They are best viewed from aerial satellite imagery like the mountains of British Columbia from the NASA picture below where you can see the full fractal pattern of how mountains take form.įractal gazing activity: Visit Paul Bourke’s Google Earth Fractals and explore aerial photos of fractal mountain ranges, rivers, and coastlines. Mountain ranges are good examples of fractals. This aerial footage from NASA of the Ayeyarwady River Delta (also referred to as Irrawaddy) in Myanmar is a great example of the fractal branching patterns of river delta ecosystems.įractal gazing activity: Visit the NASA Earth Observatory and see how many different fractals you can identify in 10 minutes browsing the website. You will find fractals at every level of the forest ecosystem from seeds and pinecones, to branches and leaves, and to the self-similar replication of trees, ferns, and plants throughout the ecosystem.įractal gazing activity: Take a walk in the forest and just mindfully observe the branching fractal patterns all around you. Trees are perfect examples of fractals in nature. Here are some photographic examples of fractal patterns in nature and some fun fractal gazing activities to help you gain a deeper appreciation of the fascinating beauty of fractals: 1. You will also find them throughout the natural world in the patterns of streams, rivers, coastlines, mountains, waves, waterfalls, and water droplets. Walking through a forest, you will find fractal patterns in the network-like branching patterns everywhere among the ferns, trees, roots, leaves, and fungal mycelium in the soil. Simply taking a 20-minute walk outside in nature can significantly reduce stress hormones like cortisol. Research has shown that exposure to nature, specifically fractal patterns, can reduce stress levels by up to 60%. Want to learn more about the mental health benefits of nature connection and mindful exploration of your senses? Download my free guide to practicing eco-mindfulness. This is a basic principle that we see over and over again in the fractal structure of organic life forms throughout the natural world. Trees are natural fractals, patterns that repeat smaller and smaller copies of themselves to create the biodiversity of a forest.Įach tree branch, from the trunk to the tips, is a copy of the one that came before it. Here’s an excellent example of a Mandelbrot Set:Ī fractal is a pattern that the laws of nature repeat at different scales. Mandelbrot is best known for his discovery in mathematics of the Mandelbrot Set, which can be programmed into basic lines of code that create an infinite stream of changing, self-similar patterns. In his seminal work The Fractal Geometry of Nature, he defines a fractal as “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole.” The term fractal was coined by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975. The structure of so much organic life follows self-similar, fractal patterns, which can be observed in flowers, trees, plants, and even mountains and coastlines. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”Įver since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the similar patterns and shapes that nature repeats all around us. Develop your senses – especially learn how to see.
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