Famous Rock Formations from Above

Meteora is a spectacular rock formation in the Thessaly region of north-central Greece.  These immense pillars represent a geological phenomenon which is essentially unique in the world.  Beginning in the early days of Christianity, a group of monasteries was built on the pillars, six of which remain standing today. Contributor and drone pilot Rickrayfilms treats us to a spectacular aerial tour of the area, which is considered second in importance only to the Holy Mountain of Athos in its importance to Eastern Orthodoxy.

The Pulpit Rock (Preikestolen) is a major tourist attraction of Rogaland in the southwestern corner of Norway. The top of the rock, which is roughly 600 meters (2000 ft) above the base, is essentially a flat table from which tourists can view the Lysefjord fjord, one of Norway's biggest attractions.  Top contributor Grim Berge used a drone to treat us to a spectacular aerial view of this magnificent rock, the shooting location ("disguised" to resemble New Zealand) for a key scene in Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018).  

The Rock of Guatape, also known as the Stone of El Penol (Piedra del Penol) is an enormous inselberg (isolated rock) near the towns of Guatape and El Penol in northern Colombia, near the city of Medellin.  One of the most recognized sites of Colombia, tourists can climb the 740 steps to reach a viewing area at the summit.  Amazingly, the rock was only scaled for the first time as recently as the 1950's.  Contributor la.drones used his drone to create this stunning aerial view of the mighty rock.  

Old Harry Rocks sit off the Isle of Purbeck (technically a peninsula) in County Dorset, England.  These giant chalk stones are one of the key sites along the Jurassic Coast, a 150 km (95 mi) stretch along England's South Coast which has been designated by UNESCO World Heritage site due to its unique geological features.  Contributor Alta Vista Epic Aerials flew a drone over Old Harry Rocks and created this stunning bird's eye view of this natural wonder, one of the most well known natural sights in the United Kingdom.

Vitaliy.karpovich is one of the top content creators in the AirVuz community, with multiple Drone Video of the Week/Month wins and nominations to his name.  In this magnificent piece, he used a drone to film a small herd of horses ascending the famous White Rock (Aq Qaya), a chalk formation in the Crimea region of Southern Russia.  The top of the rock rises to a height of about 100 meters (around 330 ft.) over the Biyuk-Karasu River.  The unique shape of the rock is a function of the unusual erosion patterns of the region.  

Get a bird's eye view of a very famous rock in this drone video by contributor and drone pilot Markos_026.  It's called Aprodite's Rock, and it's off the coast of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.  Sometimes also called "Rock of the Roman", it's off the coast of Paphos, at the western end of the island.  It's closely connected to Greek mythology, as the reputed home of the great goddess of the same name.  Technically a sea stack, the natural landmark is considered to be one of the world's most recognized rock formations.  

The Babinda Boulders form a natural pool where three streams come together in the Cairns Region on the northern coast of Queensland, the northeastern state of Australia.  Because of the fast-moving currents running over the rocks, the site is sometimes referred to as the Devil's Pool.  The boulders' origin is the subject of a local legend involving a young warrior and his lover.  Content creator and pilot Y0shi flew a drone over the Babindas to create an amazing aerial video of one of the world's most distinctive-looking rock formations.  

Contributor Play North created this fascinating drone video of one of the world's most studied geological formations.  It's called Siccar Point, a mini-peninsula off the North Sea coast of Scotland, just south of the Firth of Forth.  In the late 1700s a Scottish geologist named James Hutton used the highly unusual rock formation junction here to advance a theory of basic geological processes that has largely proven out; the rocks of Siccar Point have since been referred to as Hutton's Unconformity.  

One of the things which makes the USA's Great Plains so spectacular in places are the rock formations and small mountains which seemingly come out of nowhere and dominate the flat surrounding landscape.  One of the most famous of these formations (called inselbergs) is called Chimney Rock.  It's in western Nebraska, in the heart of the Plains.  Check out this drone video of Chimney Rock, the centerpiece of the Chimney Rock National Historic Site, compliments of contributor and drone pilot Balazs.  

