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  • The Remarkable Rocks form fantastic shapes in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The Remarkable Rocks began as magma injected into a sedimentary rock layer and crystallized into a single granite monolith a few kilometers below the earths surface. Subsurface weathering cracked the granite along joint planes and created corestones. Erosion peeled away the surface and revealed the corestones, which were sculpted asymmetrically by the affects of rain and prevailing southerly winds.
    04AUS-20257_Remarkable-Rocks.jpg
  • The Remarkable Rocks form fantastic shapes in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The Remarkable Rocks began as magma injected into a sedimentary rock layer and crystallized into a single granite monolith a few kilometers below the earths surface. Subsurface weathering cracked the granite along joint planes and created corestones. Erosion peeled away the surface and revealed the corestones, which were sculpted asymmetrically by the affects of rain and prevailing southerly winds.
    04AUS-03-32_Remarkable-Rocks.jpg
  • The Remarkable Rocks form fantastic shapes in Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The Remarkable Rocks began as magma injected into a sedimentary rock layer and crystallized into a single granite monolith a few kilometers below the earths surface. Subsurface weathering cracked the granite along joint planes and created corestones. Erosion peeled away the surface and revealed the corestones, which were sculpted asymmetrically by the affects of rain and prevailing southerly winds.
    04AUS-03-31_Remarkable-Rocks.jpg
  • The bracket fungi (or shelf fungi) comprise numerous species of the Polypore Family (Polyporaceae), in the class basidiomycete. Technically, these are not plants, gaining energy through the decomposition of dead and dying plant matter. The visible portion of a bracket fungus consists of the fruiting, or reproductive, body. Such structures may be an extremely long-lived and woody, adding a new layer of living fungal matter at the base of the structure each year. The vegetative portion of the fungus resides within the body of the tree (or dead stump), where it consists of an extensive network of filamentous fungal threads. Western Washington.
    0708DEF-026-fungi.jpg
  • The bracket fungi (or shelf fungi) comprise numerous species of the Polypore Family (Polyporaceae), in the class basidiomycete. Technically, these are not plants, gaining energy through the decomposition of dead and dying plant matter. The visible portion of a bracket fungus consists of the fruiting, or reproductive, body. Such structures may be an extremely long-lived and woody, adding a new layer of living fungal matter at the base of the structure each year. The vegetative portion of the fungus resides within the body of the tree (or dead stump), where it consists of an extensive network of filamentous fungal threads. Western Washington.
    0708DEF-020-fungi.jpg
  • Basement rocks of Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite in Garnet Canyon. Hike to Garnet Canyon from a beach at Colorado River Mile 115.5 (measured downstream from Lees Ferry). The Vishnu Basement Rocks average about 1,700 to 2,000 million years old and consists of mica schist. These were originally sediments of sandstone, limestone and shale that were metamorphosed and combined with metamorphosed lava flows to form the schist. This layer along with the Zoroaster Granite were once the roots of an ancient mountain range that could have been as high as todays Rocky Mountains. The mountains were eroded away over a long period then topped by new sediments deposited by advancing and retreating seas. The crystalline Vishnu Basement Rocks underlie the Bass Limestone of the Unkar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup and the Tapeats Sandstone of the Tonto Group. These basement rocks consist of metamorphic rocks collectively known as the Granite Gorge Metamorphic Suite, sections of which contain granitic pegmatite, aplite, and granodiorite that have intruded into fractures as dikes. Day 8 of 16 days rafting 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-B0703.jpg
  • Red bark of the Pacific Madrone or Madrona (Arbutus menziesii) peals in a pattern to reveal a bulging yellow layer, in Deception Pass State Park, on Whidbey Island, in Washington, USA. Photographed along the lovely Goose Rock Perimeter Trail.
