Mickey Rush Wins Earth Sciences & Map Library Photo Contest

Like a brush loaded with paint carried across the canvas, the stripe of layered sediment in this rock formation has many beautiful hues. These rich colors are created by different minerals in the stone and exposed from weathering. The red/orange color comes from oxidized iron. At the bottom is “phytokarst pitting,” holes excavated by organic acids from algae and a type of burrowing mollusk called a “piddock.” This photograph was taken at the Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. 

Öxarárfoss is one of the most famous waterfalls in all of Iceland. Not only does it have pristine blue waters and glowing orange sunsets, it is located in a small national park which was the birthplace of Icelandic Democracy. Interestingly enough, in this area you can also visibly see where the North American and Eurasian continental plates are drifting apart. 

The Bugaboos were formed when 135-million-year-old granodiorite batholiths were exposed over the course of repeated glaciations that eroded weaker rock that once covered the landscape. The remaining "nunataks"—exposed granite spires—erupt from surrounding glaciers to form one of the most iconic mountain ranges in North America.

The perched ventisqueros of southern Chile tell a story of Holocene retreat: as the region warmed, the extensive Patagonian ice field fractured into smaller glaciers whose descendants can be found lingering high above the U-shaped gorges left by their ancestors. Elderly human residents of the region remember when the “hanging glacier” at Parque Nacional Queulat reached the lake. As the sun rises high in the northern sky, large blocks splinter off the glacier’s face and shatter onto the exposed rock below. 

The moon rising over an Alaskan Landscape. The Juneau Icefield is located just north of Juneau, Alaska and is the 5th largest Icefield in North America. It covers an area of 1,500 square miles and in places ice can be up to 5,000 feet deep. It is the source of many Alaskan glaciers including the Mendenhall Glacier and the Taku Glacier and is home to over 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones. The icefield, like many of its glaciers, reached its maximum glaciation point around 1700 and has been in retreat ever since.

The stunning formations of  Southeast Utah's Castle Valley primarily consist of sandstone from the Wingate formation dated to the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods (210-175 million years ago). Over a period of many millions of years, the Colorado River slowly carved through this canyon country, leaving behind deep recess and soaring pinnacles that have come to define the landscape of this area. 

The Juneau Icefield is located just north of Juneau, Alaska and is the 5th largest Icefield in North America. It covers an area of 1,500 square miles and in places, ice can be up to 5,000 feet deep. It is the source of many Alaskan glaciers including the Mendenhall Glacier and the Taku Glacier and is home to over 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones. The icefield, like many of its glaciers, reached its maximum glaciation point around 1700 and has been in retreat ever since.

Miniature tourists mill about the largest hot spring in America: Grand Prismatic Spring. The colors seen at Grand Prismatic are a result of the varying levels of algae living across the temperature gradient found in the pool.

The Colorado River flows through Glen Canyon by the northern border of Arizona, carving out Horseshoe Bend. This 270-degree entrenched meander cuts through sandstone rock, with the river sitting about 1000 feet below the cliff top.

Those karst mountains are formatted when water flow wears down limestone bedrock, creating cracks in the bedrock surface.

The second largest lake in South America, Lago General Carrera (Chile) or Lago Buenos Aires (Argentina) is fed by glacial meltwater and drained by the Río Baker. Since the Baker’s flow is relatively stable throughout the year, lake water levels are about one meter lower during the austral winter than during the austral summer, when glaciers are actively melting. Millenia of wave action have polished the marble into brilliant caves, cathedrals, and chapels that are especially visible during the winter and early spring when the lake is at its lowest level.