Rainbow Mountains In China's Danxia Landform

The Rainbow Mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China's Gansu province. They are famous for their otherworldly colors that resemble a rainbow painted over the rolling mountains. The vibrant colors are the result of millions of years of accumulated sandstone and mineral deposits layered on top of one another, compressed and then uplifted by tectonic plate movement. Over time, weathering and erosion have sculpted these layers into the dramatic shapes we see today.

The mountains are part of the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China. Layers of different colored sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates, according to the Telegraph.

Here's a photo showing some detail of the rich "layer cake" action going on.

While the photos are certainly incredible, there could be some slight photo manipulation going on to make the colors pop a bit more than they would naturally. This Flickr photo could be a more accurate representation, but still, the mountains are amazing.

The extraordinary landscape stretches across an area of approximately 510 square kilometers and is part of the larger Zhangye National Geopark. The vibrant colors of the Rainbow Mountains are primarily shades of red, orange, and yellow. These colors are a result of the presence of iron oxide minerals, particularly hematite, in the rock layers. Over time, iron in the rocks oxidizes, leading to the formation of these colorful minerals.

The formations were shaped into the flowing valleys after thousands of years of rain and wind, and the region has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2010.