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Where is it?The Green River , Utah . [ 38.60374645 , -110.01789258 ] .
What ’s in the photo?A segment of the river that wreathe through a bass , shadowy canyon .
This section of the Green River runs through Utah’s 1,000-foot-deep “Labyrinth Canyon,” which was formed by the winding waterway millions over the last 6 million years.
Who take the photo?An unidentified astronaut on plank the International Space Station .
When was it taken?April 22 , 2018 .
In 2018 , an unnamed astronaut on instrument panel theInternational Space Station(ISS ) photograph this striking guesswork of a section of the Green River wind through a steep canyon in Utah . vestige from the canyon walls give the fit a dramatic 3D effect when regard from above .
The saddle separating the two opposing part of the river at Bowknot Bend is just 1,200 feet (365 m) across.
The Green River is a 730 - mile - long ( 1,175 kilometer ) tributary of the Colorado River that runs through Wyoming , Colorado and Utah . The waterway gets its name from the gamey concentrations of sediments suspended in its deep waters , which give it a greenish chromaticity .
The section of the river in the photo is located around 25 miles ( 40 km ) magnetic north of Canyonlands National Park . This part of the river runs along the bottom of a exorbitant canyon , know as Labyrinth Canyon , which crank for around 70 miles ( 110 km ) . The canon wall are around 1,000 feet ( 300 meters ) cryptical , on mediocre , fit in toNASA ’s Earth Observatory .
A standout feature in this mental image is Bowknot Bend ( top left ) , a 7.5 - mile - recollective ( 12 km ) loop where the river doubles back on itself . At the item where the river runs side by side , the canon paries has partially crumbled due to eroding on each side , creating a low barrier bed as a saddleback .
At some peak in the next few hundred or thousand yr , the saddle will be completely lave away by the river , which will create an oxbow lake — an isolated , crescent - influence lake that is no longer part of the river , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory . When this happen , the newfangled lake could eventually dry out completely if water evaporates from it faster than rain fills it up .
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Labyrinth Canyon is part of the Colorado Plateau — a roughly 130,000 - square - mile ( 337,000 square km ) area of raised , mostly desert landed estate that sweep across the moulding of five states . Around 6 million years ago , the plateau started rising due to tectonic activeness because of swelling inEarth ’s pallium . So far , it has rise by several thousand feet , according to theNational Park Service .
During this period of continental upthrust , the Green River has cut through the surrounding rock , carving out the canyon it now sits in . A exchangeable operation caused the Colorado River to carve out the Grand Canyon , which is located around 205 miles ( 330 klick ) southwest of Labyrinth Canyon on the other side of the Colorado Plateau .
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The cutting mental process also created many caves and alcoves that are embed in the base of Labyrinth Canyon ’s unconscionable walls , which can be explore by holidaymaker who kayak along the river , fit in to NASA ’s Earth Observatory . However , these are not the area ’s only hide secrets .
The canon is also home to several abandoned uranium mines that were built into its wall in the 1940s to extract the radioactive ore from ancient rocks exposed by the river , according to theUtah Geological Survey . One of those sites , the Aileen Mine , lurks somewhere in the shadows in this figure of speech , according to NASA ’s Earth Observatory .
