The colorful pictures you see below are of salt evaporation ponds around the bay area. You get to see this colorful sight as you take off from the San Francisco airport. The palette of colors that make the salt ponds such a vibrant sight reflects a complex ecosystem. Colors in salt ponds range from pale green to deep coral pink to bright red, and indicate the salinity of the ponds. Micro-organisms create these spectacular colors, changing their own hues in response to increasing salinity. You can find more information here…
http://www.robertcampbellphotography.com/salt_ponds.html
http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/gallery/gal198.html