Check out this amazing drone video of a famous rock in Mongolia.  Taikhar Rock is situated in the Arkhangai, one of the country's 21 provinces (also known as aimags), in the west-central part of this Northeast Asian country.  The rock overlooks the Khoid Tamir River, an important waterway in western Mongolia.  Standing about 20 meters high (around 65 ft.), the rock is covered in writing (essentially very old graffiti) in 20 different languages.  The rock is closely tied to a local legend about a giant snake.  

Germany's Bastei Bridge is one of Europe's most well-known rock formations.  It sits about 650 ft. (just under 200 m) above the Elbe River in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, a hilly region on the German-Czech border which is also sometimes referred to as the Saxon Switzerland.  In this magnificent piece by multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist New Entertainment Pictures, you'll get a spectacular aerial view of the Bastei, as well as the 260 ft. long (80 m) wooden footbridge as well as the medieval era Felsenburg Neurathen Rock Fort.  

Wadi Rum is a desert valley lying in the southern portion of the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan.  Known for its spectacular rock formations, it was chosen as the primary shooting location for the legendary 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia starring Peter O'Toole. In later years, Wadi Rum "stood in" for the desert moon of Jedha in the 2015 Star Wars film The Force Awakens and the 2019 installment, the Rise of Luke Skywalker.  Award-winning contributor Fabio Knoll created this marvelous drone's eye view of the great desert.   

Contributor hittheroadlat used a Parrot Anafi to create this beautiful drone video of a famous climbing spot in central England.  It's called Stanage Edge, and it's a rock formation known as an escarpment in the Peak District, which is covers parts of Derbyshire in the Midlands as well as South Yorkshire.  Like other formations in the Peak District, the 25 meter (just over 80 ft.) ridge is a magnet for rock climbers.   The escarpment is formed from gritstone, a sandstone made of particularly coarse grains. 

The Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea is known for its highly unusual geology, and one of the most famous examples of this is the Valley of Ghosts.  Seen here in this drone video by contributor and pilot Bogdan Sinayskiy, the valley is located on Crimea's southeastern coast, on the southern face of Demerdzhi Mountain.  The valley gets its name from the stones which can be seen (depending on the viewer) to resemble all manner of real or imaginary creatures.  Watch the video and you'll see what we're talking about!  

Cloudpixel created this remarkable drone video of a famous rock formation in Southwestern England.  It's a granite outcrop called Rouche, and it's located near a town named after it in County Cornwall.  The rock stands about 20 meters (66 ft.) tall and is of great interest to geologists due to its unusual chemical makeup.  Atop the rock is a ruined chapel, believed to once be the home of a leper.  Roche is located about midway between Cornwall's northern (Bristol Channel) and southern (English Channel) coastlines.

The Storr is one of the natural wonders of Scotland's Isle of Skye.  It's a rocky hill on Trotternish, the northeasternmost of the numerous peninsulas which make up much of the land area of this island in the Inner Hebrides.  Seen here in this drone video by new contributor Scotty Stephenson, the Storr is considered a prime example of a landform known as a landslip, a rock formation caused by movements such as landslides.  A popular climbing location, the hill reaches an altitude of about 720 meters above sea level (around 2.35k ft.).

Even if you’ve never heard of it by name, there's a good chance you've seen Haystack Rock in Clatsop County, Oregon, USA. The 235-foot (72-meter) sea stack is adjacent to Cannon Beach and is accessible by foot at low tide. Located on the northern end of Oregon's coastline, it's a popular tourist destination whose rock tide pools are home to starfish, sea anemone, sea slugs, and crabs. Drone pilot johstacy took this 4K, 60 frames per second non-filtered footage of the famous monolith rock with the Autel EVO drone. 

Cappadocia is a major city and tourist destination in Turkey's Central Anatolia region.  It is known around the world for its "Fairy Tale" rock formations.  These are giant pillars of rock formed by unusual sedimentary deposition and erosion patterns; the giant rock pillars exist across five provinces in the region, southeast of the Turkish capital Ankara.  In this video, contributor Turkey Home treats us to an incredible aerial tour of Cappadocia and its amazing geology, unlike any other in the world.  

