshwater shrimp and spadefoot toads. History: Throughout the last 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. People left clues to their stories in unique pictographs and petroglyphs visible today. Starting in 1858, Hueco Tanks served for a year as a relay station and water source for the historic Butterfield Overland Mail (which was then shifted south to a safer route). Twice a week, the Butterfield stagecoach carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri; for the first time, people separated by nearly 2000 miles of wilderness could communicate. Escontrias Ranch started here in 1898, became a tourist attraction by the 1940s and became a country park in 1965, then a state park in 1969. Directions: From El Paso's Montana Avenue (US Highway 62/180), turn north at RM 2775.
    1404TX-1143_Hueco-Tanks_Texas.jpg
  • Eroded boulder. Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site is popular for birding and bouldering (rock climbing) in El Paso County, Texas, USA. Geology: In the park, three oddly lumpy mountains rise from the Chihuahuan Desert. In this area 320 million years ago, an inland sea laid thick sediments which later solidified into limestone. Around 35 million years ago, hot magma (molten rock) pushed up into the underground limestone layers and cooled into a syenite pluton (a form of igneous rock or cooled magma). Over millions of years, wind and water wore away the limestone covering then sculpted the syenite into the present hills. Cracks and hollows (huecos in Spanish) in the rocks hold rain for several days to several months. Most of the huecos occur naturally, but early residents also built dams and tanks. To better preserve the sensitive ecosystem, visitors should avoid touching the pools, which host the eggs of freshwater shrimp and spadefoot toads. History: Throughout the last 10,000 years, Hueco Tanks has provided water, food and shelter to travelers in the Chihuahuan Desert. People left clues to their stories in unique pictographs and petroglyphs visible today. Starting in 1858, Hueco Tanks served for a year as a relay station and water source for the historic Butterfield Overland Mail (which was then shifted south to a safer route). Twice a week, the Butterfield stagecoach carried passengers and US Mail in just 22 days to San Francisco starting from Memphis, Tennessee or St. Louis, Missouri; for the first time, people separated by nearly 2000 miles of wilderness could communicate. Escontrias Ranch started here in 1898, became a tourist attraction by the 1940s and became a country park in 1965, then a state park in 1969. Directions: From El Paso's Montana Avenue (US Highway 62/180), turn north at RM 2775.
    1404TX-1204_Hueco-Tanks_Texas.jpg
  • Large columns, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5178_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Large column, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5174_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
  • Stalactite pattern, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, in the Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert, southeast New Mexico, USA. Hike in on your own via the natural entrance or take an elevator from the visitor center. Geology: 4 to 6 million years ago, an acid bath in the water table slowly dissolved the underground rooms of Carlsbad Caverns, which then drained along with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains. The Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted part of the ancient Capitan Reef which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago during Permian time. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects part of the Capitan Reef, one of the best-preserved, exposed Permian-age fossil reefs in the world. The park's magnificent speleothems (cave formations) are due to rain and snowmelt soaking through soil and limestone rock, dripping into a cave, evaporating and depositing dissolved minerals. Drip-by-drip, over the past million years or so, Carlsbad Cavern has slowly been decorating itself. The slowest drips tend to stay on the ceiling (as stalactites, soda straws, draperies, ribbons or curtains). The faster drips are more likely to decorate the floor (with stalagmites, totem poles, flowstone, rim stone dams, lily pads, shelves, and cave pools). Today, due to the dry desert climate, few speleothems inside any Guadalupe Mountains caves are wet enough to actively grow. Most speleothems inside Carlsbad Cavern would have been much more active during the last ice age-up to around 10,000 years ago, but are now mostly inactive.
    1404NM-5172_Carlsbad-Caverns-NP.jpg
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