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  • A small rock rests next to a large crack in the ice on Rattlesnake Lake, located in King County, Washington, near the city of North Bend.
    Rattlesnake-Lake_Ice_Crack_Rock_8555.jpg
  • This long, narrow scar on a tree trunk, known as a frost crack, was the result of rapid temperature change. Rapid cooling causes the bark to contract faster than the wood inside, ripping open the bark. When this happens, it can make a loud explosive sound, similar to a rifle shot.
    FrostCrack_9842.jpg
  • The Liberty Bell, an icon of American independence, hangs in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Liberty Bell is perhaps best known for its distinctive crack. Cast in London in 1752, the bell's rim cracked the first time it was rung. It was recast two times in America; the crack it is known for today developed sometime between 1817 and 1846. The inscription on the bell reads in part, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Independence Hall, the building where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted, is visible in the background. The Liberty Bell is three feet tall, has a circumference of 12 feet, and weights 2080 pounds.
    Liberty-Bell_3001.jpg
  • A crack runs through rhyolite lava in the Inyo National Forest near Mammoth Mountain, California. The crack is part of a feature known as the Mammoth Earthquake Fault, but it's technically an earthquake fissure, resulting from an earthquake that occurred before 1850.
    CA_Mammoth_Earthquake-Fissure_0880.jpg
  • Roots from an old tree, submerged for 100 years in Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend, Washington, reach out of the cracking mud exposed after a prolonged drought.
    Rattlesnake-Lake_Exposed-Tree-Roots_...jpg
  • Several large cracks, some caused by rocks tumbling from the steep, rocky walls that surround the lake, are visible in the ice on Lake Crowley, located near Mammoth Lakes in Mono County, California.
    CA_Lake-Crowley_Cracks-In-Ice_6761.jpg
  • Several western brackenferns (Pteridium aquilinum) grow from a crack in a steep rock face in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Lake Dorothy, Washington.
    WA-Alpine-Lakes_Ferns_Rock-Face_8054.jpg
  • A side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) rests in a crack in a sandstone cliff in the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument near Tuweep, Arizona.
    Lizard_SideBlotched_4594.jpg
  • Mudcracks in a variety of shapes and sizes are visible in the sediment at the base of Harris Wash in Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_4278.jpg
  • Mudcracks in a variety of shapes and sizes are visible in the sediment at the base of Harris Wash in Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_4282.jpg
  • Mudcracks in a variety of shapes and sizes are visible in the sediment at the base of Harris Wash in Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_4264.jpg
  • Mudcracks in a variety of shapes and sizes are visible in the sediment at the base of Harris Wash in Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_4276.jpg
  • Mudcracks in a variety of shapes and sizes are visible in the sediment at the base of Harris Wash in Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_4280.jpg
  • The top layer of sediment peels away at the base of Harris Wash near Escalante, Utah. Mudcracks, also known as desiccation cracks, result when the top layer of sediment dries before lower layers. When the water in the top layer evaporates, the thin layer separates from the layers below. The loss of moisture also causes the layer to shrink somewhat, causing a strain that results in the cracks.
    UT_Mudcracks_HarrisWash_Peeling_4267.jpg
  • Several trees grow from cracks on the steep granite face of Rocky Point in Yosemite National Park, California.
    Yosemite_Trees_Rocky-Point_8880.jpg
  • Pink mountain heather (Phyllodoce empetriformis) grows in the cracks on the rocky hillside opposite of Mount Shuksan in the North Cascades of Washington state.
    Mount-Shuksan_Artist-Point_Pink-Moun...jpg
  • Several erosion patterns are visible on the steep exposed hillside of Rucker Hill in Everett, Washington, near where Pigeon Creek empties into Puget Sound. At the top of the frame, a blackberry branch swings back and forth like a pendulum, carving a semicircle into the hillside.
    WA_Rucker-Hill_Erosion_7166.jpg
  • Ice covers a small pool in Sentinel Meadow in Yosemite National Park, California. Sentinel Meadow is one of the few meadows located in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada.
    Yosemite_Sentinel-Meadow_Ice-Pattern...jpg
  • Giant crevasses at the head of the Fox Glacier are visible from this aerial view taken in Westland National Park, New Zealand.
    NZ_FoxGlacier_Crevasse_5498.jpg
  • The midday sun shines through a narrow opening at the top of a slot canyon in the Coyote Gulch area of the Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah.