Durdle Door is a natural limestone arch on England's Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It's situated near the town of Lulworth in County Dorset.  The arch is a manifestation of the unusual patterns of sedimentation and erosion which are the hallmark of the Jurassic Coast.  Durdle Door has been referenced and filmed in numerous cultural works over the years, ranging from 19th century British poetry to numerous films such as Wilde (1997) and Nanny McPhee (2005) as well as multiple music videos.  

Contributor Ryan Jones created this drone video of the Wyoming landmark, Devil's Tower, which is a rock formation in the northeast region near the Bear Lodge Mountains. The mountains are part of the Black Hills range of South Dakota, and the entire area is part of the Great Plains system which covers much of the west-central United States.  The unique inselberg or butte was featured prominently in the 1977 blockbuster movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, including in its climactic final scene.  

Contributor and pilot MDM Drone Studio flew a drone over the Prachov Rocks in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia in the north central part of the Czech Republic.  The result is a stunning bird's eye view of some of the most unusual rock formations in all of Europe.  Here one can find gigantic, spectacular looking rocks with equally magnificent names such as the Devil's Kitchen, Leaning Tower, the Elephant, Monk, and other names based on resemblance to the "real world".  The sandstone rocks sit on what had at one point been a large plateau.

Kjeragbolten is one of the world's most famous boulders.  It's wedged into a crevice of a mountain of the same name in Rogaland County of Western Norway.  It is suspended almost a kilometer (about 3.2k ft.) above the ground below, seemingly forever.  The rock was deposited during a glacial cycle which occurred about 50,000 years ago.  The rock is a popular attraction, as is BASE jumping from the cliff here.  Get a bird's eye view of the famous rock, compliments of contributor and drone pilot Børge.

Spain's Malaga province is situated along the country's southern Mediterranean coastline in its semi-autonomous Andalusia region, just to the east of the Cadiz province.  The inland portions of Malaga include the Sierra del Torcal Mountains, a range which is known in part for its magnificent karst rock formations.  In this video, contributor and pilot Jonatan_Joy brings us an epic drone video of El Torcal de Antequera, a large nature reserve in these spectacular Andalusian mountains.  

Parts of Bulgaria are home to some of Europe's most spectacular rock formations.  An example is the Pyramids of Stob, which are "hoodoos" or "fairy tale chimney" formations similar to those found in Turkey's Central Anatolia region.  They are located in the foothills of the Rila Mountain range, the highest sub-range of the Balkan Mountains, in the southwestern part of the country.  In this video, you'll get a great bird's eye view of these magnificent structures, a product of some of the unique geology of Bulgaria.

Plaza Blanca is a popular hiking area in northern New Mexico.  It's situated about an hour drive north of Santa Fe, in the north-central part of the state.  The rock formations here were immortalized in a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe, who had a clear view of the scene from her house in nearby Abiquiu.   Her masterpiece, entitled the White Place in Sun, is considered one of the great works of 20th century American painting.  Get a bird's eye view of the storied Plaza Blanca in this excellent drone video.

Check out these stunning aerial views of Ireland's County Sligo, compliments of Drone Photogaphy Ireland. Sligo is located in the northwestern part of the island, with a coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way.  The video opens with an epic shot of Classiebawm Castle, a 19th century manor house on the Mullaghmore Peninsula.  Then it's on to the star of the show: the flat-topped Benbulbin rock formation.  Considered one of Ireland's great natural and cultural treasures, it featured prominently in the works of the great 19th century poet W.B. Yeats.

Contributor Postandfly created this spectacular drone video of one of the world's most unusual rock formations.  The Hierve el Agua (the "water boils") is a a set of formations that look very much like streams of cascading water.  Amazingly so, especially when viewed from an aerial perspective.  The pheonenon is caused by streams of spring water that are over-saturated with the mineral calcium carbonate.  They are located in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, in the southern region of the country.  

