10 of the world's most amazing rock formations

There’s something strangely soothing about a tourist attraction that predates humanity, and is likely to outlive it as well. Some of the world’s most arresting landscapes were hewn out of solid rock by the elements over many, many millennia, and it’s a mere quirk of coincidence that we now find them so compelling.

Here’s a greatest hits of the world’s rock formations – from mysterious monoliths in rural Russia to Australia’s largest wave…

1. Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona
‘Fluid’ is a strange adjective to describe rocks – perhaps the most inanimate of the world’s inanimate objects – but for the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument it’s the only word that suits. Straddling the Utah-Arizona border, the area is famed for cyclic layers of reddish rock, undulating over the smooth surfaces like waves of shimmering light. The site’s sandstones is so delicate that visitor permits are limited, and selected by online lottery.