Rainbow Mountains In China's Danxia Landform Geological Park

Rainbow Mountains In China's Danxia Landform Geological Park
August 1, 2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/rainbow-mountains-china-danxia-landform_n_3683840.html

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.

Here's a photo showing some detail of the rich "layer cake" action going on.

There's a similar formation in British Columbia called the Rainbow Range formed from a mixture of volcanic rock and various minerals.

While the photos are certainly incredible, there could be some slight photo manipulation going on to make the colors pop a bit more than they would naturally. This Flickr photo could be a more accurate representation, but still, the mountains are amazing.

The formations were shaped into the flowing valleys after thousands of years of rain and wind, and the region has been listed as aUNESCO World Heritage site since 2010.