White and Orange Layered Rock Desert Formations

White and Orange Layered Rock Desert Formations

© Pedro Carrilho/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Desert or dessert?

A fluffy meringue only needs a bit of time in the oven, but it took many millennia in nature's kitchen to craft this dessert-like desert. In fact, the Campo de Piedra Pomez was created by a similar process to meringue: Just like whipped egg whites, lava is often filled with air bubbles by the mighty forces that propel it, and when it cools quickly, the result is light, airy pumice. The seemingly infinite stiff peaks seen here are formations called yardangs: staggered ridges sculpted over eons by wind-whipped sand and dust.

Related Tags