    CoyoteGulchSunburst.jpg
  • Lake Superior, the largest of the five North American Great Lakes, is covered in late winter ice in this twilight view from Whitefish Point on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
    LakeSuperior_Frozen_Whitefish-Point_...jpg
  • A crack is visible in a large, blue iceberg in glacial lagoon of Jökulsárlón in southern Iceland. The glacial lake is full of icebergs that have fallen from the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier.
    Iceland_Jokulsarlon_Large-Crack-Iceb...jpg
  • Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) forage on the mudflats of Leque Island near Standwood, Washington. Killdeer, which are large plover, feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates.
    Killdeer_Mudflats_EideRoad_4708.jpg
  • Irregular columnar jointing, called entablature, is visible on an exposed hillside near Artist Point in the North Cascades of Washington state. These types of rock columns are formed when volcanic rocks cool, contract and crack.
    North-Cascades_Columnar-Jointing_Art...jpg
  • A large crack is visible in a log exposed at low tide on the beach of Marina Beach Park in Edmonds, Washington.
    Driftwood_Split_Edmonds_0346.jpg
  • Irregular columnar jointing, called entablature, is visible on an exposed hillside near Artist Point in the North Cascades of Washington state. These types of rock columns are formed when volcanic rocks cool, contract and crack.
    North-Cascades_Columnar-Jointing_Art...jpg
  • The Boulder River squeezes through a narrow crack in the rock near Darrington in Washington's Central Cascades. The water's milky appearance is due to an extended exposure. A large cedar tree that fell in a storm is trapped by one of the large rocks in the river.
    BoulderRiver_NarrowPassage_Tree_9123.jpg
  • With just a narrow crack in the ceiling of Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona, little sunlight reaches the floor by mid-afternoon. Violent flash floods sculpt the sandstone, leaving undulating, layered walls that appear violet or purple in the very faint indirect afternoon light. The Navajo people call Antelope Canyon Tsé bighánílíní dóó Hazdistazí, which means "the place where water runs through rocks." The light in the canyon was so dim at the time that this image was captured that it required a more than one-minute exposure to reveal the detail of the canyon walls.
    Antelope-Canyon_Texture_S2571-05.jpg
  • This unusual "triple twist tree" growing out of a crack in a lava field at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho helped scientists determine the age of the flow here. The tree has 1,350 rings, so scientists figure the flow here is about 2,000 years old. This flow is the youngest in Craters of the Moon National Monument.
    CratersOfTheMoon_Triple-Twist-Tree_2...jpg
  • Dozens of iron concretions are trapped in a small crack in the Grand staircase Escalante in southern Utah. These iron concretions formed naturally between 6 and 25 million years ago as water dissolved the iron pigment in the red sandstone in the area. The pigment flowed down through the now bleached sandstone and then solidified when it came in contact with oxygenated water, forming a new iron mineral called hematite between the grains of sandstone. Over time, the sandstone eroded away, leaving the more durable iron concretions behind. These largely spherical balls are composed of a hard outer layer of hematite covering a ball of pink sandstone. By volume, the sandstone makes up the majority of these iron concretions, though those found elsewhere in the Colorado Plateau may contain much more hematite. Scientists aren't sure why they form in spheres or if they need something in particular as a nucleus to start growing.
    IronConcretions_HarrisWashUtah_4194.jpg
  • A giant crevasse is visible in this aerial view of the Fox Glacier near Mount Tasman in New Zealand. Crevasses form as the glacier picks up speed and bends to move down the mountain. The higher speed and bending causes it to crack open.
    NZ_FoxGlacier_Crevasse_5576.jpg
  • The golden light of sunset shines through a narrow crack in an otherwise dreary fall sky to light up the peaks of several large formations in the Badlands of South Dakota.
    SD_Badlands_Sunset_Window-Trail_1423.jpg
  • The mountain known as Sugar Loaf is reflected in a crack in the ice on Lake Pearson near Arthur's Pass, New Zealand.
    NZ_ArthursPass_LakePearson_4845.jpg
  • A side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) rests in a crack in a sandstone cliff in Tuweep, Arizona.