Contributor and pilot Naim sh brings us this amazing drone video of some spectacular rock formations in the Libyan desert.  The Acacus Mountains begin at Ghat in the country's southwestern corner (near the Algerian border) and extend northward, forming part of the Sahara Desert.  The rock formations you'll see in the video host some of the world's most well known pre-historic cave art.   With paintings that are as old as 14 millennia, the area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Puligundu is a giant rock mountain in the Chittoor district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.  Known as the Tiger Rock in Colonial times, the massive structure towers over 300 meters (1,000 ft.) above the surrounding plain.  With a Hindu temple at its base, it is a major attraction in this area, which lies in the southern part of the state and is due west of Chennai in Tamil Nadu.  In this video from Ajayfashionfly, you can check out this amazing rock formation from a bird's eye perspective.  

Check out one of the world's most famous rock formations from the perspective of a first person view (FPV) racing drone in this fantastic piece by Usher FPV.  He was able to use a racing quad to aerially film Australia's fabled Ayers Rock (Uluru), a giant formation in the giant Outback of the country's Northern Territory.  Located well over 325 km from the nearest town (over 200 mi.), the rock is considered sacred to the aboriginal peoples here.  It's part of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Bolivia's Palca Canyon is located near the capital city La Paz in the west central portion of this South American country.  The canyon is known in part for its stunning, multicolored rock formations.    Top contributor and pilot JTurner flew his DJI Mavic Pro drone around this expansive canyon, providing us with a spectacular aerial tour of a little seen area of this landlocked nation.  The canyon is located just a short distance east of Lake Titicaca, another top natural site in the Andes Mountains region.

The desert areas of southern Israel are home to some of the world's most unusual rock formations.  One of these is the HaMakhtesh HaGadol ("Big Crater") in the Negev Desert, near the southern extent of the country.  It's actually not a volcanic crater but rather a makhtesh, a landform which is caused by unusual erosion patterns and which is almost unknown outside of southern Israel and the Sinai Peninsula.  In this video, Ori Feldman used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create an epic aerial video of a hike on this amazing formation.

The Vasquez Rocks are situated in a California State Park of the same name in the northern part of Los Angeles County.  Due to their unique natural beauty, the Vasquez Rocks are listed in the National Historic Register.  Their unusual appearance has long captured the attention of movie makers; numerous feature movies have been filmed here.  Probably the most famous was Mel Brooks' 1974 comedy classic Blazing Saddles.  Check them out from a bird's eye view in this drone video from Ewalt_FPV.

Contributor Postandfly gives us this drone's eye view of some of the most unusual rock formations on the planet.  It's called the Valley of the Monks, and it's in the Chihuahuan Desert, in the Mexican state of the same name.  The extreme conditions of the area turned what would have been ordinary looking sedimentary rocks into fantastically shaped formations.  The valley, which is also called the Valley of the Gods, is one of the most popular outdoor tourist attractions in northern Mexico.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist Dave Yip brings us this stunning drone video of the famous Shiprock rock formation in the Southwestern USA.  It's what's known as an inselberg (a large isolated rock), and it's situated Navajo Nation lands in northwestern New Mexico near the Four Corners border with neighboring Utah, Colorado, and Arizona.  Standing about 1.6k ft. (480 m) above the surrounding plain, it's considered to be of significant cultural importance to the native peoples of the region, who named it the "Winged Rock".   

Digital-Vision created this excellent drone video of a famous (yet deadly) rock ridge in northern England. It's called Striding Edge, and it's the most popular route to ascend Helvellyn, one of the highest mountains of the English Lake District in County Cumbria.  Notoriously dangerous, the ridge's most famous victim was the Romantic artist Charles Gough, who fell to his death here in 1805; his demise inspired poems by William Wordworth and Walter Scott, two of the most famous men of letters in 19th century Britain. 

Contributor and drone pilot Man Meets the World created this excellent drone video of a well-known rock formation in southwestern China.  It's called the Stone Forest (Shilin), and it's an area of tall limestone rocks in the Shilin Yi Autonomous County of the province of Yunnan.  The formations, caused by local patterns of wind and water erosion, resemble trees.  The area covers about 500 square km (a bit under 200 square mi.), and parts of it are incorporated into the South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage site.  

