Earth: 10 Stunning Land Formations

From alluvial fans and enormous holes, our Earth is full of certain magnificent land formations that is difficult to capture in words or even images. Like dramatic natural fractals on a larger and massive scale, below are some of the most stunning, awe-inspiring examples of Earth‘s magnificent land formations.

Alluvial Fan, China

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/4000/4008/aster_artII_alluvial_lrg.jpg

The satellite photo above shows the formation of an alluvial fan across the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges of the Taklimakan desert in XinJiang, China. One of the largest in the world, it covers an area 56.6 x 61.3 km. As it appears on the photo, the left side which appears blue is the fan’s active part, where water flows out of the mountains and then fans out into many small streams that disappear into the desert. An alluvial fan is defined as soft, gently sloping planes of loose rock and sediment, usually the result as water leaves a canyon.

Brandberg Massif, Africa

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2690344835_c85d5184a0.jpg

Brandberg Massif covering an area of about 650 km² towers over the arid Namib Desert in Namibia, Africa. These piles of granite are ancient magma chambers, formed billions of years ago. Today, this granite intrusion, which forms a dome-shaped plateau, is  haven to unique plant and animal communities. Also, prehistoric cave paintings decorate walls hidden in its steep cliffs.

Shoemaker Impact Structure, Australia

Shoemaker Impact Structure, Australia

The Shoemaker impact structure (formerly known as Teague Ring) is found in arid central Western Australia, near Wiluna. Considered as Australia’s oldest known impact structure to date, scientists estimate that it is about 1.7 billion years old.  The crater with an outer diameter of about 30 km, contains arid, harsh seasonal lakes that is covered with salt. Teague Ring has recently been renamed the Shoemaker impact structure, after the late geologist Eugene M. Shoemaker, who was one of the founding fathers of impact research.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23261007@N05/2241619220/

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided ravine about 277 miles (446 km) long, varies in width from 6.4 to 29 km and is more than 6000 feet in depth. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, Nevada, U.S.A. It is one of the most beautiful examples of epic land formations that pictured the Earth’s geological history more than 2 billion years ago. The Grand Canyon showed how the Colorado River have been unmasked as its streams cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.