Category: Exploration

The Twelve Apostles, Victoria, Australia

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The Twelve Apostles is a group of rock structures along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. These limestone pillars were formed by wave erosion of caves and arches along the mainland cliffs. Eight pillars of the Twelve Apostles still remain, but there were only nine pillars in total.

Information source: Twelve Apostles Marine National Park Service

Image: The Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Source: Mike Lehmann, Wikimedia Commons.

The Matterhorn, Alps, Switzerland

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The Matterhorn is an iconic mountain peak in the Swiss Alps whose summit reaches a height of 4478 meters. The base and lower part of the mountain consist of successive layers of ophiolites and sedimentary rocks, whereas the rocks of the upper part consist of a series of gneisses.

Information source: Encyclopaedia Brittannica, Wikipedia

Image: The Matterhorn in the Alps, Switzerland. Credit: Zacharie Grossen, Wikimedia Commons.

Mont Blanc, Alps, France

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The Mont Blanc is the highest mountain peak in the Alps with a summit that rises up to 4810 meters on the borders between France, Italy and Switzerland. The mountain is always covered in snow and ice and is surrounded by several shoulder peaks, including the Dôme du Goûter, Mont Maudit and Mont Blanc du Tacul. The Glacier du Geant flows down from the slopes of the mountain and feeds into the Mer de Glace, the longest glacier in France.

Information source: Encyclopaedia Brittannica, Wikipedia

Image: Summit of Dôme du Goûter and Mont Blanc in the Alps, France. Credit: Alexandre Bruisse, Wikimedia Commons.

The Alps, Southern Europe

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The Alps are a great mountain range in Europe, ranging across France and Switzerland in the west, Germany in the north, Austria and Slovenia in the east and Italy in the South. They have been formed as a result of the collision between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, which occurred in the late Mesozoic and Cenozoic. During the Alpine orogeny, marine sedimentary rocks of the Tethys Sea were thrusted and folded into high mountain peaks, among which are the Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn.

Information source: Encyclopaedia Brittannica, Wikipedia

Image: Peaks of Aiguilles de Chamonix in the Alps, France. Credit: Simo Räsänen, Wikimedia Commons.

The Wave, Arizona, USA

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The Wave is a rock formation in the Colorado Plateau of Arizona in the United States that was formed by erosion of the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone. It is known for its many undulating structures and contains large sets of cross bedding in aeolian sandstones, which reflect the migration of sand dunes and ripples across an ancient desert environment. The cyclically alternating laminae seen in the Wave result from periodic changes in the prevailing wind directions at the time of deposition.

Information source: Vermillion Cliffs National Monument Service

Image: Cross-bedded aeolian sandstones of the Wave in the Colorado Plateau of Arizona, USA. Source: Sehara, Wikimedia Commons.

Monument Valley, Arizona and Utah, USA

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Monument Valley is located on the border between Arizona and Utah in the United States, where it is part of the Colorado Plateau. It is characterized by various rock structures consisting of red siltstones and sandstones of Permian-Triassic age, including the massive sandstone buttes for which the valley is known best. The red color of the rocks in Monument Valley is the result of extensive siltstone weathering and the associated formation of iron oxides, but the overlying sandstone layers are more resistant. Under the scorching heat of the desert sun, a few well-adapted bushes and shrubs prevail.

Information source: Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park Service

Image: Monument Valley buttes in the Colorado Plateau between Arizona and Utah, USA. Source: Luca Galuzzi, Wikimedia Commons.

Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA

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Bryce Canyon is a canyon system found in Utah in the United States that has been formed by headward erosion of the Colorado Plateau at the origin of rivers and streams. It is known for its many spire-like structures called hoodoos, which generally consist of thick layers of relatively soft and easily eroded rocks, such as mudstones, overlain by thin layers of harder and more resistant rocks, such as sandstones or limestones. Hoodoos attain their characteristic shapes because this protective cover of resistant rocks shields the underlying layers from the elements, while the surrounding rocks are subjected to frost weathering and river erosion.

Information source: Bryce Canyon National Park Service

Image: Thor’s Hammer and other hoodoos in Bryce Canyon in the Colorado Plateau of Utah, USA. Source: Luca Galuzzi, Wikimedia Commons.

Antelope Canyon, Arizona, USA

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Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon in the Colorado Plateau of Arizona in the United States. It consists of two different sections, the Upper Antelope Canyon and the Lower Antelope Canyon. Both have been formed by erosion of the Navajo Sandstone, mainly by flash floods associated with heavy rain. Antelope Canyon is well known for beams of light illuminating flowing shapes in the rocks.

Information source: Antelope Canyon National Park Service

Image: Walls of Antelope Canyon in the Colorado Plateau of Arizona, USA. Source: Luca Galuzzi, Wikimedia Commons.

Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

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The Grand Canyon is a colossal canyon system in Arizona in the United States that has been eroded by the Colorado River and its tributaries during the uplift of the Colorado Plateau. The Grand Canyon is 446 km long and up to 29 km wide, and reaches a depth of over 1.6 km at its deepest point. In this giant scar across the land, almost 2 billion years of geological history are revealed in well-preserved stratigraphic sections, ranging from the Precambrian Vishnu Schist at the base of the Inner Gorge to the Permian Kaibab Limestone at the Rim.

Information source: Grand Canyon National Park Service

Image: The Grand Canyon and Horn Creek Rapid in the Colorado Plateau of Arizona, USA. Source: Luca Galuzzi, Wikimedia Commons.

Colorado Plateau, Southwestern USA

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The Colorado Plateau is a geological province in the southwestern United States, located in the Four Corners of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. It is bounded by the Rocky Mountains to the north and east, and the Basin and Range Province to the west and south. Having suffered relatively little deformation through geological time, the stratigraphy of the Colorado Plateau is exceptionally well preserved. The landscape is mostly characterized by hot, high desert plateaus and dramatic weathering and erosion structures, dominated by the massive Grand Canyon.

Information source: United States Geological Survey

Image: The Organ, a rock structure in the Colorado Plateau of Utah, USA. Source: Sanjay Acharya, Wikimedia Commons.

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