Desert Mountains - Jan-Eric Osterlund

The Colorado Plateau is the largest sandstone plateau in the world. The wind causes a constant erosion that forms the arches in the Arches National Park, Utah. This is Delicate Arch
Turret Arch photographed through the North Window at sunrise
Metate Arch, Devil's Garden, Hole-in-the-Rock Road, nearr Escalante, Utah
The rising sun light up the Mesa Arch from underneath. Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Mesa Arch four minutes later, when the sun is hidden behind the arch and the mountains can be seen much clearer. Through the arch you can see two sandstone figures in the background. The left one is called the "washer woman"
Sunrise at Dead Horse Point Overlook,Canyonlands, Utah, with some of the buttes reflected in Green River.
The first morning sun is lighting up the spires of Bryce Canyon. Softer sandstone between the present spires has been eroded, creating the present forest of spires.
The National Geographic Society sent out an expedition to document this area in 1949. Kodak had just come out with its Kadochrome film, and the expedition named the basin after the film, due to its stunning red colours at sunset, reminding them of the saturated Kodachorme colours
The soft sandstone in Arches National Park was supported by a thick layer of salt underneath, deposited by previous oceans, when this part of Utah was close to the equator. Water began to percolate into the salt, dissolving it and the sandstone rocks above cracked. During the winters the water froze into ice further cracking the sandstone into fins like here
These gigantic fins (for scale see the road towards the right) resemble the Terracotta Warriors, all looking in the same direction. Walking at the bottom, it is easy to get lost
And here we have finally found proof that the extra-terrestrials have landed on earth! E.T. couldn't have been more convincingly created by Steven Spielberg. Devil's Garden
Vermilion Cliffs at sunrise. In front of the cliffs is the Colorado River hidden by its canyon and in front of the river are a series of conical sandstone hills
Courthouse Butte and the mountains behind it are still lit by the setting sun, whereas the base of Bell Rock in the foreground is in shadow. Courthouse Butte, Sedona, Arizona
The Wave, as this part of the Paria Canyon is called, is made of old sand dunes that have been compressed and calcified into hard rock still showing the original wave pattern caused by the wind. Different layes show varying directions of the waves due to changing wind direction over time. The Wave, Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon, Arizona
In Morocco on the south side of the Atlas mountain range the rocks show a similar wave pattern as in Arizona, but here it is sedimentary layers
On the north side of the Atlas mountain range, where we still has some rainfall.
Gorge du Dades with its special mountain formations and cacti in the foreground. Gorge du Dades shoot into the Atlas mountain range from the south side
Further down in the valley a little river provides an opportunity to irrigate the soil and make the landscape green
It is not easy to distinguish between the buildings and natural rocks. Gorge du Dades, Atlas Mountains
Climbing up into the gorge. Gorge du Dades, Morocco
Todra Valley with an oasis getting is water from the river that runs through the valley.
Jbel Sahro Mountains where a dry riverbed still succeed in providing enough water for a solitary group of palm trees to survive.
The Jbel Sahro Mountains. Here with another dry riverbed meandering through the tall mountains
Namibia's landscape offered lots of sandy deserts and steppes but only a few mountains. Here rock formations near Spizkoppe with steppe grass in the foreground
Tsagan Suvraga Painted Cliffs in the early morning light. Tsagan Suvraga is part of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia
Tsagaan Survaga Painted Cliffs at evening light, Gobi Desert, Mongolia
Quebrada de la Conchas, near Cafayate, northwest Argentina. Originally a sea bottom it is now at 1,500 m altitude. Lots of different minerals create the colour combinations and a variety of sea shells are deposited in the mountains (giving them their name)
Cierre de los Siete Colores is named after the seven colours on its mountain; All of northwest Argentina is full of colourfull mountains due to the rich and varied mineral deposits there. However, I could count to many more than seven colours
Cierre de los Siete Colores, Purmamarca, Salta Province, Argentina
Quebrada de las Senoritas near Humahuaca, NW Argentina, Salta Province
Hornocal Mountains, northwest Argentina, 4,350 m alt just before sunset. The puna grass in the foreground grows only above 4,000 m altitude
Pumice stone from an ancient volcanic eruption has created this enormous pumice field at Campo de Piedra Pomez, an hour from El Peron, in Catamarca Province
The pumice is very porous white stone that floats in water. The porosity is caused by the gases inside the stone, when it was formed
The red brown colour at the top of the pumice stone is casued by deposits of sandstone dust that has covered the pumice. Underneath the stone is white or light grey
The mountain looks like painted in soft oil colours. The photo was taken at an altitude of 3,400m. It isn't snow at the bottom of the valley but salt. It sas the first of many salt lakes we would see in this part of South America
Further up into the Andes the landscape became totally barren. We are at Desierto del Laberinto near Tolar Grande, not far from the border towards Chile.
Walking between the conical hills in the background was like walking in a labyrinth, where it was very easy to loose your way without a GPS
At 3,700m alt with snow covering the conical mountains in the background
Salar de Arizaro saltflats near Tolar Grande (3,500m)
I am at an altitude of 4,200m and the Rio Grande Salt Flats are at the bottom of the valley.
On the road to Mina Casualidad we were not the only ones admiring the view
Ojos del Mar near Tolar Grande. Legend tells us that the deep blue lakes are connected to the sea far below (we are at 3,500m alt)
Landscape east of Tolar Grande at 4,100m alt. Chile is across the mountains to the left around 40 km as the crow flies (if at all crows can live at these altitudes)
We have crossed the border to Chile. To the north is Lican Cabur, 6,000 metres high captured midday from a vantage point at 4,200m alt. The puna grass in the foreground doesn't normally grow below 4,000 m
This is the road to Paso Sico on the Chilean side of the pass. This is another pass between Argentina and Chile, but it was blocked due to the substantial snow falls that had come the days before Jennifer and I first tried to go across
The last sunrays are shining on the mountain tops close to Paso Sico.
Lican Cabur and Saire Cabur at sunset. This is the same volcano that I showed three pictures earlier, but the light is very different. Photographed from our hotel at San Pedro de Atacama. I was waiting for the sunset in a nice deck hair, with a drink in my hand
And after sunset the moon raised next to Lican Cabur and lit up the landscape while the sun (below the horizon) gave the clouds their purple colour
Lican Cabur and Saire Cabur Volcanoes from Valle de la Luna at sunset. The valley where I am standing is at 2,500m alt and the top of the volcano is at 6,000m. This is the third time you see a picture of Lican Cabur, and it will appear one more time in this gallery from the Bolivian side
Valle de la Luna from above with the Andes mountain range in the background. It hasn't rained here since measurements started more than a hundred years ago
Geisers del Tatio at sunrise. Atacama desert, Chile, 4,300m alt. There are hot and sulphuric springs and fountains everywhere
Geisers del Tatio at sunrise.
The cold air smelled of sulphur
The colourful base of the "fountain" is due to the many minerals that comes out from the earth.
Geisers del Tatio
The hot water was bubbling
Laguna Verde with Lican Cabur in the background photographed from the Bolivian side of the border. It is bitterly cold at 4,400 m alt, but the water doesn't freeze due to a lot of arsenic in the lake, which also gives it its green colour
Salvador Dali has obviously sculptured also in Bolivia. 4,600 m altitude
The active volcano Ollague (you can notice the smoke coming out from the volcano) 6,000 m photographed from the altiplano area in Bolivia The Puna grass covers the altiplano in the foreground.

