13th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Desert Wrinkles as seen from a plane over Western Australia

Flying from Perth to Broome in Western Australia is like flying over the surface of Mars and I find myself captivated by the vivid expressions of the underlying geology. The rocks that underly this desert date back as far as 2.9 billion years - some of the oldest rocks on earth. Structures like these wrinkles betray its turbulent and tectonic prehistory, now preserved by the stasis of this huge continent.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2013
Date Uploaded: 11.2015
Photo Location: Australia
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Copyright: © Paul Williams