An Anthology of Our Extraordinary Earth

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The 55 million year old glorious Rainbow Mountains of the Zhangye Danxia National Geopark in northwest China are aptly named. But what causes the Rainbow Mountains to be coloured the way they are? They are made from layer upon layer of sandstone rock in shades of red, orange, yellow, blue, and purple. And each layer of the sandstone is made up of a mix of sand, mud, and clay, which together are called sediment. Over time, the sedimentary rocks were weathered and the minerals in them changed colour, to give a striking painter’s palette of colours.