    1505WHI-050_Arbutus-menziesii.jpg
  • Sedementary rock layers in Lava Canyon. Day 4 of 16 days boating 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-B0206.jpg
  • Colorful sandstone layers are revealed in the slot of Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. Hike a classic loop from Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon, in the San Rafael Reef. This great walk (an 8.6-mile circuit with 900 feet gain) is a short drive on a paved road from Goblin Valley State Park. The hike via fascinating narrow slot canyons and open mesas requires some scrambling over rocks, possibly through shallow water holes (which were dry for us on Sept 20, 2020 but wet in April 2006). Thanks to the greatest legislative victory in the history of SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), in 2019, Congress passed the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which declared 663,000 acres of wilderness, including Little Wild Horse Canyon Wilderness, in San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River.
    20.10US1-0442.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns erode from coastal cliffs at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
    1901NZ1-4673.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
    1901NZ1-4636.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
    1901NZ1-4608.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2768_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Panorama Point at sunrise. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US2-535-37-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2753_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Reddish twilight illuminates clouds in darkening blue sky over layers of ancient sediments on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2643-62-pan_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Golden sunset illuminates layers of ancient sediments on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States.
    1709US1-2603-p1_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Antarctic glaciers compress years of snowfall into banded ice layers, which calve into the Southern Ocean as icebergs with odd shapes and patterns.
    05ANT-20172.jpg
  • Pancake Rocks weathered from limestone sediment layers at Punakaiki, Paparoa National Park, New Zealand. Published in Sierra Magazine, Sierra Club Outings January/February 2004.
    81NZ-06-23_Pancake-Rocks-hiker.jpg
  • Volcanic ash layers (tuff), at Taranaki / Mount Egmont National Park, New Zealand, North Island
    07NZ_7058_ash-layers_Mt-Egmont.jpg
  • Grinnell Falls cuts through purple rock layers, along Grinnell Glacier Trail, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
    2209RV-0872.jpg
  • A stream descends strikingly striated rock layers above Gunsight Lake, in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
    2209RV-0376.jpg
  • Sedementary rock layers seen above Lava Canyon. Day 4 of 16 days boating 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-B0214.jpg
  • Conglomerate sedementary rock layers in Lava Canyon. Day 4 of 16 days boating 226 miles down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA.
    2103SW-B0205.jpg
  • Striped rock layers in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. The intricately carved cliff of the Badlands Wall constantly retreats as it erodes and washes into the White River Valley below.
    20.10US1-0521.jpg
  • Striped rock layers in Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. The intricately carved cliff of the Badlands Wall constantly retreats as it erodes and washes into the White River Valley below.
    20.10US1-0524.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns erode from coastal cliffs at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1901NZ1-4665-68-Pano.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
    1901NZ1-4641.jpg
  • Layered rock patterns at Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes Walk, on Dolomite Point in Paparoa National Park, between Westport and Greymouth in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.
    1901NZ1-4606.jpg
  • Tilted rock layers of Mount Lyautey (9990 ft / 3045 m), seen from Forks Backcountry Campground (10 miles round trip, 500 ft gain in, 300 ft out). Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada.
    1807CAN-1092.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2795-2812-Pano_Badlands-NP-S...jpg
  • Pinnacles Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2868_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2849_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2783-85-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Yellow Mounds Overlook. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2761_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Panorama Point at sunrise. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2723_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Panorama Point at sunrise. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2718_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Panorama Point at sunrise. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2714_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Panorama Point at sunrise. Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US2-496-98-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Golden sunset illuminates layers of ancient sediments on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2603-06-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Golden sunset illuminates layers of ancient sediments on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2526-27-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Erosion exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments, on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States.
    1709US1-2390_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2265-68-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2279-82-Pano_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2270_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Erosion has exposed layers of ancient colorful sediments. Badlands National Park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States. South Dakota, USA.
    1709US1-2250_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • Glacier layers drip ice on Nevados Puscanturpa, in the Cordillera Huayhuash, Andes Mountains, Peru, South America. Day 5 of 9 days trekking around the Cordillera Huayhuash.
