The Milky Way illuminates the Saharan night sky with its stars and reveals the sandstone silhouettes of the Tadrart mountain range. Wind erosion has sculpted these stone forms seen in the Tassili n’Ajjer national park in Algeria.

The Universe formed 15 billion years ago following the effects of an incredibly rapid expansion, known as cosmic inflation. Stars came into being at that time and lit the surrounding darkness. When they died, they fertilized the dust they had rejected. They nourished the very first organisms of the solar system.

When eruptions occur on the Sun’s surface, certain particles escape and penetrate the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. These particles collide with gas molecules to produce Aurora Borealis, the magical lights that irradiate the Norwegian taiga.

Shooting stars, polar auroras and lightning remind us that the Earth, which formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago, is the product of the Universe.

A wall of lava fountains can be seen along the open fissure vent of the Bárðarbunga volcano in northern Iceland. The eruption started in August, 2014, and 1,4 km3 of lava were released, thus congealing the region’s landscape for a long time.

Primitive Earth continued forming while often being blasted by asteroids. The impacts of these astronomical objects increased the Earth’s temperature significantly. The external part of the mantle melted due to the disintegration of radioactive elements. The Earth then found itself covered in a magmatic ocean.

The incandescence at the base of pyroclastic flows can only be revealed at night. This flow composed of ash, boulders and high-temperature gas whooshes down the slope of the Sinabung volcano on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Glowing torrents, lava fountains and earthquakes clue us in on the formidable energy that gave birth to our small planet. Destructive and life-giving forces continue to animate the planet to this day.

The Ol Doinyo Lengaï in Tanzania is the only volcano in the world known to expel carbonatite lava. The night skies allow us to view the lava’s muted orange incandescence. These flows, rich in carbonate, appear black during the day and become white within twenty-four hours.

Studying volcanoes today gives us indications on the intensity of volcanic activity in Archean times, from –3,8 to –2,5 billion years, although current volcanoes pale in comparison with those that were active so long ago.

A torrent of fluid lava enters a deep gorge, as a result of the fissure eruption of the Eyjafjöll volcano in 2010 in Iceland. It only takes a few days for the flow to fill the crevasse that water had taken hundreds of years to carve.

Approximately 4.4 billion years ago, the Earth was still steeped in a primitive atmosphere. Its intense plate tectonics led to the creation of terrestrial crust and the emergence of the very first supercontinents: Vaalbara, Kenorland, Columbia, Rodinia, Pannotia and Pangea, the latter being the most famous one today.

A lava flow has escaped from the Eyjafjöll volcano. As it streams down the slope, it breaks the mountain’s icy crust. Gas expansion provokes explosions and leads to ash and incandescent boulders being expelled in all directions. The reaction is known as being phreatomagmatic.

“What is the Earth’s engine? Energy! Or, to be more exact, energy transfers: erosion, the erection of mountains, volcanism – these are the products of gravitation and of the convections at the heart of our planet” Patrick De Wever, geologist.

A plume of ash and swirls of vapour rise up in the icy twilight of Kamtchatka, a volcanic peninsula situated in the Russian Far East. These ashen signs are markers for the eruption of the Tolbachik volcano.

By expelling huge amounts of gas, the massive lava emission in Deccan, India, seemed to have accentuated the devastating effects of the fall of the Chicxulub meteorite in Mexico. This meteorite impact led to the fifth great extinction in the late Mesozoic era and early Cenozoic era, 66 million years ago.

These enigmatic electric-blue flames can only be seen at night; they ignite the bottom of the Kawah Ijen crater in Indonesia. It is not lava, but rather flarings of gas saturated with sulphur dioxide, which fuse at 600°C and ignite when in contact with air.

Men have known of blue flames since Antiquity, and Pliny the Younger described the phenomenon. But blue flames are still linked to the imagery of hell.

The hydrothermal site of Dallol in northern Ethiopia is a permanent art exhibition in which shapes and colours all stem from mineral wealth: one can see azure blue and opal green basins, lemon-yellow sulphur terraces, geyserite ledges, inflows of brine, and a layer of fine salt crystals.

