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the pinnacles »
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Beyond the obvious agents of wind
and rain, no one can agree on quite
how the limestone pinnacles in West-
ern Australia’s Nambung National
Park were created, but no one
disputes their eerie beauty. Many of
the region’s 250,000 annual visitors
come at dusk or dawn when the sun
casts long shadows and the soft light
brings out the pinnacles’ sandy reds,
yellows, and ochers to dazzling efect.
The Pinnacles limestone formations in
Australia’s Nambung National Park
91
northwest
passage
CANADA
The Northwest Passage is not one
place, nor one route, but a long-sought
means of transit from the Atlantic
to the Pacific through the labyrinth
of icebound Arctic waterways of
northern Canada. Retreating pack ice
has made the route increasingly acces-
sible, opening up an elemental world
of tundra, mountains, and icy seas.
Melting ice paints patterns in the fro-
zen seas of the Northwest Passage.
93
lava fields
OREGON
Oregon is one of North America’s
volcanic hot spots, dotted with
volcanoes that have erupted and will
almost certainly erupt again. Much
of the region is scattered with the
spectacular geological legacy of past
eruptions, not least the great lava
fields, buttes, and petrified forests
near Bend in the Cascade Range.
Lava fields near Bend, Oregon, make
up one of the many volcanic land-
scapes scattered across the state.
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