USA, Feb 6: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shared an enchanting, colorful image of the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The image shows the amalgamation of rocks of various textures and fascinating designs, thus giving it a ‘tie-dye’ appearance. To highlight the different layers of rocks and sediment, the photo was taken in infrared light – which is invisible to the naked eye. It was an aerial shot taken by a satellite orbiting approx. 440 miles (708 km) above the earth’s surface. The ASTER instrument on the Terra satellite acquired this image on 5th November 2007. Terra was launched in 1999 and was the first satellite to form the Earth Observing System (EOS). Terra derives its name from the Latin word for ‘Earth’. The stunning Anti-Atlas Mountains were formed around 80 million years ago as an outcome of the collision of African and Eurasian tectonic plates. In this massive collision, the Tethys Ocean was completely destroyed. Lots of colorful rocks like, limestone, sandstone, claystone and, gypsum layers which were lying on the ocean bed amassed into the Anti-Atlas Mountain which gave it a splash of colors.
