The Seven Coloured Earths are a geological formation and prominent tourist attraction found in the Chamarel plain of the Rivière Noire District in south-western Mauritius. It is a relatively small area of sand dunes comprising sand of seven distinct colours (approximately red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow). This amazing phenomenon is said to be due to the slow decomposition of volcanic lava (or basalt) into clay minerals over millennia (it?s said to be 600 million years old). Given the tropical nature of the island, over time water-soluble elements, such as silicon dioxide, were washed out of the sand, leaving behind the extraordinary natural colours created by iron (responsible for the red to brown colours) and aluminium oxides (the blue to violet colours) which form naturally into distinct layers. Other colours are said to have been created by different compositions of the minerals and largely due to the different temperatures that the molten rock cooled at. Interestingly, if one were to mix the coloured earth together, it would form back into its separate layers eventually, each grain of sand gravitating to others in its same colour caste. This could be because the iron and aluminium particles naturally repel each another and the swirling patterns created in the dunes are presumed to be from the rain over the years. This unique geographic site, bordered by lush jungle, still intrigues geologists from around the world, who are drawn to the moon-like landscape and multi-coloured undulating dunes that never seem to erode, regardless of rainfall or climatic conditions.