Mono Lake in Arizona, NOT!

Note to National Geographic: you can't see the Sierra Nevadas from Arizona.

National Geographic posted a new gallery of exquisite photos in their online science gallery, this time showcasing examples of weathering and erosion, with two photos identified as from Arizona.

One is by Larry Fellows, former State Geologist of Arizona, so it got my attention. The caption says, "With the snow-draped Sierra Nevada as a backdrop, unique erosion formations called sand tufa stand like giant cauliflower stalks in a dry Arizona lake bed."

Now, to my knowledge, there is no place in Arizona where you can see the Sierra Nevadas, especially as close and clear as they are in this photo. So, I emailed Larry who replied that he didn't know that NG was using the photo but they probably got it from the AGI Earth Science World Image Bank. He also said it definitely was not a picture taken in Arizona, but rather shot south of Mono Lake. Oops.

[right, view of Sierras from south of Mono Lake, which is not in Arizona. Copyright Larry Fellows. Earth Science World Image Bank]