This image of three of the Monteregian Hills in Québec was taken by a crew member aboard the International Space Station.
Description from the image's original page:
This view captures two striking patterns, pointed out by NASA scientists who study the shuttle and station photography. The circular features are the central members of the Monteregian Hills located to the east of Montreal--Mont St. Hilaire, Rougemont, and Mont Yamaska. The rectangular pattern records the intensive agricultural land use of the fertile lowlands in southern Quebec. The Monteregian Hills are an isolated series of roughly east-west trending plutons--masses of igneous rock that crystallized below the land surface--located near Montreal. According to the scientists, magmas forming the Hills were intruded into pre-existing sedimentary rocks during the Cretaceous Era (roughly 123-125 million years ago). Over time, the sedimentary rock has eroded away, leaving the more resistant igneous rock of the plutons exposed as the Monteregian Hills in the surrounding flat St. Lawrence Plains. Rocks of these three plutons record a transition from silica-poor magmas (little to no minerals such as quartz or feldspar) to silica-rich magmas (abundant quartz and feldspar) along the line of the Hills. Snow cover on the three mountains provides additional contrast with surrounding tan to brown fallow agricultural fields. The city of Granby, Quebec is visible at left. In addition to their interesting geology, the Monteregian Hills also serve as important woodland habitat "islands" in the greater Montreal urban area.
This astronaut photograph of the area to the east of Montreal, Canada, captures two striking patterns. The circular features are the central members of a group of unusual rock formations known as the Monteregian Hills: Mont St. Hilaire, Rougemont, and Mont Yamaska. The rectangular pattern blanketing the landscape in the background reveals the intensive agriculture in the fertile lowlands in southern Quebec.
The featured astronaut photograph, ISS014-E-19807, was acquired April 18, 2007, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 180 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
The featured astronaut photograph, ISS014-E-19807, was acquired April 18, 2007, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 180 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
The featured astronaut photograph, ISS014-E-19807, was acquired April 18, 2007, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using an 180 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
45° 28′ 7″ N, 73° 3′ 12″ W
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Credit: ISS014-E-19807 by NASA. Public domain.