Two apparently antithetical landscapes but strangely similar visually and dynamically. The first, at top, is at the edge of a hydrothermal area in Yellowstone, where water is locked up in its solid state during a spell of deep cold.  Frozen, the ground is rock hard covered in crystals and "frost flowers." The second is in the Namib following the rainy season where subsequent hot dry days have sucked all the moisture out of the ground leaving the sands mineral bonded as a richly-textured crusted solid. Photos by Steven Fuller
Two apparently antithetical landscapes but strangely similar visually and dynamically. The first, at top, is at the edge of a hydrothermal area in Yellowstone, where water is locked up in its solid state during a spell of deep cold. Frozen, the ground is rock hard covered in crystals and "frost flowers." The second is in the Namib following the rainy season where subsequent hot dry days have sucked all the moisture out of the ground leaving the sands mineral bonded as a richly-textured crusted solid. Photos by Steven Fuller