Covered in snow, Dagu Glacier basks in majestic sunset in Heishui County, southwest China's Sichuan Province.
The glacier, on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, was formed more than 4 million years ago. When snow remains in the same area year-round, enough layers accumulate and compress to transform the powdery snow into a solid block of ice. The glacier was considered one of the youngest around the world, and it was only discovered in 1992 by satellite imagery.
Dagu Glacier spans over 7.76 square kilometers along the outskirts of three mountains and has been found to be up to 200 meters thick in winter.
Generally, the world's glaciers exist between 5,000 and 8,000 meters above sea level. However, Dagu Glacier sits at an altitude of only 3,000 to 5,000 meters.
