Rainbow Mountains In China's Danxia Landform Geological Park Are Very, Very Real

[DeSwiss]

Huffington Post - GREEN | July 31, 2013

Yes, we had a hard time believing that this insane mountain formation was actually real, because we haven't fallen down the rabbit hole. But, believe it or not, this technicolor range actually exists.

The mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China. Layers of different colored sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates, according to the Telegraph.









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[Savannahmann]

1. Breathtaking

The Geology of the area must be among the most unique in the world.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. K&R&Absolutely stunning. nt

[alittlelark]

3. Wow...wow.......WOW

Amazing!

[kentuck]

4. Wow!!!

Gorgeous1

[Martin Eden]

5. I knew it! I've known it ever since I first dropped acid nearly 40 years ago ...

... God drops acid once in awhile too

[Logical]

7. Wow, I regret I will never do acid. bummer. n-t

[hvn_nbr_2]

19. 24 million years is a loooonnnnggggg trip, even for God.

Hope he didn't take the brown acid. (Or do I remember the wrong color?)

[Martin Eden]

20. Blink of an eye for that dude.

Or dudess, or Gaia, or whatever confluence of cosmic consciousness conspired in its creation.

If you remember Woodstock, you got the color right.

I didn't turn on till 1973. Split a 4-way windowpane (brown, BTW) with 3 buddies and went to to a triple feature of Marx Brothers movies. Not sure if that's what Jimi Hendrix had in mind with "Are you Experienced" but it was quite an experience nevertheless. The bud with the car was flying too high, so I drove back. Had a new tape in his 8-track player -- first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon.

Been 25 years since I tripped, but never had a bad time. My perspective on things was likely permanently altered from my "experiences" and not for the worse, I think.

[onethatcares]

40. I join with you in that experience

I did my first windowpane to Echos. Then someone put Nantucket Sleighride on by Mountain.

It's been 40 years ago but I still remember how the trees breathe.

[Martin Eden]

45. Some experiences stay with you a loooooonng time

I have a live recording of Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain, taking up a full side of an LP. I came home and listened to that many times after a night of partying.

I still listen to Pink Floyd Meddle (including the full-side Echoes track) on road trips, along with a host of other music from that era. My trippin days definitely influenced my choices in music!

[rurallib]

6. Hard to believe that is on earth

[burnodo]

8. OK...that's a trip!!!

Truly breathtaking

[NikolaC]

9. Stunning!

Those mountains are breathtaking. Thank you for sharing these pictures.

[DreamGypsy]

10. I think Huff Post has some false/enhanced color images.

Here are few of the images that appear on the Telegraph UK Travel site:







The fascinating geological structure is the same...but somebody played with the crayons.

Nonetheless, a very beautiful place, even without the exaggeration.

[Peacetrain]

12. Even these are quite stunning..

[Owl]

14. I like these much, much better.

[progressoid]

21. Yep, that's been an issue for a lot of publications (print and digital).

PhotoShop has made it easy to over saturate images.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Yeah, this one looks pretty dodgy

The pink track in the bottom right corner just doesn't look convincing, nor the extremely blue building by it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

43. No. HuffPo admits the photos were manipulated before they got them. HuffPo did not do it.

The colors have been super-saturated by moving the saturation slider to 100% in Photoshop or GIMP or any of a hundred programs.

[DreamGypsy]

46. I didn't say HP did the manipulation, I said they had some...

...enhanced/false color photos. Somebody played with the crayons.

And the HP comment "there could be some slight photo manipulation" is a bit of an understatement, one that no one appeared to have noticed.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

47. Thanks for clarifying. I did misread your post. nt

[Peacetrain]

11. I go to the BadLands quite often.. and in the early morning

they look like fruit sherbert.. by 11:00 AM the sun overhead washes them to putty color..but never ever ever.. the vibrant colors of these photos.. all I can say is WOW!

[athenasatanjesus]

13. Those mountains look delicious.nt

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. THey only look like this if you're doing a tab of "clear light" ...or messing with

Photoshop.

[obxhead]

16. Cool Stuff!!!

[Maedhros]

17. They look like a more fantastic version of the Painted Hills in eastern Oregon

[Bette Noir]

34. Thanks for posting.

I can drive to eastern Oregon, but not to China.

[Maedhros]

39. If you visit the Painted Hills, try to do so in spring

when the wild flowers are in bloom.

[mindwalker_i]

18. The mountains are doing LSD now

[theHandpuppet]

22. Wow.

Wouldn't Georgia O'Keefe had loved to have seen those!

[a kennedy]

23. OMGawd.......

a b s o l u t l y b r e a t h t a k i n g.

[noiretextatique]

25. amazing!

Thanks for sharing.

[liberal N proud]

26. Colored play-dough - colorful until you mix it together.

[PotatoChip]

27. Wow! That is so cool!

Thanks for sharing this DeSwiss!

[xoom]

28. Amazing!!!

[kentauros]

29. Makes me wonder what kind of hydrological events took place back then

to create all the varied layers. Major floods and major erosion events taking place, only what did the original landscape (or waterscape) look like before those mountains were formed?

Semi-geology-geek here

[cali]

30. So are the penis stone and vagina rock located there

seriously amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Danxia

[Tansy_Gold]

31. No, I have those at my house

[cali]

32. not too shabby- but not as great as those in Danxia

[TeeYiYi]

38. I hate to bring this up, as I'm not an expert on such things...

...but, does that second pic look like the excised tip of a phallus?...

In fact, they both look like they could... well... nevermind.

TYY

[Tansy_Gold]

41. They are exactly what you think they are ;-)

Small pieces of druzy agate I picked up during a rockhunting expedition somewhere in the desert southwest USA.

[TeeYiYi]

44. Aah...

...thank you Tansy_Gold. Erotica in nature. Something I'm familiar with, living in central/southwest Utah.

http://www.erotic-nature.com/category/rocks-and-stones/

TYY

ETA: I'm not too swift today. I just noticed Cali's post...

[bvar22]

33. Yes they are REAL, but they don't look like that to the human eye.

They look that way to a digital camera with the Saturation Levels turned UP to Maximum Overdrive BURN IN.

If you look at the ones with the little Viewing Platform,
it is easy to THAT part was "shaded" from the Over Saturation.

[proReality]

35. Time of day has a lot to do with color saturation too.

At certain times of day, with the sun hitting just right, the natural colors would be somewhat enhanced. I doubt it would be as vivid as these shots show, but more color would be brought out for the naked eye.

[SheilaT]

36. The landscape along I40

on the New Mexico side of the Arizona/New Mexico border is stunning. Red and yellow cliffs. Wish I had some photos to post.
For my money it's one of the two or three most beautiful drives in this country.

[Trailrider1951]

37. Absolutely stunning!

As a geologist and an artist, I thank you for posting this link. Those photos are eye candy to these old eyes.

[snagglepuss]

42. It's so odd that so many people including myself have never heard about this. You'd think that

this spectacular range would be as famous as Niagara Falls or Victoria Falls. Absolutely stunning. Thanks for posting.

[Unrepentant Fenian]

48. Wow, thank you so much for posting the pictures!