Seven Coloured Earths in Mauritius

By Moongateclimber [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons

The Seven Coloured Earths are a geological formation and tourist attraction found in the Chamarel plain of the Rivière Noire District in south-western Mauritius. It is a relatively small area of sand dunes comprising sand of seven distinct colors (approximately red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow). The main feature of the place is that since these differently colored sands spontaneously settle in different layers, dunes acquire a surrealistic, striped coloring. Another interesting feature of Chamarel’s Coloured Earths is that the dunes seemingly never erode, in spite of Mauritius’ torrential tropical rains. Since the earth was first exposed, rains have carved beautiful patterns into the hillside, creating an effect of earthen meringue.

By Winkelbohrer [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons