Desolate looking faming areas in the sandy valley floor provide a stark contrast with the arid mountains surrounding it. The mountains in the background form the Kalmand Protected Area located in Yazd Province, Iran. This arid area ranges from 1,200 to 3,000m in altitude and gets less than 200mm of rain.
The first light of the day kisses the Breadknife. The shot was taken looking down over the Warrumbungles after night hiking up to the Grand High Tops with a headtorch. The Breadknife is a volcanic dyke nearly 90 metres high but only 4 m wide which is particularly rare. The Breadknife is composed of peralkaline trachyte and was once part of a large shield volcano, that first erupted about 17 million years ago and stopped about 13 million years ago. Warrumbungle National Park, NSW, Australia
Traces of iron oxides have created patterns over the millennia as ground water percolates through the rock face at the painted cliffs on Maria island. Sea spray then hits the sandstone forming crystals of salt which alter weathering dynamics and cause its present day honeycomb pattern. Maria Island is a remote mountainous island located in the Tasman Sea, off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island was named in 1642 by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman after Maria van Diemen (née van Aelst).