Content creator and pilot lewis blackburn media is literally over the edge in this drone footage of Australia's Blue Mountains in the eastern state of New South Wales. The massive rock face he sits upon drops straight down into the mossy landscape below with a trickling waterfall flowing beside it. His aerial shots pan across to capture the Three Sisters sandstone formations that are one of the main distinctive features of the landscape here.  This video was a Finalist for the Drone Video of the Week.

Contributor and pilot BestdayEver brightened our day with this amazing drone video of a famous rock formation on the island nation of Taiwan.  The Shen’ao Elephant Trunk Rock is situated on the coast of the Ruifang District of New Tapei City, the administrative area which covers much of northern Taiwan including the Taipei suburbs.  As you can see from the video, the name of the rock is quite appropriate - it really does resemble an elephant's trunk.  The rock and nearby fishing village lie beneath Mt. Shen'ao.

Seen from almost any point in Vancouver, the pointed rock formations known as The Lions are a familiar landmark in British Columbia, Canada and have provided inspiration in the naming of the local CFL football team, as well as Lion's Gate Entertainment.   Although the hiking can be a bit risky, they both remain popular spots for enthusiasts like Pasquale Josepe, who, fortunately for us, also packed his drone to capture his own adventure.  Watch it now to enjoy the beautiful aerial views he found!

Contributor and pilot Michael McColl created this excellent drone video of a well-known rock formation in the Southwestern USA called Mexican Hat.  It derives its name from its sombrero shape, which you'll see clearly in the video.  The rock can be climbed via two separate routes.  The rock (and the town which is named after it) are located near the San Juan River in San Juan County, which lies in the southeastern corner of Utah, not far from the Four Corners area where Utah touches three other states.

AirVuz contributor and pilot brings us this excellent drone video of the famous Red Rocks of Sedona in the Southwestern USA state of Arizona.  Located about 200 km north of Phoenix (around 120 mi.), the sandstone rocks are one of the top tourist attractions in the Grand Canyon State.  The video features footage of three of the most well-known of the formations: Bell Rock, Courthouse Butte, and Cathedral Rock.  Actually orange rather than red colored, the rocks are part of the larger Schnebly Hill Formation.   

Top contributor Ludoweet created this beautiful drone video of a well known rock formation in eastern Germany.  Falkenstein is located in the Thuringian Forest, which covers much of the state of Thuringia (one of the former German Democratic Republic states).  The rocks, which are made of an igneous rock called Porphyry, stand 96 meters (about 315 ft.) tall.  First scaled in the early 19th century, the rocks are a popular climbing spot in this part of the country, sometimes called Swiss Saxony.

There are big rocks and then there are BIG rocks.  This one is definitely the latter.  It's called Giant Rock, and there is no false advertising here.  Situated in California's Mojave Desert, it was believed to be the largest freestanding boulder in the world.  The past tense is due to the fact that a large chunk of it broke off in 2000, enough to dethrone its position as the World's Biggest Rock.  Contributor and drone pilot tglass0000 brings us this beautiful aerial view of Giant Rock, which stands seven stories tall.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist Dave Yip brings us this outstanding drone video of a well-known rock formation in the desert of Southern California.  It's called the Rainbow Basin, and its part of the Calico Peaks range in the Mojave Desert east of Los Angeles.  The basin is known for its unique rock formations, which are not only beautiful but also of interest to geologists due to the light they shed on the conditions here during the Miocene Period, which covered the time between 12 and 16 million years ago.  

The Organs of Montoro (Los Órganos de Montoro) are a group of large limestone rocks in northern Spain.  They are situated near the municipality of Villarluengo in Taruel, one of the three provinces which make up the region of Aragon.  With huge vertical cliffs, the mountains derive their name from their resemblance to musical organ pipes.  In this drone video by Markus Kanal, you'll get an aerial view of these mountains, which have been declared a national monument by Spanish government.  

Yorkshire Dales National Park is one of the biggest attractions in Northern England; the North Yorkshire park will see about 8 million visitors in a typical year.  Within the park, one of the most beautiful spots is Malham Cove, a giant rock formation which runs about a kilometer (.6 mi.) through the park.  Malham Cove has appeared in numerous movies, the most famous of which is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010).  You can see it from above in this drone video by AirVuz contributor ckeo99.