Life appeared 3.8 billions of years ago, in an environment similar to that of Dallol, in which there was a concentration of extremes: acidity levels surpassed any known norms, the temperature of fluids reached 110°C, the salinity level was between 30 and 50%, and the environment’s aridity was extreme.

Fluorescent arabesques stemming from sulphur deposits can be seen dancing above recently cooled lava at the Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia, one of the volcanoes of the rift.

The Great Rift Valley is 40 to 60 kilometres-wide, its fissure is 6 000 kilometres long, running along the African continent. The Great Rift illustrates the movement of tectonic plates. A new ocean is therefore in the midst of opening up, separating Africa and the Arabian Peninsula at a rate of one centimetre per year.

Sandstone vessels skim over an ocean of marlstone and clay. Since the more tender layers of Luna Mesa have faded away with erosion, its tabular surfaces are now visible near Caineville in Utah.

2.5 billion years ago, the Earth evacuated incredibly large amounts of heat. This allowed it to surround itself with a lighter solid crust which floated above a mantle core. Modern Earth was about to embark on a new journey.

The “Half Dome”, a gigantic block of granite, is caught in a storm of snow and rain, crowned by the fleeting intensity of sunset. Yosemite National Park, California.

Towards the end of the Pleistocene, from –110 000 to – 10 000 years, glaciers became powerful agents of erosion as they progressed with unrelenting slowness. Rocks were shaved off. Large valleys, such as that of Yosemite, were carved; these were made up of flat floors and straight sides.

The very first glimmers of sun ignite the steep cliff of Toroweap Point, at the heart of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Eight hundred metres below, the Colorado River glides in silence.

“If human beings tried hard enough, they could remake the Parthenon ten times. But they could never recreate a single canyon, the latter having been moulded by millennia of patient erosion, in which sun, wind and water combined their efforts”. Jean Dorst, biologist.

Before the Glen Canyon dam was filled, 500 000 tons of sediment and rock debris drifted in the Colorado River every day. The river’s sheer strength led to thick layers of sandstone being slashed. Shapely rock and water formations emerged as a result, such as the near-perfect Horseshoe Bend in Utah.

Water strongly contributes to the alteration of rock. It inserts itself through its mineral network, it pulls rocks away from cliffs and mountains and leads stone matter to fill out pits and valleys. Varying climates finalise the moulding of high ground.

The ebbing tide progressively uncovers the rocks that have been darkened and grooved by waves on the Anse Source d’Argent beach at La Digue Island.

The granite islands of the Seychelles archipelago are crumb-like parts of the oceanic crust which scattered during Pangea’s fragmentation when the Indian and African tectonic plates deviated.

The Skjálfandafljót River races through the central Icelandic plateaus before plunging in Aldeyjarfoss over a rocky escarpment in a thunderous roar. The flow reveals basalt with columnar jointing.

Water, the source of life, consists in the largest annual displacement of a chemical substance on the Earth’s surface. It is also an erosive force under all types of climate.

The Valle de la Luna appears on the edge of the huge salar de Atacama in Chile. The Licancabur volcano hovers over these vast badlands which are composed of salt, sand, and gypsum. They were overturned and straightened by the upheaval of the Andes.

The progressive uplift of the South American continental plate led to the highest tectonic elevation known. A height difference of 14 kilometres exists between the summits of the Andean mountain range and their roots, which drop 7 000 metres deep into the oceanic trench.

Clays were hollowed out by rain, leading the finer elements to fall. Zones that were protected by a “hat” – a block carved out of a solid layer of sandstone – were progressively cleared. This is how these “fairy chimneys” formed at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

“Land elevations are the Earth’s bouts of fever” says Patrick De Wever, geologist. For most of its history, the Earth was a monotonous flat surface on which rivers and waterways erred.

The meandering Þjórsá River contains fire sparks that are reddened by iron oxide. It is also interlaced with bright green ribbons that were stripped of decomposed organic compounds lost to erosion. The river snakes through the ashen plains of southern Iceland.

