China’s Colorful Danxia Mountains

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The image above is that of the Danxia Mountains in China. The colors you see are produced by a petrographic geomorphology sedimenting over millions of years creating the effect above.

The Danxia landform (Chinese: 丹霞地貌; pinyin: dānxiá dìmào) refers to various landscapes found in southeast and southwest China that “consist of a red bed characterized by steep cliffs”. It is a unique type of petrographic geomorphologyfound in China. Danxia landform is formed from red-colored sandstones and conglomerates of largely Cretaceous age. The landforms look very much like karst topography that forms in areas underlain by limestones, but since the rocks that form Danxia are sandstones and conglomerates, they have been called “pseudo-karst” landforms. Danxia landforms cover several provinces in southeast China. Taining County, Fujian Province, has very good examples of “young” danxia landforms wherein deep, narrow valleys have been formed. As the landform gets older, valleys widen and one gets isolated towers and ridges. - Wiki

These photos were taken by Flickr user Melinda ^..^. Here’s her entire Danxia gallery.

As noted by the good folks over at Kottke, the influence for Andreas Illiger’s Tiny Wings is now clearly apparent.

Image Credit: Melinda ^..^