Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Pandora's Mountains

Pandora's Mountains are something extraordinary.  With the help of Google and YouTube, I have found out that the movie Pandora, in particular any scene with the mountains was shoot in Zhangjiajie National Park, China.
http://www.nationalparkofchina.com/wulingyuan.html#_Sect2

In this image of the aerial view of Zhangjiajie the Triangular Facets which form along the base of the mountains. In this view you can also get the basic understanding of a panchromatic aerial shot. 

In this photo you can really see the Triangular Facets.
http://flighttochina.net/category/sight/

Another interesting aspect of the Pandora is their up close mountain views.

http://yourmoviewallpaper.blogspot.com/2010/10/pandora-mountainsavatar-movie.html

In this view of the "Floating Mountains" you can see how their are plant life growing all throughout the rocks.  This is because there are fractures in the rocks (pressure roots), that cause the expansion of the fracture to grow and eventually break off. 

http://perceptivetravel.com/blog/wp-content/avatar-mountains.jpg

The Avatar, Pandora mountains can show "joints" or weakness in the rock that causes spaces where chemical and physical weathering can occur. Up close there can be mosses found on these rocks due to living organisms on the rocks surface that is caused by chelation and biological organic acids.