This is one of the pits at Morenci, the largest copper mine in the United States. Almost everything you see in the landscape of this photograph, bar one or two small slivers of dirt, could now be considered 'man made'. All of the rock in these gigantic mountains has been mined, stripped of its minerals and dumped back in place. The mine has been active for almost a century and a half, but the pace of progress in the modern era is almost scary in its intensity. Over a million tons of rock is wrested from the ground every day in an operation that never pauses for breath, working right round the clock - 24 hours a day.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:TJBlackwell" title="User:TJBlackwell">TJBlackwell</a>
CC BY 3.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>. Original copy is available in its full resolution at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjblackwell/4861045562/">this address</a>.