    Lizard_SideBlotched_4589.jpg
  • Sea life growing on a cracked rock exposed at low tide glows when exposed to ultraviolet light at the edge of Puget Sound in Des Moines, Washington. The glow is the result of phosphors that convert ultraviolet radiation, which is invisible to human eyes, into wavelengths that are visible. This scene was captured under black light.
    BlackLight_Low-Tide_Cracked-Rock_Des...jpg
  • Pegmatite, a light-colored granite, forms bright stripes on the otherwise dark walls of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. These stripes were found on the Painted Wall, an especially dramatic part of the national park and the highest cliff in all of Colorado. Pegmatite is the result of especially water-rich magma, which is the last to cool and harden. Because it remains fluid longer, it is able to squeeze into cracks in rocks, resulting in the light-colored lines here.
    CO_PaintedWall_GunnisonNP_1965.jpg
  • Pegmatite, a light-colored granite, forms bright stripes on the otherwise dark walls of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado. These stripes were found on the Painted Wall, an especially dramatic part of the national park and the highest cliff in all of Colorado. Pegmatite is the result of especially water-rich magma, which is the last to cool and harden. Because it remains fluid longer, it is able to squeeze into cracks in rocks, resulting in the light-colored lines here.
    CO_PaintedWall_GunnisonNP_1966.jpg
  • A very large and bright rainbow seems to land on the summit of Badito Cone, a 8942 foot (2726 meter) peak in Huerfano County, Colorado. Badito Cone is one of several peaks that were formed by jets of magma that erupted from holes or cracks in the rock of that area about 25 million years ago.
    CO_Rainbow_BaditoCone_2282.jpg
  • A boiling mudpot erupts at Sulphur Works in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. Water from melting snow seeps into the ground above this mudpot, soaks through the soil and works down through cracks and fissures in the rock. Eventually, it touches hot rock and gasses in what used to be the main vent of Brokeoff Volcano, becomes superheated and returns to the surface as hot water or steam.
    Lassen_SulphurWorks_BoilingMudpot_58...jpg
  • A long exposure shows the action of a boiling mudpot at Sulphur Works in Lassen Volcanic National Park, California. Water from melting snow seeps into the ground above this mudpot, soaks through the soil and works down through cracks and fissures in the rock. Eventually, it touches hot rock and gasses in what used to be the main vent of Brokeoff Volcano, becomes superheated and returns to the surface as hot water or steam.
    Lassen_SulphurWorks_BoilingMudpot_37...jpg
  • The sunrise colors the sky above the Kilauea Caldera and Mauna Loa in this view from Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii. Mauna Loa, one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, is also the largest, standing about 56,000 feet from its summit to its base on the ocean floor. (It stands 13,680 above sea level.) Mauna Loa means "long mountain." The steaming cliffs are visible at the caldera rim. Rain falls into cracks and is then turned into steam by the hot rocks below the surface.
    Volcanoes_Kilauea-Caldera_8636.jpg
  • Burney Falls in northern California emerges from the rocks. The waterfall is fed by underground springs at and above the falls; cracks in the rock allow the water to emerge at various points of the falls. Since it is fed by springs, Burney Falls flows at an almost constant rate of 100 million US gallons per day (4 m³/s), even during the dry summer months.
    CA_BurneyFalls_Close_3582.jpg
  • Dozens of iron concretions are trapped in cracks in the Grand staircase Escalante in southern Utah. These iron concretions formed naturally between 6 and 25 million years ago as water dissolved the iron pigment in the red sandstone in the area. The pigment flowed down through the now bleached sandstone and then solidified when it came in contact with oxygenated water, forming a new iron mineral called hematite between the grains of sandstone. Over time, the sandstone eroded away, leaving the more durable iron concretions behind. These largely spherical balls are composed of a hard outer layer of hematite covering a ball of pink sandstone. By volume, the sandstone makes up the majority of these iron concretions, though those found elsewhere in the Colorado Plateau may contain much more hematite. Scientists aren't sure why they form in spheres or if they need something in particular as a nucleus to start growing.
    IronConcretions_HarrisWashUtah_4202.jpg
  • A close-up of the Painted Hills in John Day National Monument, Oregon reveals their popcorn-like texture. This texture is the result of erosion. The cracks result from the drying of the soil after heavy rain; the deeper channels are caused by the run-off of heavy rain.
    OR_PaintedHills_Texture_3125.jpg
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