These gully systems are the planet’s most extensive, and were formed naturally in the deep windblown deposits of Gobi Desert silt. Sediment washing from these drainages adds greatly to the fertile effects of yearly floods on the North China Plain. The badlands are among the major reasons that China developed agriculture as early as it… Read more »
Marzuk
The constant wind of the central Sahara has clustered its moving sand in great oblate dunefields called Ergs. This one is in the southwestern corner of Libya, and is spilling downwind into a rift valley. This area was a populous node during pluvial times which were associated with the continental glacial advances. Several important archeological… Read more »
Brazos
From the Rio Grande to the Mississippi, the coast of Texas has a pleasing arch with plentiful barrier islands and lagoons, coastal marshes and swamps. Inland 100 miles, however, the flat plains and lazy river valleys climb into a rolling, dissected landscape. Local relief and choppiness are quite uniform over a wide area. High densities… Read more »
Edge of North
The Caribou Mountains of northern Alberta dominate this late summer image, where deciduous foliage on the cusp of autumn’s turn gives the splashes of yellow-green. The large river is the Peace, and nearby wheat fields are the continent’s most northerly commercial scale agriculture. The image’s upper half is within the Wood Buffalo National Park, where… Read more »
Lomsak
Heavy rural populations farm the extensive mid-levels of this landscape, but the hills and mountains are left fairly pristine. The striking heart-shaped hill in the upper middle is Phu Kradung, a favorite hiking mountain for young Thais – with restaurants and tented accommodations on the plateau (a 9 km walk). On the left is the… Read more »
Balkan Parts
Centering on the lower Danube with its feathery tributaries, this palette was designed to isolate the tallest hills while staying fairly quiet and a bit on the sad side. Low seashores are made indistinct, and the gray tones are surprisingly readable in distinguishing the degree of local dissection. This is a topographically complex part of… Read more »
End of the Lena
A huge and obscure river in eastern Siberia brings great volumes of warm water to the Arctic Ocean each summer. Ecologically this delta is very important for the continent’s migratory birds and sea life. As the Arctic warms this coast will carry new ship traffic, and the delta will be subjected to a broad series… Read more »
Far to the East
The spatial isolation of Japan and Korea is clear from this rendition of elevations stretching from Taiwan to Kamchatka. The mainland is marked by the courses of the Yangtze River on the left and the Amur River on the right. Major volcanoes are obvious in North Korea, Honshu and Hokkaido, and on the many island… Read more »
Baluchi Ridges
In Baluchistan ridges curve continuously through the borderlands of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The lower Indus River floodplain fills the broad dune-flecked flats to the right, near a coast of scalloped promontories tipped with the vestiges of transverse ridges. Kandahar is at center top, while Quetta nestles in the high mountains to the right. These… Read more »
Around Tibet
Tibet is by far the planet’s largest mountain feature, and affects winds and seasons, deserts and rivers, people and metaphysics. The great rivers of Huang Ho, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Irrawaddy, Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, and Amu Dar’ya all rise from its slopes, and support well over half of the world’s population. Shrinking glaciers render the critical… Read more »
Borden Island
These three islands locked in the frozen Arctic Ocean are also patterned with low lying fog, as vague popcorns obscure most of the land surface detail, with the exception of the two-toned Borden Island. Here are graceful drainage ways filled intermittently with snow, and an emptiness which asks very little of the observer. Forgotten places… Read more »
October Day
The coincidence of a cloudfree day, the height of autumn foliage, and a well-behaving satellite in local orbit made this construction possible. It stretches thirteen feet, through four images, from Quebec to Barnegat Bay NJ. The green pastures of New England can be individually identified, and the different species mixtures of trees are amusing to… Read more »
Dambos and Bangweulu
Shaped like a Dutch shoe, Lake Bangweulu makes an exception to how earth’s great lakes are formed. It is a low point on a clay plateau, surrounded by swamp and by unusual upper stream courses in the shape of ET fingers – dambos. The bones of bedrock outcrop visibly on the right side, and beyond,… Read more »
Lac a l’Eau Claire
This view is within or near to the spawning ground for North America’s cyclical continental glaciations. At the top is Hudson Bay (north is right), and the curvy Belcher Islands are actually sea bottom which has risen up due to the un-weighting of the ice mass. The circular shore is straddled by prominent moraines, from… Read more »