Zhangye Danxia - The most colourful place on earth

There really is not a great deal to say about this place except WOW! This is very definitely a case of a picture speaks a thousand words.

However, the place you are going to see right now is truly worth writing a separate article about. It is the incredible rock formations of Zhangye Danxia.

Source is the first link below.

I came across this on this site, but there are many others including the Daily Telegraph (13 slides)

You could also do worse than Google images search (Hope that works for you.)

I will leave you with a screenshot of that Google image search as a taster. (Click the image for the full size version.)

From the first article

You may have seen some caves of 5 million years old or animal fossils that have been decaying for 10 million years under our earth. Now, it actually took 25 million years for this place to form in China. Pretty amazing, huh? Nowadays it’s an attractive place for tourists. It is a great example of petrographic geomorphofology. Through all these years Zhangye Danxia was affected by such weather conditions as water flow fissures, erosion, oxidization and tectonic plate movements.

WOW that looks awesome

Thanks for sharing Puter

reply to post by PuterMan

WOW!!! So beautiful!!! I don't understand why this place has not been on the television or photographed more...this is the first time I think I have ever seen these colorful mountains...great thread...enjoyed it and I now have added it on my to do list

reply to post by StarTraveller


My pleasure! A might have been better than the but I appreciate the thanks either way.

A digital slip perhaps? (Droopy thumb)



Oh you noticed!!

reply to post by shells4u

.this is the first time I think I have ever seen these colorful mountains

Likewise, and I completely agree with you. I am 65 and into geology yet never come across these before, and a search of ATS turned up not one single mention. Most odd.

At first I thought they were faked, until I checked it out.

Holy Beauty, Batman!! That is GORGEOUS!
My dad took us on family vacations every summer to the Southwest of the US - we saw Bryce, Zion, Arches, Dinosaur, the Grand Canyon, always via the Rockies (we live on the eastern side) - he LOVED those areas. The very last moments he and I spent together - (he died later that day) -- he asked me to get the National Parks coffee-table book to look at it with him...I hope he has since had the chance to see this place.


I wonder if he knew of these mountains. Incredibly beautiful! Thanks for sharing..

(shout out - love you, Daddy!)

I doubt the place is half as colorfull irl. You have to take into account that photogs fiddle with the images. Boosting contrast etc. to bring up color saturation is so over used these days. Even I do that even thought I hate it

reply to post by PuterMan

Wow!! I have never even heard of this place before. The pictures from your first link are breathtaking. Star, Flag, and thanks for sharing.

Of course the colors have been blown out of all proportion on those pictures using high dynamic range photography and photoshop but its still interesting.

This is what it looks like normaly

Wow, gorgeous isn't a strong enough word to describe that place.

That would be fantastic place to take your special lady or guy to for a pleasant and relaxing picnic date with a nice bottle of wine... Or a bottle of vodka.

reply to post by PuterMan
it looks very barren though...

I thought the rainbow demographic went wild or something

link

s&f4u

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Yeah, it is as I figured. If that place had colors like those in the op this place would be more widely known. I have seen "similar" places in the U.S. Like in some parts of the Grand Canyon, probably King's Canyon, but my last visit was in 1999.

There are also very different color formations in parts of Wyoming. I haven't been to Wyoming, or Montana or even Utah since 2011, and miss them. I also miss not being able to visit these places like I was able to before my accident.

Anyway, the place in China is still really cool, however, I still think that Sequoia National Park is the most beautiful place I have seen, from the places I have visited, in the Americas or Europe.

reply to post by PuterMan


Looks like home! At last. ...Absolutely amazing. Thank you.

S&F&

That's pretty amazing..

However, I found some of these photos even more breathtaking, as well as more varied, from the same site:

catinwater.com...

So much beauty in the world..

Thanks for showing us.

reply to post by PuterMan


haha yes I realised that mistake shortly after and corrected in the hope you wouldn't notice hehe. Will try again

reply to post by PuterMan


Wow! Never heard of this place before. Thanks for posting.

reply to post by TheLaughingGod


Same site actually if you look at my OP.

They have some really good stuff on that site.

reply to post by PuterMan


Thought I wrote "from the same site", ah well, nice it is..

Originally posted by ElectricUniverse
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

Yeah, it is as I figured. If that place had colors like those in the op this place would be more widely known. I have seen "similar" places in the U.S. Like in some parts of the Grand Canyon, probably King's Canyon, but my last visit was in 1999.

There are also very different color formations in parts of Wyoming. I haven't been to Wyoming, or Montana or even Utah since 2011, and miss them. I also miss not being able to visit these places like I was able to before my accident.

Anyway, the place in China is still really cool, however, I still think that Sequoia National Park is the most beautiful place I have seen, from the places I have visited, in the Americas or Europe.

edit on 16-7-2013 by ElectricUniverse because: errors.

The colors are real. There are many more picks at:
www.weather.com...

The rocks may appear fake — and photos of them at their most vibrant are often called phony or Photoshopped — but they’re real, red sedimentary sandstone influenced by upward movement from within the Earth, weather and erosion over tens of million of years.

Essentially the colors result from deposits of different minerals, says John Encarnacion, Ph.D., a Saint Louis University geologist. “The deep reds are caused primarily by the mineral hematite, which is basically rust. These rocks are rich in iron and the iron was oxidized when the rock formed. The yellow colors are probably due to less iron and more sand and clay.” The bluish-greenish-gray, Encarnacion surmises, comes from either organic plant matter or a mineral called glauconite found in marine environments.

The layering, similar to what you might see at Death Valley’s Zabriskie Point, results from what Encarnacion describes as events of mud or sand coming in. And the 45-degree tilting of the rock? “That’s probably related to the collision of India with Asia,” he says. “That collision”—which recent research estimates happened 35 million years ago—“crumbled a lot of rocks throughout China.”

But the rocks themselves actually formed much earlier, at least 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs were still around. It took the formations about 20 million years to end up how they look today

www.weather.com...

reply to post by PuterMan


Fascinating share OP

NAMASTE*******