On a populated landscape, a canyon, or lake

Mono Lake is made of extra salty and alkaline water, adding to the formation of unique tufas, which are limestone monoliths formed from springs and vents mixing with this kind of water. They grew underwater over millennia, so the lake has been as high as the tallest tufa– before the water was diverted for human use.

Under the full moon, they seem to shoot out of the water, alien-like in this desert environment on the east side of the Sierra Nevada where a salt lake does seem so unlikely.