Aerial view of the Bungle Bungle Range, Kimberley, Australia

Look closely at these sandstone domes and you’ll see alternating stripes of orange and gray bands. Folks in the know call them BIFs, short for 'banded iron formations.' The gray bands contain moisture which sustains dark-colored cyanobacteria, while the orange stripes are oxidized iron deposits. The beehive-like formations were first deposited roughly 350 to 375 million years ago in what is now Western Australia's Kimberley region. Local Aboriginal people have known these formations for over 20,000 years, but they weren't widely known to others until as recently as 1982. The Bungle Bungles rise from the grasslands of the remote Purnululu National Park.