!!!Colourful mountains Mars, Altai

Photos by Stanislav Sedov,
member of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

17 April 2019

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Colorful Mountains of Kyzyl-Chin (Mars). Altai, Russia

Altai is a part of Russia that is famous for its nature. The territory
of over 90,000 sq kilometres has very diverse landscapes: highlands and
steppes, lakes and caves, glaciers and mounds. Closer to the Mongolian
border the landscapes are beginning to change so that one of the valleys
got the unofficial name "Mars".

[{Image src='01_Colorful Mountains Mars 1.jpg' caption='Colorful Mountains Mars 1\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='560'}]

Some absolutely unearthly Martian landscapes had found themselves close
to the Chuya Highway (Chuysky Trakt), just between the Chuya and Kuray
steppes. The Kyzyl-Chin river with its length of around 20 kilometres
flows here, and its valley has the flat colourful mountains laying in
layers.

[{Image src='02_Colorful Mountains Mars 2.jpg' caption='Colorful Mountains Mars 2\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='370'}]

The name "Kyzyl-Chin" is Turkish for the "red gorge". The reddish-brown
and green-gold layers formed 300 million years ago through the process
of iron oxidation, while the great colourful pallet is explained by the
presence of manganese, chromium and other additions. The colourful
mountains of Kyzyl-Chin is a valuable trove for a geologist: rutile,
quartz, pyrite, marcasite, siderite, chalcedony and other minerals and
polymetallic ores can be found here. And all of them have their unique
shades of colour.

[{Image src='03_Colorful Mountains Mars 1.jpg' caption='Colorful Mountains Mars 1\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='560'}]

The colourful stripes are arranged almost horizontally. Each layer had
formed in its own period of time as a reaction to current climate
conditions. The impact of wind and water can be clearly seen on these
colourful mountains: the eroded slopes represent almost vertical walls
and columns, while the meltwater made its way through them and created
different furrows, ravines and other peculiar landforms.

The valley is nominally divided into two zones located at some distance
from each other: Mars 1 and Mars 2. The first one is accessible by a
car, but to get the second one you have to walk. But AirPano panoramas
will give you the opportunity to visit this place without leaving your
home!

[{Image src='04_Colorful Mountains Mars 4.jpg' caption='Colorful Mountains Mars 1\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='371'}]

AirPano team would like to express gratitude to the Saylyugemsky
National Park and personally Valentina Semenchenko for help with
organisation of shooting the Altai Mountains.

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[8 panoramas of Colourful mountains Mars, Altai|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Colourful_mountains_Mars]

[{SET customtitle='Colourful mountains Mars, Altai (AP)'}]












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