Overview

Around a third of all landmass on the globe is desert and then the polar regions are not included, although Antarctica closer to the south pole in reality is a desert with very little precipitation. The deserts are spread all over the world in all continents except Europe. The image of the desert that immediately comes to mind is the windblown sandy deserts of Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula. But in reality only about 14% of all deserts are covered by sand dunes.

I have decided to present my photos according to the type of landscape divided into four galleries starting with Mountains and Rocks and followed by Sand Dunes. Then I show Canyons, Rivers and Gorges, where rivers and streams have cut deep canyons into the soft sandstone and limestone and finally the Hamadas, Punas and Steppes, with an exciting mixture of the monotonous and the colourful.

Mountains and Rocks

I start with the fascinating scenery of the largest sandstone plateau in the world, the Colorado Plateau, stretching across southern Utah and northern Arizona but also covering parts of Colorado and New Mexico. To form sandstone Nature needs sand. The sand was deposited by the seas that covered much of this area 300 million years ago. When the seas withdrew the sand deposits were left. The blowing sand piled up into enormous sand dunes, and the wind formed intricate wave patterns in the sand.

But for sand to be cemented into sandstone Nature needs a binding material. The climate changed many times. Seas intruded again and brought lime and iron and other materials that bound the sand grains together into the porous and easily eroded sand stone we see today. Different layers of sandstone take their colours and character from the different binding materials, but also from the patterns created by the wind forming the original layers (see e.g. image no 14 in the gallery below).

Underneath the sandstone formations tectonic plate movements and volcanic activity forced the sandstone plateau to rise more than 3,000 metres in the last 15 million years. The Colorado Plateau was formed.

The Atlas Mountains in northern Africa were formed when the land masses of Europe and Africa collided and also much earlier when the African and American plates collided. The High Atlas Mountains and the Anti Atlas chains extending 2,500 km across North Africa are situated in Morocco and Algeria They are the northern boundary of the Sahara Desert. The highest peak reaches 4,000 metres into the sky (in Morocco). The Atlas Mountains consist of layers of limestone and sandstone and similar patterns and colour variations can be seen here as on the Colorado Plateau (see e.g. image no 15 and 17 in the gallery).

Tsagan Survaga painted Cliffs in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia shows the same beautiful colour variations in its sandstone cliffs (images 25 and 26 in the gallery) and so does Quebrada de la Conchas in northwestern Argentina, which also was a sea bottom but is raised to 1,500 above sea level. The wonderful colours of those mountains and those of Cierre de los Siete Colores in Salta Province in Argentina are due to different minerals mixed with the sandstone and lime.

Further up into the Andes in South America we reached more than 5,000 metres altitude in the mountain range that is straddling Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. The Andes has been formed by tectonic processes around 45 million years ago, when the Pacific plate was uplifted at its eastern end. The whole mountain chain is about 9,000 km long. The northern part along the borders of Peru and Chile, Bolivia and Argentina is a desert to the west of the peaks and along the high level plateaus, the Altiplano.

The Andes is the longest continental mountain chain in the world. It has many both active and dormant volcanos rising above the Altiplano-Puna plateau and geysers are present both in Chile and Bolivia. The different mineral deposits and the thermal activity and tall volcanoes create a dramatic landscape, and Jennifer and I felt it was one of the most fascinating and dramatic we had seen and photographed.