    14PER-4301_glacier-layers.jpg
  • Ash layers on Osorno Volcano rise above Lago Todos Los Santos (Lake of All Saints) in the Andes mountain range, in Los Lagos Region, Chile, South America. This stratovolcano rises to 2652 meters (or 8701 feet elevation) between Osorno Province and Llanquihue Province. Volcan Osorno is one of the most active volcanoes of the southern Chilean Andes, with 11 historical eruptions recorded between 1575 and 1869, where basalt and andesite lava flows reached Lakes Llanquihue and Todos los Santos. Osorno sits on top of a 250,000-year-old eroded stratovolcano, La Picada, with a 6-km-wide caldera. Despite its modest altitude and latitude, the cone of Volcan Osorno is covered by glaciers deposited by heavy snowfall wrung from the moist maritime climate. What international tourist literature calls the "Chilean Lake District" usually refers to the Andean foothills between Temuco and Puerto Montt including three Regions (XIV Los Ríos, IX La Araucanía, and X Los Lagos) in what Chile calls the Zona Sur (Southern Zone).
    93CHI-14-35_Volcan-Osorno-ash_Lago-d...jpg
  • Antarctic glaciers compress years of snowfall into banded ice layers, which calve into the Southern Ocean as icebergs with odd shapes and patterns.
    05ANT-20174.jpg
  • Reddish twilight illuminates clouds in darkening blue sky over layers of ancient sediments on the Loop Road near the Interior Entrance of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, USA. This park has the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United States.
    1709US1-2673-77-Edit_Badlands-NP-SD.jpg
  • A rainbow of mineral colors in cracked lava layers in Holei Pali, by Chain of Craters Road, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the Big Island, Hawaii, USA. Established in 1916 and later expanded, the park (HVNP) encompasses two active volcanoes: Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world's most massive shield volcano. The park portrays the birth of the Hawaiian Islands with dramatic volcanic landscapes, native flora and fauna, and glowing flowing lava. Most recently erupted in 1984, Mauna Loa may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago and has likely been erupting for at least 700,000 years. Measured from its base on the ocean floor, it rises over 33,000 ft, significantly greater than the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level. HVNP is honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.
    1701HAW-2786.jpg
  • Atmospheric layers distort the orange ball of the sun behind clouds, seen from Kalalau Lookout at 4000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Koke'e State Park, island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA.
    1701HAW-1878.jpg
  • In Denali National Park and Preserve  the only national park in America with a working kennel  sled dogs perform essential wintertime duties in a vast expanse of designated Wilderness area. Visit Denali's Alaskan huskies in the park kennels where rangers and dogs demonstrate a traditional Alaskan mode of travel. Sled dogs are important for patrols because snowmobiles are prohibited within the boundaries of the former Mount McKinley National Park. Alaskan huskies (sled dogs) are not a particular breed nor are they crosses of purebred dogs. They are the product of hundreds of years of breeding dogs for running and pulling sleds in cold weather. Alaskan huskies have a strong desire to run and pull, have a thick two-layer coat of fur, a bushy tail, long legs, and great demeanor. Bred for performance rather than looks, huskies vary widely in appearance.
    06AK_4225-husky-dogs-sled-team-demo.jpg
  • In Denali National Park and Preserve  the only national park in America with a working kennel  sled dogs perform essential wintertime duties in a vast expanse of designated Wilderness area. Visit Denali's Alaskan huskies in the park kennels where rangers and dogs demonstrate a traditional Alaskan mode of travel. Sled dogs are important for patrols because snowmobiles are prohibited within the boundaries of the former Mount McKinley National Park. Alaskan huskies (sled dogs) are not a particular breed nor are they crosses of purebred dogs. They are the product of hundreds of years of breeding dogs for running and pulling sleds in cold weather. Alaskan huskies have a strong desire to run and pull, have a thick two-layer coat of fur, a bushy tail, long legs, and great demeanor. Bred for performance rather than looks, huskies vary widely in appearance.
