On September 19, 2023, astronauts on the International Space Station took a picture of the landscape of the Aradagrar Mountains in northwestern Iran. Over millions of years of tectonic action, the region's colorful rock layers have been folded. Thereafter, erosion exposed them.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of the rugged landscape of the Aradagrar Mountains in northwestern Iran. Ridges cast shadows across valleys and other lower elevations, creating a sense of dimension. Human modification of the landscape is most evident in riverbeds, where the uniform topography makes building and navigation easier.
Through natural processes over millions of years, rock formations of different compositions and colors folded into the arc-shaped patterns we see in photos. These folds are created by tectonic forces along the intersection of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. The intersection of these tectonic plates caused the colorful rock formations to uplift, fold and deform, and subsequent erosion exposed them.
On the left side of this photo, the Qezel Ozan River, a major river in northern Iran, cuts across the landscape. Farmland along both sides of the river is nestled between mountains. The Gezer-Ozan River also intersects the Zanjan-Tabriz Highway (Highway 2), a major artery built on a dry riverbed that connects the two cities of Tehran and Tabriz.
The photo of ISS069-E-89946 taken by the astronaut was taken with a Nikon D5 digital camera on September 19, 2023, with a focal length of 400 mm. This image was provided by the International Space Station Crew Earth Observation Facility and the Johnson Space Center Earth Science and Remote Sensing Division. This image was taken by Expedition 69 crew members. Images are cropped and enhanced to improve contrast and remove lens artifacts. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the International Space Station National Laboratory to help astronauts take photos of Earth that are most valuable to scientists and the public and make these images freely available on the Internet.
Compiled from /scitechdaily