Rock Patern

Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt
Crimson striations run through a sandstone rock face in Petra in Jordan.



Photograph by Charles Kogod
Eroded rocks pop with colorful designs in Point Lobos State Reserve, California.


Photograph by Frans Lanting
Striated sandstone lines the slopes of Coyote Buttes in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.


Photograph by Frans Lanting
Pahoehoe lava darkens into ropy strands in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.



Photograph by Charles Kogod
Erosion reveals swirls of color and pattern in rocks in Point Lobos State Reserve, California.


Photograph by Frans Lanting
Patterned sandstone creates an optical illusion in the Wave rock formation, part of Coyote Buttes in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona.


Photograph by Cary Wolinsky
Lines reverberate in ever widening swirls from a rock in Moab, Utah.


Photograph by David Boyer
Concentric rings of color decorate a crystal found in Albany, Oregon.


Photograph by Sylvia Sharnoff
Minerals streak the hills of Oregon's Painted Hills State Park.



Photograph by Sylvia Sharnoff
Slate yields to brilliant lichens in Merced Falls, California.

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Lightning

Photograph by Scott Sroka
Tendrils of lightning snake across a stormy sky in Madeira Beach, Florida. A stretch of Interstate 4 between Orlando and St. Petersburg is known as "lightning alley," because the area reportedly sees more lightning streaks than any other U.S. region.


Photograph by Joel Sartore
Prongs of intracloud lightning reach across the sky above a butte in Wyoming's Red Desert. The most common type of lightning, intracloud lightning takes place within a single cumulonimbus cloud.


Photograph by Taylor S. Kennedy
Lightning streaks across the sky over Vinales Valley, Cuba. Lightning can travel up to 93,000 miles (150,000 kilometers) per second and reach temperatures of 54,000 degrees Fahrenheit (30,000 degrees Celsius), more than four times hotter than the surface of the sun.


Photograph by Michael K. Nichols
Shocks of lightning split a cloud formation over Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania. Tanzania's neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is home to the world's most lightning-pelted region, which, according to NASA, absorbs 158 thunderbolts per square kilometer (0.4 square miles) every year.



Photograph by Ta Wiewandt/Gety Images
Mother Nature paints an electric-blue sky with a bold twist of lightning. Lightning and thunder occur simultaneously, but because light travels faster than sound, we see lightning first. Count the seconds between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder and divide by five to estimate how far away in miles the storm is. Divide by three for kilometers.



Photograph by William R. Curstinger
Whips of lightning cut a dramatic scene across a storm-darkened sky in Patagonia, Argentina. Most lightning occurs within cumulonimbus clouds like these, but it can also be released from wide, layered formations called stratiform clouds.




Photograph by Raymond K. Gehman
A purplish twilight sky over Georgia's Cumberland Island National Seashore glows as fingers of lightning spread among the clouds.

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Life in Color:Blue

Photograph by Brian Skerry
The sweeping color of sea and sky, blue is a common thread in nature, seen in the cerulean of a whale shark (pictured here), the indigo of a stormy night, and the cobalt of a peacock's feathers. Over the centuries, the hue has come to represent calm, cold, mysticism, and sadness.


Photograph by Tim Laman
A thick, swirling school of blackfin barracuda plies the blue waters off Sipadan Island, Malaysia. The fish are formidable predators, but they sometimes gather in groups for protection against sharks higher up on the food chain.


Photograph by Ralph Lee Hopkins
A group of chinstrap penguins lines the edge of an iceberg adrift in Antarctic waters. Chinstraps are among the most abundant penguins, and some colonies live on floating icebergs.



Photograph by Ralph Lee Hopkins
A polar bear leaps off of sea ice near Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. Strong swimmers, polar bears have slightly webbed paws to aid in paddling.



Photograph by Rich Reid
A blue pool on Root Glacier in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park reflects the bulk of towering Donoho Peak. The massive ice sheet is a popular excursion in the park.



Photograph by Tim Laman
These distinctive webbed feet belong to a blue-footed booby of the Galápagos Islands. The bluer, the better: Courting males show off with a high-stepping strut—and those with brighter feet are more attractive to potential mates.



Photograph by David Boyer
Some of nature's intricate patterns are on display in this magnified view of the mineral azurite. The bright blue mineral was once used to make paints and may still be found in jewelry.


Photograph by James Stanfield
Holidaymakers take the plunge and enjoy a twisting, turning trip down an Israeli waterslide. The attraction cools tourists who visit the shores of the Sea of Galilee.



Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt
Frost covers the brilliant blue leaves of lush ferns in New Zealand's Fiordland National Park. The park is an isolated wilderness that's home to more than 700 plants found nowhere else in the world.


Photograph by Anne Keiser
Unveiling the regalia that has captivated humans (and hens) for thousands of years, an Indian peacock displays his colorful train at an Australian reserve. Males may use their feathers to attract harems of several hens.


Photograph by Steve McCurry
A veiled Nepali woman, covered head-to-toe in shades of blue, pauses to rest in a colorful doorway in one of the small Himalayan hill towns found in Nepal's Anapurna region.


Photograph by Alexandra Avakian
Intricate blue tiles adorn the walls of a large Iranian mosque and mirror a clear sky that beckons the faithful to the sunny courtyard. The mosque's many arches are a prominent feature of Islamic architecture.