Hvítserkur, or “the Troll” as it is known by locals, is a 15-meter high basalt stack on the shore of the Vatnsnes peninsula in northwest Iceland. It’s a massive, sea-stack with a very unique shape that makes it a hot spot for tourists looking to capture that perfect photo. The rock has been said to resemble a dragon drinking water. You know drone pilots Where's Fuji had to take a dronie at this famous rock formation on a trip to the North Atlantic island. See how it turned out in this quick video!

Check out this drone video of Australia's Hanging Rock, compliments of AirVuz contributor Gizmo Drones.  It's located in the middle of the Australian state of Victoria.  Once an oddity known mostly to locals, the rock was immportalized in the 1965 novel Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey.  The book tells the story of a group of schoolgirls who visit the rock on Valentine's Day in 1900 and vanish.  Later adapted to a screenplay for a 1975 movie of the same name, it's considered one of the greatest novels to come from Australia.  

Among the wonders of southern Israel are its makhtesh, a type of geological formation which is thought to be unique to the Negev Desert here.  Makhtesh are essentially valleys surrounded by very steep rock walls, which are formed by a combination of the very unusual rock composition and erosion patterns of the area.  There are three named instances of this phenomenon in the Negev.  In this drone video by content creator and pilot AirWorks, you'll get a bird's eye view of HaMakhtesh HaKatan, the smallest of the three.

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist RobSkyHigh brings us this stunning drone video of the magnificent rock formations near Moab, Utah in the Southwestern USA.  Located in the southeastern part of the state, Moab is located atop the Colorado Plateau.  The soil deposition and erosion and water flow patterns here created a whole series of spectacular formations from the underlying sandstone.  The other-worldly landscapes here have been featured in countless movies and TV shows over the years, particularly Westerns.      

The Trona Pinnacles are one of the wonders of California's Mojave Desert.  Seen from above in this excellent piece by Angel from Nowhere, the narrow towers rise up to 43 meters (about 140 ft.) above the (dry) Searles Lake bed.  Only a couple hours' drive from Los Angeles, it's perhaps not surprising that the highly unusual rock formations caught the attention of Hollywood: the Trona Pinnacles have appeared in numerous TV shows and movies, including  Star Trek V and Planet of the Apes

One of the emerging tourist destinations in northern Turkey is a set of lava columns on Guzelcehisar beach near the city of Bartin, on the country's Black Sea coastline.  Created over 80 million years ago, the area opened to the public in mid-2018 and now draws tourists from all over the globe.  While similar rock columns exist in California and Scotland, Turkeys columns are unique in that they are both vertical and horizontal.  These natural wonders can be seen from above in this drone video by content creator jesus_tr.

New contributor SKYVIEW brings us this excellent aerial view of a well-known rock formation in southwestern Australia called Castle Rock.  It's located in the Porongurup National Park in the Great Southern region of the state of Western Australia.  Located about 360 km (around 210 mi.) southeast of the WA capital city of Perth, the top of the giant natural structure is accessible via a walkway.  This area was once home to the Porongurup Mountains, which rose here over a billion years ago and have since largely been levelled.  

Content creator and drone pilot Marian Peciar put together this marvelous aerial video of a nature preserve in the Central European country of Slovakia.  The Súľov Rocks was declared as a national nature preserve in 1973, when Slovakia was still part of Czechoslovakia.  It's located in the northwestern part of the country in the Súľov Mountains, which are part of the Inner Western Carpathian Mountain range.   Part of the Žilina Region, the preserve is a popular area for hiking, climbing, and biking.  

Contributor Bumble Bee Productions brings us this excellent aerial view of Stone Mountain, Georgia, a large and very famous rock formation on the northeastern outskirts of Greater Atlanta.  The mountain is an inselberg (isolated rock formation) whose summit stands about 250 meters (just over 800 ft.) above the surrounding land.  It's best known for its huge carving depicting Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson, three of the most important civil and military leaders of the Confederacy during the US Civil War. 

AirVuz contributor Alan Garcia brings us this excellent drone video of Mexico's Arch of Cabo San Lucas, one of the most well-recognized rock formations in the world.  It's located just off the coast of the resort town of Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.  This is the spot where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez (aka the Gulf of California).  Popular with both sea lions and tourists, the Arch has helped propel Cabo San Lucas to the top ranks of Mexican beach destinations.  

