The Flickr Contourlines Image Generatr

The town of Cripple Creek, Colorado is visible at the top of the image. Each of the light colored lines are the haul roads of the mine. Large dump trucks haul the ore from the bottom of the pits literally driving up a giant spiral to the top. The deepest pit visible in the upper left in, deep shadow, reaches a depth of 2,750 feet (840 meters).
The Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine, formerly and historically the Cresson Mine, is an active gold mine located near the town of Victor, in the Cripple Creek mining district in the US state of Colorado. The richest gold mine in Colorado history,[1] it is the only remaining significant producer of gold in the state, and produced 322,000 troy ounces of gold in 2019, and reported 3.45 million troy ounces of Proven and Probable Reserves as at December 31, 2019. It was owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti through its subsidiary, the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Company (CC&V), until 2015, when it sold the mine to Newmont.

The mine is an open pit operation. The gold is recovered from the ore by heap leaching. CC&V's heap leach pad is one of the biggest in the world.


Geology
The ore is in altered and brecciated volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks of Oligocene age and predominantly quartz latite composition. The Cripple Creek volcanic complex is surrounded by Precambrian gneiss, granite, and quartz monzonite. The gold occurs as disseminated micrometre-size free gold and as gold-silver tellurides, or telluride minerals. Gangue minerals include pyrite, quartz, and fluorite.

History
Gold mining in the district began in the 1890s, mostly as underground operations, chasing high grade veins. Over 23 million ounces of gold have been recovered from the district since 1890. At 2012 prices ($1600 per troy ounce this would be worth around US$37 billion.

Warren, Harry & Frank Woods entered the Victor mining scene in when they purchased the Mount Rosa Placer and incorporated the Mt. Rosa Mining, Milling and Land Company on January 9, 1892. This would later become known as the Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine.

Most of the Cripple Creek properties were consolidated into the Golden Cycle Mining and Reduction Company, and the Carlton Tunnel was completed in 1941. This 6.5 mile long tunnel drained the district down to 3,000 feet. The roasting-cyanidation Carlton Mill opened in March 1951. This mill also tested the first carbon adsorption-desorption process.

The Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad was opened in 1967 and continues to serve as a tourist attraction.[

The current open cut operation dates back to 1995. The operation became part of AngloGold in March 1999, when the company acquired the Independence Mining Company and thereby 66% of the mine. AngloGold merged with junior partner Golden Cycle Gold Corporation in 2008 and thereby acquired the remaining 33% of the project.

The mine is a low-cost, low-yield open pit operation, with grades well below one gram of gold per tonne of ore. In recent years, 2008 and 2009, the mine accounted for 5% of AngloGold Ashanti's worldwide production. It is the company's only active operation in the United States. In 2008, the State of Colorado and Teller County granted the mine a mine-life extension.

Production and grade of the mine have steadily declined over the last few years, while the total production costs have risen from US$372 an ounce in 2007 to US$475 in 2009. The mine employed 562 people in 2009, of which 367 were permanent employees.

In August 2015, the mine was sold to Newmont.[7] In December 2024, Newmont sold the mine to SSR Mining Company. source Wikipedia.

Seat of a chair made of layers of plywood seen at the High Museum of Art

Snow Detail

Palm fronds cast shadows that create a sort of topographic map of the new growth in this big agave attenuata plant at the Marina in Emeryville, California,

Embroidery on Canvas, seed beads and microbeads, crystals, baubles, found objects, professionally framed in wood and metallic edge frame with deep bevel matting and UV glass, 19" x 15", 2022, sold
see Full Art Work: www.flickr.com/photos/dembicer/51952827119

“Color-enhanced image of sunset on Mars, recorded by the Viking 1 lander. Part of the spacecraft is just visible at bottom right, colored dark blue. The contouring effect around the setting sun is a result of the imaging system.”

Disappointingly, the image and the above, which may have been part of the original NASA caption, seem to only be available at the ‘pay to play’ sites.

A high contrast version is contained within:

history.nasa.gov/EP-177/ch8-2.html

Although I can see how this has an artistic, mod/pop…whatever it’s called, appeal, I’ve always disliked it. Yet it seemed to have been oft-reproduced. I remember seeing it as a poster, lithograph of course…I think even in NASA/JPL informational/promotional material.
It definitely looks way better as an actual photograph print, not the garish, ‘HDR’, end of “2001: A Space Odyssey”, comic book-like look I seem to recall & refer to above.

i.discogs.com/kAPI00d2TdTseTZwVL5YXOR03oD9osbsjRzeG_z1zbk...

i.discogs.com/Lc1xLVGuQIhLAr66dCTnXmd-qAXxrQPVuiUYqO3HBOU...
Credit: Both above credit Discogs website

Further, although the image is subdued & accurate, the ‘contour lines’ do seem to match. Maybe just processed differently? IDK:

“Viking 1 Lander image of a Martian sunset over Chryse Planitia. In this image the sun is 2 degrees below the local horizon. The banding in the sky is an artifact produced by the incremental brightness levels of the camera. This image was taken on the 30th Martian day (sol) after touchdown, at 19:13 local time. The camera is pointing towards the southwest.”

At:

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/vl1_12a240.html
Credit: NSSDCA website

Also:

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viking_sunset.jpg
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Finally, featured on the cover. The right half of it that is:

ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19800009678

Mutiple images, same subject!

After the surface of the water first froze, the underlying water gradually receded. The covering layer of ice seems to have sagged enough for a smaller section to float. The dropping level of underlying water, further sagging, and the floating of an ever-smaller section recurred in stages—each stage memorialized by a beneath-the-surface, edge-marking contour line.

View of MS2, one of the two buildings that make up the Medical Science Precinct of the University of Tasmania, also housing the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. It is located at the corner of Bathurst Street and the Brooker Hwy in the Hobart CBD (Tasmania, Australia). Completed in 2013 and designed by Lyons, with the pattern of the facade intended to represent landscape contour lines.

View of MS2, one of the two buildings that make up the Medical Science Precinct of the University of Tasmania, also housing the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. It is located at the corner of Bathurst Street and the Brooker Hwy in the Hobart CBD (Tasmania, Australia). Completed in 2013 and designed by Lyons, with the pattern of the facade intended to represent landscape contour lines.

View of MS2, one of the two buildings that make up the Medical Science Precinct of the University of Tasmania, also housing the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. It is located at the corner of Bathurst Street and the Brooker Hwy in the Hobart CBD (Tasmania, Australia). Completed in 2013 and designed by Lyons, with the pattern of the facade intended to represent landscape contour lines. this photo was taken in March 2019, during construction of a pedestrian bridge over the highway.