    06AK_4230-husky-dogs-sled-team-demo.jpg
  • In Denali National Park and Preserve  the only national park in America with a working kennel  sled dogs perform essential wintertime duties in a vast expanse of designated Wilderness area. Visit Denali's Alaskan huskies in the park kennels where rangers and dogs demonstrate a traditional Alaskan mode of travel. Sled dogs are important for patrols because snowmobiles are prohibited within the boundaries of the former Mount McKinley National Park. Alaskan huskies (sled dogs) are not a particular breed nor are they crosses of purebred dogs. They are the product of hundreds of years of breeding dogs for running and pulling sleds in cold weather. Alaskan huskies have a strong desire to run and pull, have a thick two-layer coat of fur, a bushy tail, long legs, and great demeanor. Bred for performance rather than looks, huskies vary widely in appearance.
    06AK_4219-husky-dogs-sled-team-demo.jpg
  • White capped hoodoos with yellow base. Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-2051_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Hanging Lake, along East Fork Dead Horse Creek in Glenwood Canyon, White River National Forest, Colorado, USA. From the trailhead 7 miles east of Glenwood Springs along Interstate 70, follow the Glenwood Canyon Bike and Pedestrian Path east then ascend Dead Horse Creek (a tributary of the Colorado River), for 4 miles round trip gaining 1200 feet, including the nice side trip to Spouting Rock falls. Dissolved carbonate minerals color its water turquoise. The fragile shoreline is travertine, created when dissolved limestone from the Mississippian Period Leadville Formation is deposited in layers on rocks and logs. The shallow bed of Hanging Lake formed on a fault line where the valley floor above sheared and dropped.
    1709US1-0078_Hanging-Lake_CO.jpg
  • Rainbow Falls. In Watkins Glen, the spellbinding Gorge Trail winds two miles over and under 19 waterfalls of Glen Creek, which descends 400 feet under 200-foot-high cliffs. Watkins Glen State Park is south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in the Finger Lakes region New York, USA. The Devonian sedimentary rocks are mostly soft shales, with some layers of harder sandstone and limestone. The vertical panorama was stitched from 12 overlapping photos.
    1410NY-531-542pan_Watkins-Glen.jpg
  • Cavern Cascade. In Watkins Glen, the spellbinding Gorge Trail winds two miles over and under 19 waterfalls of Glen Creek, which descends 400 feet under 200-foot-high cliffs. Watkins Glen State Park is south of Seneca Lake in Schuyler County in the Finger Lakes region New York, USA. The Devonian sedimentary rocks are mostly soft shales, with some layers of harder sandstone and limestone. The panorama was stitched from 11 overlapping photos.
    1410NY-432-442pan_Watkins-Glen.jpg
  • A unique landscape of beautifully striped bedrock descends from Pemaquid Light to the Atlantic Ocean. Pemaquid Point Lighthouse was built in 1835 and commemorated on Maine's state quarter (released 2003). Visit Lighthouse Park at the tip of Pemaquid Neck in New Harbor, near Bristol, Lincoln County, Maine, USA. From Damariscotta on bustling US Highway 1, drive 15 miles south on Maine Route 130 to the park. The keeper's house (built 1857) is now the Fishermen's Museum at Pemaquid. Geologic history: Silurian Period sediments laid down 430 million years ago were metamorphosed underground into a gneiss 360-415 million years ago, and intruded by molten rock which cooled slowly, creating the park's exposed metamorphic gray rocks with dikes of harder, white igneous rock. Underground heat and pressure tortured and folded the rock layers into the striking patterns that are now pounded and polished by the sea and rough weather. The panorama was stitched from 4 overlapping photos.
    1410ME-668-671pan_Pemaquid-Point.jpg
  • A small larva forms wiggly patterns under the bark of a “Scribbly gum” in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, 25 km north of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. A Scribbly gum is one of several species of Australian eucalyptus tree named after zigzag tunnels in the bark made by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum Moth (Ogmograptis scribula, in the Bucculatricidae family). Eggs are laid between layers of old and new bark. The larvae burrow into the new bark and as the old bark falls away, the squiggly trails appear like human scribbles. The diameters of the tunnels increase as the larvae grow, and the ends of the tracks are where the larvae stopped to pupate. The Scribbly Gum Moth is found in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland. Larvae have been found feeding on Eucalyptus pauciflora, Eucalyptus rossii, Eucalyptus haemastoma, Eucalyptus racemosa and Eucalyptus sclerophylla. Mostly native to Australia, Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees (and a few shrubs) in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Many are known as gum trees because of copious sap exuded from any break in the bark.