During the long periods of time in which the Earth was a vast flat surface, rivers and waterways rumbled lazily while making deposits of alluvium suffused with iron pigments.

After having been buffeted by the ocean and weathered and polished by waves, the iceberg becomes a smaller piece of ice and ends on the southern Icelandic coast’s dark shoreline, lit by the brightness of the winter sun.

Throughout the Earth’s history, continental climates were the result of land being contained in supercontinents. Cold winters fostered the creation of ice caps. When lands started dislocating, oceanic climates emerged. The latter contributed to the melting of ice and to the rise of sea levels.

Narrow leaves are covered in soft silvery-grey fibres that are meant to retain traces of humidity. The name “silversword” was given to this rare plant which only grows on the slopes of the Haleakalā volcano, on the island of Maui in the Hawaiian archipelago.

The Hawaiian Islands have been isolated from continents for over 70 million years. The area is therefore known for its high number of endemic plants. These species evolved without external influences, allowing them to adapt perfectly to their environment.

A desert helianthus appears in the Artists Palette badlands. Its flowering foreshadows exceptional blooming in Death Valley National Park, California. This phenomenon is more intense certain years, such as during the El Niño climatic anomaly.

The marvellous ways in which life forms adapt: as skilled manipulators, flowers use seduction to ensure their reproduction. Armed with beautiful colours, interesting shapes and subtle perfumes, they entice the animals that will transport their pollen – butterflies, bees and other creatures.

Triodia, also known as spinifex, is a type of grass that is endemic to Australia and that grows abundantly there. Its leaves are sharp, hard and filled with sticky resin. They grow in thick and dense tufts.

Vegetation has ingenuously adapted throughout time and according to its evolution. Leaves found protection by occasionally transforming into thorns to avoid arousing a herbivore’s appetite.

Macarenia clavigera is an aquatic plant tied to a Columbian mountain range. It is anchored to the bottom of the Caño Cristales river and changes hues: from green, it turns to yellow, from yellow to light pink, all the way to bright fuchsia. While it is solidly hooked to the black rocks of the “Five-colour River”, it also mingles with the water’s amber undulations, the foliage’s green reflections and the blue sky.

The plant’s pigmentation protects it from sun radiations, from the bottom to the very end of its leaves, just like a sun-blocking screen.

A few drops fall on the polished and hairy leaves of aquatic ferns, also known as eared watermoss (Salvinia auriculata), during morning rainfall in the Pantanal wetlands of Brazil.

Microalgae – and, later, algae – were the starting points of a process that has led to the opulence of plants covering many ecosystems around the globe today. Red in darker waters and green in shallow pools, algae eventually anchored themselves to rocks and gave birth to a wide range of plants. This took place over 1.2 billion years ago.

Quiver trees, or kokerbooms, are part of the aloe family. In Namibia, the San hunter-gatherers removed the fibrous pulp of these thick-leaved plants and used the branches as quivers.

The main focus of a plant’s life has always been to search for light. Before the advent of rigid trunks, plants created vessels to transport water and to pursue their ascent. Hairs –which later became roots – first held the plant to its substrate.

In the tropical forest of the Boca da Onça National Park in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, highly mineralized waterfalls break the sweltering heat. Terraced mounds of calcareous tufa are formed.

Primary Forest were composed of ferns, giant horsetail and lycopodium plants that resembled palm trees. They reached their peak in the carboniferous era, from – 359 to
–299 million years. The remains of these plants are now enclosed in the thick veins of coal.

The sun appears over the Atherton Tableland and penetrates the humid forest of Queensland, Australia. A sudden outburst of diffused light can be seen, before the fog disperses in the morning heat.

The world's oldest forest originated between – 125 and – 200 million years. It has since been fragmented by agriculture and the wood industry. Biologists worry that the forest will disappear before we can learn to know it. And with it, hundreds of animal species.

Hoh Rain Forest is at the heart of the Olympic National Park in the state of Washington, in the north west of the United States. It is one of the last temperate rain forests in the mid-latitudes.

