When you think of Arizona, most people think of saguaro cactus and sand dunes. Yet only about half of the state is desert. The other half is forest, woodlands, and grasslands (see the map to the right). In fact, Arizona has the largest contiguous stand of Ponderosa pine trees in the world. The state has 26 peaks that are taller than 10,000 feet in elevation. Mount Lemmon, in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, is the southernmost ski resort in the United States, located only 70 miles north of Mexico. The difference between the low, dry deserts and the high, cold peaks can yield both the highest temperature in the nation and the lowest temperature in the nation—on the same day!

During the Cretaceous, when dinosaurs roamed Arizona. the southern portion of the state was a high mountain range, possibly higher than the Rocky Mountains are today. Beginning about 30 million years ago, when the great seafloor rift named the East Pacific Rise dove under the west coast of what is now California, this high mountain range was ripped apart, thinning the Earth’s crust, and dividing the landscape into low-lying basins and small mountain ranges that today we call the Basin and Range province. Shielded from rains by the high mountains in California, these low areas became the desert we see today.

These geologic events have led to the great diversity in landscapes and ecosystems that we see around us. As a geologist, I’ve worked in many of these areas. While my focus has been understanding the rocks and the geologic processes that formed them, my goal is also to capture images of some of these diverse landscapes, for both beauty and education. I’ve arranged the images into what feel like categories that are instantly recognizable and easily searchable: Desert Landscapes, Forests, Mountains, Autumn Colors, Sky, Water, Winter, and Aerial images. Many of these images can fit into more than one category. I will be adding additional images to these pages in the future. I hope you enjoy them:)

All of these images are for sale, in a variety of media. I prefer Acrylic and Metal prints, because they tend to faithfully preserve the vivid colors, and are very durable. My online store is through Fine Art America, where you can order my prints on other types of media as well. Once you select a media and size, you can preview how that image will appear on three different example walls in your home or business. There, you can also view a more detailed description of the image.