Google Earth pearls #2

Not even everyone know they exist, the so called '-stan' countries. This sattelite picture comes from a mountain ridge on the border between Kazachstan and Kyrgyzstan. The central-Asian mountains are one of the most active regions when talking about geomorphology and it is easy to see why. Glaciers are scratching and forming the young valleys, water is cutting gullies into the hillsides, oxidation weathering processes are creating the nice red colors and an enormous amount of sediment is building a so called flood plain at the foot of the hill. Despite it geographical complexity, it reminded me of an old oil painting, but the nice part is that this scenery does exist!