    04AUS-10563_Scribbly-gum-bark.jpg
  • Fossil shells, Putangirua Pinnacles, New Zealand, North Island. When ocean levels were much higher 7 to 9 million years ago, the Aorangi Ranges were an island which deposited large alluvial fans at the seashore. Conglomerate rock formed in layers. Erosion over the past several thousand years created a badlands of earth pillars (or hoodoos) at the head of this valley in the Aorangi Ranges.
    07NZ_6063_fossil-shells_Putangirua.jpg
  • Angel Wing and Mount Gould tower over blue-green Grinnell Lake and bear grass on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax, or synonym Helonias tenax) is a grasslike perennial in the family Melanthiaceae, closely related to lilies. Bear grass (also called squaw grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass) thrives after fire clears surface vegetation. 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 named glaciers remain in the park as of 2010, and all may disappear as soon as 2020, say climate scientists.
    10GLA-3027-31pan_Grinnell-Lake.jpg
  • Hike through forest to Two Medicine Lake and No Name Lake on the Dawson Pass Trail 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. 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 by 2020, say climate scientists. (Panorama stitched from 4 overlapping images.)
    10GLA-2403+07-09pan_Two-Medicine-Val...jpg
  • Hike the Garden Wall Trail from Logan Pass through fields of flowers 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. 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 by 2020, say climate scientists.
    10GLA-2132.jpg
  • Sinopah Mountain (8271 feet or 2521 meters) reflects in Pray Lake at sunrise, 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. 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 by 2020, say climate scientists.
    07GLA-1321-p2.jpg
  • In 1930, the Ptarmigan Tunnel was dug 183 feet through the Ptarmigan Wall for hikers from Many Glacier to reach the Belly River Valley 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. 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 by 2020, say climate scientists.
    07GLA-0699.jpg
  • Billion-year-old orange and blue 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-0194.jpg
  • Sunrise seen from Yavapai Point, South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Grand Canyon began forming at least 5 to 17 million years ago and now exposes a geologic wonder, a column of well-defined rock layers dating back nearly two billion years at the base. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon over a mile deep (6000 feet / 1800 meters), 277 miles (446 km) long and up to 18 miles (29 km) wide.
    11AZ1-3167_Grand-Canyon-NP-Arizona.jpg
  • Yavapai Point, South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. Grand Canyon began forming at least 5 to 17 million years ago and now exposes a geologic wonder, a column of well-defined rock layers dating back nearly two billion years at the base. While the Colorado Plateau was uplifted by tectonic forces, the Colorado River and tributaries carved Grand Canyon over a mile deep (6000 feet / 1800 meters), 277 miles (446 km) long and up to 18 miles (29 km) wide.
    11AZ1-3022_Grand-Canyon-NP_Yavapai-P...jpg
  • A hiker explores Falls Canyon in Turkey Run State Park, in historic Parke County, Indiana, USA. Rocky Hollow Falls Canyon Nature Preserve is a National Park Service Registered Natural Landmark. The Mansfield sandstone bedrock was formed during the Carboniferous Period when sand layers at the mouth of ancient Michigan River was compacted and cemented into solid rock. Ancient swamps became coal seams which were mined in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Glacial meltwater erosion in the Pleistocene Epoch carved today's canyons and potholes.
    10IND-281.jpg
  • Invasive iceplant at Leffingwell Landing Park, part of Hearst San Simeon State Park, Cambria, California, USA.  Iceplant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool beside railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. Iceplant is bad for a number of reasons. It’s invasive and releases salt into the soil, raising the salt level high enough to inhibit other plant seeds, especially grasses.  It doesn't serve as a food source for animals and can out-compete the native plants for water, light, and space. It's actually bad for erosion control. Having weak root systems, these heavy plants can cause the hill to start sliding, taking existing topsoil from the slope. Although the soft succulent new growth has a high water content which doesn't burn, the slow-to-decompose dead leaves layered underneath create a fire hazard.
