Trona Pinnacles

The Searles Lake basin, deep within California’s desert conservation area, is a dry lake bed featuring more than 500 rock spires known as the Trona Pinnacles.

The pinnacles are formed from a rock-like substance known as “tufa”, a calcium carbonate deposit laid down by springs that used to rise up from beneath the lake. The pinnacles are anywhere between 10,000 and 100,000 years old and reach up to 42 m above the lake bed.

You’ve probably seen the Trona Pinnacles before without realising it - this otherworldly landscape has been used in numerous sci-fi films including Star Trek V, Planet of the Apes and Lost In Space, and it’s the location for about about 30 new film projects every year!

View ground level images from Lost In Space and the Planet of the Apes remake and there’s more info on Wikipedia.

Thanks to Jeff Alu & Jason Wolfe