Sitting astride the Utah-Arizona border, the desert area, part of the Navajo Nation reservation, is studded with towering buttes and shard-like pinnacles.
Seemingly endless powdery white sand dunes make up the White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico. The preserve protects a swathe of the largest gypsum dunefield on Earth
The canyon, carved out by the Colorado River over millions of years, plunges a mile (1.6km) deep and stretches on for some 277 river miles (446km).
When spring has sprung, Antelope Valley erupts with colour as California's state flower – the California poppy – carpets the hills here.
The psychedelic landmark sits at the edge of the Black Rock Desert and was formed when a geothermal energy company carried out a test drill here.
At first glance you might mistake these gently rolling hills and valleys for bucolic Tuscany, Italy – but they actually take up a swathe of southeastern Washington