Botanists have been surprised by the staggering speed with which flowering plants have occupied the Earth as a whole. 90% of current vegetable species are included in this group, with an estimated count of 350 000 varieties, not including the ones that are discovered by scientists each year.

Tropical Forests are unaware of autumn. A single morning ray manages to pierce through the thick fog. It colours a part of the Daintree tropical forest, as the Mossman river flows through a maze of granite blocks.

Rainforests are the richest plant formations in terms of biodiversity, both for fauna and for tree species – several hundreds of tree species are represented on one hectare of land in the rainforest against ten in temperate environments.

Hardy Reef, seen from above. The Great Barrier Reef is over 2 600 kilometres long and lies off the shores of Queensland in Australia all the way to the islands of New Guinea in the north. It is the largest structure made by living organisms.

The very first animal creatures appeared in the oceans 800 million years ago in the form of sponges. These were actually considered to be aquatic plants for a long time. Their descendants are sea fans and corals.

While the newly born leatherback turtle has barely broken out of its egg and left the sand nest, it is already drawn to the glistening waves. It reaches the water and disappears into the unknown. Will it return to its birthplace one day and tread the beaches of Hattes in French Guiana again?

Tetrapods were the first vertebrates with two pairs of legs who came out of the water 365 million years ago. Their single obsession consisted in staying hydrated. They invented the amnion, a membrane in which the embryo could develop in an aqueous environment, thus avoiding dehydration and collisions.

A rhinoceros beetle escapes a brush fire on the outskirts of the Guianese forest and lands on a cecropia leaf.

Arthropods, insects, spiders, centipedes, scorpions and crustaceans were privileged enough to rise out of water before vertebrates 450 million years ago. They were aided by plants, which provided them with enough food and energy.

A small darkling beetle (Onymacris unguicularis) climbs up a dune in Namibia. It points its elytra toward the sea mist. A few precious drops of dew reach the beetle’s mouth, thus satiating the creature for the day.

Arthropods are protected by an exoskeleton, whether they live in the poles or in the tropics. As a result, they have invested the highest mountains, the most arid deserts and the deepest abysses.

This macaw is dressed in shades of azure, emerald and vermillion. It watches over its nest from the edge of the Buraco das Araras sinkhole in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul in Brazil. Approximately 30 pairs of these magnificent birds have invested the area.

It took a single man's unrelenting willpower to clear what had become a huge illegal landfill and to plant the macaws' favourite trees. This encouraged the birds to nest peacefully in the cliffs' cavities.

A black vulture glides through the sprays of one of the many waterfalls of Sierra do Bodoquena in the Bonca da Onça National Park, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

The progressive evolution of wings allowed birds to colonise the heavens, as they glided sumptuously in the sky. They also used their aerodynamic instruments to swoop in on prey from above.

In the summer, grizzlies go back to the rivers and lakes of Katmaï National Park in Alaska. There, salmons swim in close rows and return to their spawning grounds after having left the ocean. The plantigrades settle in the swirling currents, they are focused... fishing has begun.

Sixty five million years ago, a meteorite measuring ten kilometres in diameter landed in north-western Mexico and provoked the fifth great extinction: 75 % of species disappeared. Mammals took advantage of this environmental vacuum and took over the Earth in less than 10 million years.

In the 1800s, an estimated 80 million bison roamed the United States. This was before the American army planned their eradication in order to expedite the elimination of Native Americans.

In 1875, only 600 bison were left. There are now 4 000 individuals in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

In Round Island, off the shores of Alaska, walruses spread out in the sun all day after having fished in the sea. The heat helps to restore the blood circulation in their thick skins.

The species whose characteristics allow them to survive in their environment are prone to reproduce more easily, unlike other species who disappear. Over the course of generations, this mechanism explains how animals adapt to their environment. This is how natural selection works, and it is at the heart of Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Two male elephants are white with mud. They dry themselves by pressing their foreheads together. Their silent dialogue lasts hours before they separate to drink. Etosha National Park, Namibia.

There were 20 million of them before Africa was colonised, 1 million in the 1970s, 352 000 today… According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the African elephant extinction is imminent.