BBC News
Published
image copyrightNASA
image captionThis image of eastern Peru was captured by an astronaut on the International Space Station
Stunning rare photographs published by Nasa have revealed the extent of gold mining - much of it thought to be illegal - in Peru s Amazon rainforest.
The rivers of gold captured in the images are actually pits believed to have been dug by unlicensed miners, the space agency says.
The pits, usually hidden from view, were illuminated by reflected sunlight.
An astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) captured the unusual photographs in December.
The images are further evidence of the scale of destructive gold mining in the Madre de Dios region in south-eastern Peru.