Photograph by Bobby Haas
As startling as a bright-blue eye, a central lagoon peers out from Rocas Baimbridgen in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands. The stark, rocky island teems with life at times—the brackish lagoon waters are favored by flamingos.


Photograph by Richard Nowitz
The massive bulk of Garibaldi Glacier slowly spills into Garibaldi Fjord in Tierra del Fuego—the archipelago at the southern tip of South America. The aquatic endpoint of such a glacier is known as a terminus.


Photograph by Michael Nichols
Though it's better known for shades of red, the Grand Canyon is shrouded in blue as night descends on its foggy, snow-covered walls. The canyon's north rim is typically closed to vehicles in winter.



Photograph by Joel Sartore
Bathed in blue light, a gray wolf peers through the misty landscape of Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. West. The animals were successfully reintroduced to the park in the mid-1990s after an absence of nearly seven decades.



Photograph by Paul Nicklen
Ice, seen from below, covers the surface of the Arctic's Beaufort Sea. The sea is found north of Alaska and Canada.



Photograph by Norbert Rosing
A homey-looking igloo lights up the stark landscape on a cold night in the Canadian Arctic. These temporary shelters were commonly used by indigenous peoples in the frigid North American Arctic.

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Life in Color: Orange

Photograph by Chris Johns
A balance of playful yellow and passionate red, orange commands attention
without overwhelming. This often flamboyant color brings to mind citrus and sunsets,
fall leaves, and jack-o'-lanterns. Orange has even been found to stimulate appetite
and creativity in humans.Here, three giraffes in Botswana's Okavango Delta stretch their necks above the horizon before a glowing orange sky.


Photograph by Todd Gipstein
Sunset casts a spurred boot in silhouette in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Such icons of the Old West still have a proud place in everyday New Mexican life.


Photograph by Todd Gipstein
An orange-tinged sunset provides the backdrop for a sailboat
on Lake Michigan. This 321-mile-long (517-kilometer-long)
body of water is the only Great Lake located entirely within the United States.


Photograph by James Stanfield
Knobby haystacks dot a wheat field in Malazgirt, Turkey,
as sunset bathes two workers in hazy orange light.

Photograph by James Amos
Molten glass is turned into insulation at the Johns-Manville
Corporation in Berlin, New Jersey. The orange-hot fluid is forced
through holes in a palladium sheet to form long, thin fibers.


Photograph by James Blair
Vibrant tulips brighten the Samuels Bulb Garden at
St. Louis's Missouri Botanical Garden. Established in 1859,
the garden is an internationally recognized center for botanical
research and a year-round urban oasis for flower fans.


Photograph by Medford Taylor
Orange sunset colors the sand around Australia's famed dingo fence,
a 3,355-mile (5,400-kilometer) barrier that crosses the country's desert
interior and separates cattle and sheep from predatory wild dogs.


Photograph by James Stanfield
The dusty-orange, beehive-shaped huts of Tall Mardĭkh,
Syria, were built some 200 years ago by an ancient method
which has since been lost. The shape and materials of these mud-brick
dwellings help them remain cool in summer and warm in winter.



Photograph by Norbert Rosing
Birds fill an orange sky over Germany’s Wattenmeer National Park.
This coastal wetland, covered by the sea at high tide,
is home to some 3,200 different animals and a popular stopover
for many migratory birds.


Photograph by Todd Gipstein
Scores of orange koi fish crowd a pond in Oahu, Hawaii.
Prized by collectors, koi are an ornamental variety of freshwater
carp originally raised in Japan.


Photograph by Tim Laman
A tubastraea coral waves its wispy, orange tentacles near
Sangeang Island, Indonesia. Coral reefs cover less than
one percent of the ocean floor, but they support one out of
every four marine creatures.


Photograph by Michael Nichols
The pastel-orange of the Grand Canyon's sandstone walls
dominates the view from the vantage known as SB Point.
The canyon’s rock layers display a geological history some
two billion years old.


Photograph by Michael Nichols
Scorpians have survived for hundreds of millions of years
by being extremely adaptable. Some, like this orange-colored
species in the Grand Canyon, dwell in desert climes,
while others inhabit the tropics, temperate forests,
and even Himalayan high peaks.


Photograph by Raymond Gehman
The moon rises over Big Meadows on an autumn evening in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. Some 450 families in the Blue Ridge Mountains were relocated when the park was created in the 1930s.


Photograph by Michael Yamashita
A burning orange sun sets behind a fringe of pampas grass
in Japan. Japan's nickname, "The Land of the Rising Sun,
" is derived from the Chinese ideograph meaning "place of
the sun's origin."



Photograph by David Doubilet
This toxic orange Godiva nudibranch was photographed in
the Raja Ampat islands, Papua, Indonesia. There are
over 3,000 known species of these colorful sea slug relatives,
and new ones are discovered nearly every day.


Photograph by Joel Sartore
Two brightly colored sun conures relax on a branch at
the Bramble Park Zoo in Watertown, South Dakota.
These South American parakeets are common in captivity,
but wild populations have crashed due to unregulated trapping.


Photograph by Joel Sartore
An extreme close-up shows the delicate hair of an orange
baboon tarantula, a resident of the Great Plains Zoo in
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This large, aggressive species is
native to Africa.

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