    2203CA-0496.jpg
  • Invasive iceplant at Leffingwell Landing Park, part of Hearst San Simeon State Park, Cambria, California, USA. Iceplant was introduced to California in the early 1900s as an erosion stabilization tool beside railroad tracks, and later used by Caltrans on roadsides. Iceplant is bad for a number of reasons. It’s invasive and releases salt into the soil, raising the salt level high enough to inhibit other plant seeds, especially grasses.  It doesn't serve as a food source for animals and can out-compete the native plants for water, light, and space. It's actually bad for erosion control. Having weak root systems, these heavy plants can cause the hill to start sliding, taking existing topsoil from the slope. Although the soft succulent new growth has a high water content which doesn't burn, the slow-to-decompose dead leaves layered underneath create a fire hazard.
    2203CA-0451.jpg
  • The natural landmark of Chimney Rock was frequently acclaimed in mid-1800s diaries on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail. At Chimney Rock National Historic Site in Nebraska, a slender rock spire rises 325 feet from a conical base. Modern travelers can see it along U.S. Route 26 and Nebraska Highway 92. At 4228 feet above sea level, the distinctive formation towers 480 feet above the adjacent North Platte River Valley. Its layers of volcanic ash and brule clay date to the Oligocene Age (34 million to 23 million years ago).
    2109NE-17.jpg
  • Colorful wavy sandstone layers are revealed in the slot of Little Wild Horse Canyon. San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. Hike a classic loop from Little Wild Horse Canyon to Bell Canyon, in the San Rafael Reef. This great walk (an 8.6-mile circuit with 900 feet gain) is a short drive on a paved road from Goblin Valley State Park. The hike via fascinating narrow slot canyons and open mesas requires some scrambling over rocks, possibly through shallow water holes (which were dry for us on Sept 20, 2020 but wet in April 2006). Thanks to the greatest legislative victory in the history of SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), in 2019, Congress passed the Emery County Public Land Management Act, which declared 663,000 acres of wilderness, including Little Wild Horse Canyon Wilderness, in San Rafael Swell Recreation Area, Utah, USA. The Navajo and Wingate sandstone of the San Rafael Reef was uplifted fifty million years ago into a striking bluff which now runs from Price to Hanksville, bisected by Interstate 70 at a breach fifteen miles west of the town of Green River.
    20.10US1-0424.jpg
  • In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stenciled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
    2002PAT-0506.jpg
  • In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stenciled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    2002PAT-0477-482-Pano.jpg
  • In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stenciled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
    2002PAT-0458.jpg
  • In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stenciled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
    2002PAT-0457.jpg
  • In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stenciled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
    2002PAT-0423.jpg
  • Located in a scenic canyon of the Pinturas River, Cave of Hands is reached by remote paved and steep gravel roads, 169 km (105 miles) south of the town of Perito Moreno, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, in the South American region of Patagonia. In Argentina, Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) displays some of the earliest known human art in the Americas. This striking artwork is honored on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Dating to around 5000 BCE, the silhouette paintings of mostly left hands were sprayed using a bone pipe held in the right hand. The age of the paintings was calculated from pigments found in layers of charcoal from human fires and bone remains of the spraying pipes. The hunting scenes (mostly guanaco) and representations of animals and human life all date older than the stencilled hands, to around 7300 BCE. A favorite hunting tool was the bola, where interconnected cords with weights on either end were thrown to trap animal legs. The site was last inhabited around 700 CE, possibly by ancestors of the Tehuelche people. Cueva de las Manos was first explored by researchers in 1949, followed by more extensive studies done in the 1960s. Varying paint colors come from different mineral pigments: iron oxides for red and purple, kaolin for white, natrojarosite for yellow, and manganese oxide for black.
