Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico, USA Mar. 9, 2024

Time is the great transformer, changing the world and all of us. For instance, this New Mexico badland—the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness—was once a lush, tropical forest. Nearly 70 million years ago, instead of twisted terrains and towering spires, this place was home to an array of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs, including armoured ankylosaurs, duck-billed hadrosaurs and mighty Tyrannosaurs. Today, the area is filled with wonders of a different kind, rock formations that look more like sculptures than natural phenomena. Bisti/De-Na-Zin is named after Navajo words: Bisti means "among the adobe formations," and De-Na-Zin comes from nearby rock carvings of a "standing crane." Visitors to the Four Corners region shouldn"t miss out on this otherworldly landscape of shale and sandstone.

© Ian Shive/Tandem Stills + Motion

palette

Today in History

A rainbow that’s worth the rainfall
Mar. 9, 2025Daylight saving time begins
Mar. 9, 2026Grey seal sleeping on the beach, Orkney Islands, Scotland

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Apr. 7, 2026International Beaver Day
This clever bird passes with flying colours
Mar. 1, 2024Wheaton River, Yukon
A time-worn medieval marvel
Jan. 7, 2025Moeraki Boulders, South Island, New Zealand
Pastel perfection
Aug. 14, 2025Cable car station on Piz Nair mountain, Graubünden, Switzerland
Apr. 18, 2025International Day for Monuments and Sites
From victory to festivity
Oct. 2, 2025Oxbow Bend on the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States
Jan. 23, 2025Sundance Film Festival
Jan. 7, 2024Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve, Australia
Aug. 1, 2024Floating fruit market, Kaptai Lake, Rangamati, Bangladesh
Apr. 26, 2024Val di Funes, Italy
Sep. 25, 2024Sequoia National Park, California, USA
Beautiful from all angles
Jan. 9, 2025Sossusvlei sand dunes, Namib desert, Namibia
Jan. 21, 2024Eurasian red squirrel, Netherlands
Locals know this place simply as ‘the Met’
Mar. 28, 2026African buffalo, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Mar. 22, 2026World Water Day
Have a merry little Christmas
Feb. 19, 2025European river otter
May 3, 2024The Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA
Aug. 26, 2025Trullo buildings in Alberobello, Apulia, Italy
An archaelogical treasure
Sep. 18, 2023Milky Way over Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park
Immersing in nature
Sep. 28, 2025Town of Pienza in Tuscany, Italy
Jun. 13, 2024Registan Square, Samarkand, Uzbekistan