Volcanic slopes in Pinnacles National Park, California
© Don Smith/Getty Images
Volcanic slopes in Pinnacles National Park, California
Pinnacles was established as a national park just three years ago. That makes it the newest national park in the United States, but its namesake features - these rock spires - were millions of years in the making. Roughly 23 million years ago, volcanos erupted to form a 30-mile-wide volcanic field, which was then split in two by a shift in the San Andreas fault. The western side of the field gradually moved nearly 200 miles north, all the while being eroded by water, ice and wind. The rock that's left behind is now shaped into these pinnacles.
Related Images
Full moon rising over Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven on the north-east coast of Scotland
Wildflowers in bloom at Lost Dutchman State Park in Arizona, USA
Firefall at Horsetail Fall, Yosemite National Park, California, USA
La Digue, an island in the Seychelles
Loup of Fintry waterfall on the River Endrick, Scotland
An old farm in the Shetland Islands, Scotland
Mua Caves in the Ninh Bình province of Vietnam
Cefalù on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily, Italy
Bing Today Images
Village of Oia, Santorini, Greece
Oct 14, 2025
Coco Beach, Goa, India
Oct 14, 2024
'Ring of fire' annular solar eclipse, Doha, Qatar
Oct 14, 2023
Misty sunrise in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex
Oct 14, 2019