    2002PAT-0346.jpg
  • Red ridges rise in blue haze at sunset seen from Mather Point Overlook, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. 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 over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-2002.jpg
  • Backpackers on the Hermit Trail in Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. 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 over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1930.jpg
  • Hike the Hermit Trail from Hermits Rest to Lookout Point. Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. 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 over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide. Please inquire about licensing options for this image.
    1804SW-1839.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-1675.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
  • Yavapai Point, on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. 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 over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1804SW-1648-53-Pano.jpg
  • A pine tree on Yavapai Point, on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA. 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 over a mile deep (6000 feet), 277 miles  long and up to 18 miles wide.
    1804SW-1644.jpg
  • Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-1968_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-2087_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-1876-p1_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye.
    1709US1-2079_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • White capped hoodoos with yellow base. Paint Mines Interpretive Park is run by El Paso County, near Calhan, Colorado. Its colorful sediments outwashed from the Rockies 55 million years ago. The Paint Mines are named for their colorful clays that were collected by American Indians to make paint. Oxidized iron compounds cause brightly colored bands in various layers of clay. When outcrops erode, a hard capstone allows columns of clay to be preserved beneath, creating fantastic spires called hoodoos. Selenite (gypsum) contributes to the color, and white quartzitic crystals dazzle the eye. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-2010-17-Pano_Paint-Mines_CO.jpg
  • Hanging Lake Trail, in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, USA. From the trailhead 7 miles east of Glenwood Springs along Interstate 70, follow the Glenwood Canyon Bike and Pedestrian Path east then ascend Dead Horse Creek (a tributary of the Colorado River), for 4 miles round trip gaining 1200 feet, including the nice side trip to Spouting Rock falls. Dissolved carbonate minerals color its water turquoise. The fragile shoreline is travertine, created when dissolved limestone from the Mississippian Period Leadville Formation is deposited in layers on rocks and logs. The shallow bed of Hanging Lake formed on a fault line where the valley floor above sheared and dropped. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos.
    1709US1-0106-110-Pano.jpg
  • A boy in yellow shirt runs through a panorama of hoodoos in Goblin Valley State Park, in central Utah, USA. Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in fascinating Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of rock (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes. This panorama was stitched from 3 overlapping photos.
    1503SW-0580-82pan_Goblin-Valley.jpg
  • Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville, in central Utah, USA. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of rock (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes.
    1503SW-0571_Goblin-Valley.jpg
  • Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville, in central Utah, USA. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of rock (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes.
    1503SW-0550_Goblin-Valley.jpg
  • Admire fanciful hoodoos, mushroom shapes, and rock pinnacles in Goblin Valley State Park, in Emery County between the towns of Green River and Hanksville, in central Utah, USA. The Goblin rocks eroded from Entrada Sandstone, which is comprised of alternating layers of sandstone (cross-bedded by former tides), siltstone, and shale debris which were eroded from former highlands and redeposited in beds on a former tidal flat. As part of the Colorado Plateau, the San Rafael Swell is a giant dome-shaped anticline of rock (160-175 million years old) that was pushed up during the Paleocene Laramide Orogeny 60-40 million years ago. Since then, infrequent but powerful flash floods have eroded the sedimentary rocks into valleys, canyons, gorges, mesas, and buttes.
    1503SW-0547_Goblin-Valley.jpg
  • Navajo Sandstone (fossilized cross-bedded sand dune of the Jurassic period) exfoliates into a pattern along Rim Overlook Trail in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, USA. Iron oxides (hematite and goethite) bled through the Navajo sandstone layers to paint the rock yellow, orange, and brown. Capitol Reef National Park is centered upon the 100-mile-long Waterpocket Fold, the steep eastern limb of the Circle Cliffs Uplift, raised in Late Cretaceous time, during the Laramide Orogeny. Pressure caused by the subduction of the Farallon Plate beneath the North American Plate along the west coast caused several huge folds like this in southeast Utah, USA.
    1503SW-0378_Navajo-sandstone-pattern.jpg
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