Check out this drone video of a famous rock formation in the Caucasus republic of Georgia, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot Giorgi Chiaberashvili.  It's called the Katskhi pillar, and it's a limestone structure which stands approximately 40 meters tall (around 130 meters) and overlooks the River Katskhura.  It's topped by the ruins of a church, which is believed to be the remains of a hermitage (monastery) that dates to the 9th or 10th centuries AD.  It's located in the region of Imereti, in the west-central part of the country.

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Finalist Drone Photography Ireland brings us this fantastic drone video of a giant rock formation in Ireland known as the Burren.  One of the natural wonders of the Emerald Isle, the Burren is what's known as a glaciokarst landscape, in which layers of soluble sedimentary rocks were acted upon by glaciers during the last Ice Age.  Depending on definition, the Burren covers between 100-200 square mi. (250-560 square km), primarily in County Clare and extending into neighboring County Galway in western Ireland.  

Contributor and former DVOW Finalist Laurent Paris created this stunning drone video of the fabled French seaside town Étretat.  It's located on the coast of the Seine-Maritime Department in Normandy.  The video includes great shots of Étretat's famous rock arches and the L'Aiguille "needle" rock.  At the 1:10 mark, you'll see the monument to the White Bird, a plane which took off here in 1927 attempting the first Atlantic non-stop flight and disappeared at sea, just weeks before Lindberg's successful crossing.

AirVuz contributor and pilot RebelAct brings us this excellent drone video from the mountains of Bulgaria.  It's a formation called the Momini Rocks, and it's located in the Rhodope Mountains.  The Rhodope Mountains run along a roughly east-west axis through southern Bulgaria, also covering a small portion of northeastern Greece.  Part of the Rila Mountains, the Rhodopes have peaks of up to about 2.2k meters above sea level or around 7.2k ft.  The area shown is less than a half hour's drive from the city of Plovdiv.  

One of the natural wonders of the French island of Corsica is the Needles of Bavella (Aiguilles de Bavella).  These rocky spikes sit atop their namesake hill in the southern part of the island, west of Sari-Solenzara.  The seven main spikes line up roughly north-south, with the highest (Punta Alta) having a peak elevation of about 1.85k meters above sea level or just over 6k ft.  The Needles are some of the most popular hiking and climbing spots in Corsica.  Check them out in this beautiful drone video by Mamax.  

Top AirVuz contributor montesinosdroneworld created this fantastic drone video of a well-known rock formation in the Southwestern USA called Factory Butte.  So named by settlers in reference to its resemblance to a giant factory, it's a monolith (an isolated formation) located in the San Rafael Desert in southern Utah.  Its summit sits at an altitude of about 6.3k ft. above sea level, or around 1.9k m.  This video was picked by the AirVuz editorial staff as a Finalist for the Drone Video of the Week contest in November of 2023. 

AirVuz contributor Avemkite brings us this stunning drone video of Mexico's Peña de Bernal, one of the world's tallest monoliths, or isolated rock formations.  The massive structure is located near the village of Bernal in the state of Querétaro, near the middle of the country.  Formed only about 9 million years ago (quite recently, in geological terms), its base-to-peak height is a little over 1.4k ft., or about 433 m.  It's most easily accessed from Querétaro, the state capital, which lies to its southwest.

Here's a terrific aerial view of a rock formation in New Mexico, compliments of contributor and drone pilot azgeek.  It's called Cathedral Cliff, and it's located in San Juan County, in the northwestern corner of this southwestern US state.  It's what's known as an Inselberg, which is basically a rock formation that rises abruptly off of a plain.  Cathedral Cliff is located close to the better-known Shiprock formation, a larger inselberg, which you can see off in the distance at around the :50 mark of the video.  

