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Hills behind buildings, farmland and a town.

Hilly landscape dotted with buildings, farmland and a town.

Distant view of hills and plains dotted with buildings.

Countryside marked by farms, trees, and buildings.

Bare hills of an Italian countryside.

View of the Italian countryside through a brick tunnel.

Farmland in a hilly Italian countryside.

View of an Italian countryside that highlights the farmland. In the foreground are buildings and a road; in the background is a hill covered with trees.

An ocean cave on the coast of Capri Island.

Embayment of lava delta shows result of collapse. The initial collapse was large enough to send waves washing over much of the east half of the delta, because visibility was completely lost for almost 20 minutes, due to a steam white-out. Note rocky debris hurled by the waves onto the delta surface in foreground.

Kīlauea Volcano's east Lae‘apuki lava delta pictured hours before it collapsed into the sea over a 90-minute period. White plume marks location of lava entering sea fed by a lava tube within delta.

Loowit Falls flows north out of Mount St. Helens crater. White building in upper right corner is the Loowit gage house, which contains an Acoustic Flow Monitor.

pāhoehoe lava spilling over sea cliff on south coast of Kīlauea Volcano starts to build a new lava delta. Only three days old, the delta grows slowly as lava spreads over fragmented debris and flows that have accumulated on the steep submarine slope.

The Silver Ledge Mine in the area of upper Mineral Creek, near Silverton, Colorado, is one of many abandoned mine sites in the watershed. 

A red-spotted purple butterfly rests on the warm hood of a parked vehicle.

A red-spotted purple butterfly rests on the warm hood of a parked vehicle.

Explosive interaction between lava and seawater blasts a tephra jet consisting of steam, hot water, black tephra, and molten fragments into the air. Such explosions are typically directed toward the sea, but many explosions also send a shower of lava more than 10 to 20 m (33 to 66 ft) inland.

Phragmites australis invading a Great Lakes coastal wetland. This tall wetland grass was introduced from Europe in the early 19th century and aggressively displaces native vegetation causing plant diversity to decline and critical habitat for fish and other wildlife to be altered.

Active lava delta at East Lae‘apuki on the south coast of Kīlauea Volcano. White gas plume (right) marks location of lava entering the sea through a lava tube whose location is shown by blueish fume (left and center). In early August 2005, the delta encompassed an area of about 12 hectares (30 acres).

An Actias or saturnid moth specimen in a display at an insectarium or insect museum.