The White Rock (Aq Qaya) is one of the natural wonders of Crimean, the peninsula of the northern Black Sea which has been part of Russia since a 2014 referendum in which the region voted to separate itself from Ukraine.  Seen here in this drone video by Alexandr Shinkarevskiy, the giant formation is located near the town of Belogorsk (also known as Qarasuvbazar), near the middle of the peninsula.  Its flat "summit" stands about 100 meters (around 330 ft.) above its base in the valley of the Biyuk-Karasu River.  

The Southwestern USA is known in part for its unique geological features.  One of the most unusual is the one seen in this drone video by AirVuz contributor RobSkyHigh: the Waterpocket Fold.  The geological structure runs for close to 100 mi. (around 160 km) through three counties in southern Utah.  It was formed during a geological period known as the Laramide orogeny, which began about 80 million years ago and ran for around 40 million years, a period during which the present-day Rocky Mountains were formed.  

Curbar Edge is a name which is well-known to rock climbers around the world.  It's a gritstone escarpment in the UK's Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, one of the counties of the English Midlands.  In this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor Dr0neWerks, you'll get an aerial view of this natural wonder, which is located near the villages of Baslow, Calver, and Froggatt.  Curbar Edge features prominently in the  modern history of rock climbing, which is believed to have originated in the Peak District in the early 1900's.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor al_drone71 brings us this excellent drone video from a famous rock formation in eastern France.  It's called the Rock of Solutré, and it's a limestone escarpment which overlooks the commune of Solutré-Pouilly in Saône-et-Loire, one of the departments of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Region.  The rock is known both for its unique geological properties as well as for being the site of some notable paleolithic remains which are believed to be at least 55,000 years old.   

Talented content creator jayxlamar brings us this fantastic drone video from Morro Bay on the coast of California.  The bay of the Pacific Ocean is part of San Luis Obispo County, roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.  The video prominently features the giant Morro Rock, a volcanic "plug" situated at the bay's entrance.  One of 13 such geological structures in the area, the rock stands 581 ft. tall (177 m).  It's connected to the mainland via a causeway.  It's considered sacred by the area's native inhabitants.  

Check out this beautiful drone video from Russia's Far Eastern Region, compliments of new contributor and pilot VladSavelyev.  It's a rock formation variously known as Devil's Finger and Pirate's Castle, and it's located on Spokoynaya Bay, an inlet of the Sea of Japan (itself a large inlet of the Pacific Ocean).  The bay is situated a bit to the east of Vladivostok in Primorsky Krai, the southernmost of the eleven Federal Subjects (provinces) which make up Russia's Far Eastern Federal District.  

Check out this magnificent drone video from the Andes Mountains of Peru, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot Gabriel Ante.  It's called the Cumbemayo Stone Forest, and it's a series of distinctive-looking rock formations set at an altitude of about 11.5k ft. above sea level (around 3.5k m) near the city of Cajamarca in the northern part of the country.  The rock formations, some of which reach heights of up to 60 ft. (about 18 m), are called Los Frailones.  Some of them appear to resemble hands and other recognizable shapes.  

Seen here in this dronie by BendigoAerial, Hanging Rock is a prominent geological formation in the middle of the Australian state of Victoria.  Once an oddity known mostly to locals, the rock was immportalized in the 1965 novel Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey.  The book tells the story of a group of schoolgirls who visit the rock on Valentine's Day in 1900 and vanish.  Later adapted to a screenplay for a 1975 movie of the same name, it's considered one of the greatest novels to come from Australia.  

In this drone video by contributor and pilot peter_pierre, you'll get a bird's eye view of Bulgaria's Belogradchik Rocks, one of the natural treasures of this Southeast European country.  Comprised of sandstone and conglomerate material, the formation is located in the province of Vidin in the northwestern corner of the country.  Lying on the western slopes of the Balkan Mountains chain, some of the rocks reach up to 200 meters (around 660 ft.) in height.  The video was filmed during the Fall colors season.    

Check out this excellent drone video of a well-known rock formation in the desert of the United Arab Emirates, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot obnasr4k.  Fossil Rock is located near the Mleiha Archaeological Centre in Sharjah, one of the seven emirates which make up this Persian Gulf federation.  As its name suggests, the rock is packed with fossils, remnants of the marine life which once thrived here when the area was underwater.  The area is part of a new desert park currently being developed.