Cauliflower rock (Grampians)
I walked 9km of Halls Gap to the Pinnacles Loop (Wonderland loop) in Grampians National Park, the most popular trail - Spectacular wonders at every turn.
Walking on these rock you feel like walking on the dinosaur back. To me it resembles White Pocket in Arizona (I know it from many photos here in Flickr) - similar metamorphosed sandstone, what looks like giant cauliflower (aka brain). Grampians rocks are much darker though, while White Pocket is much younger (Jurassic).
Geology:
The Grampians National Park is an outstanding geological spectacle - a dramatic land-form with sweeping slopes, craggy eastern peaks and massive sandstone cliffs that contrast with surrounding plains.
The distinctive cuesta landform of the Grampians consists of abrupt escarpments and generally west-dipping slopes. The sediments, which make up the Grampians, were deposited about 400 million years ago (Devonian period) and are approximately 3700 m deep. They are composed of layers of massive sandstones, siltstones and mudstones which were folded and tilted a few millions years later.
Some sources says volcanic activity occurred around 395 million years ago as well with granitic magma intruded into the Grampians sediments, resulting in deeply weathered batholiths, dykes and sills.
Cauliflower rock (Grampians)
I walked 9km of Halls Gap to the Pinnacles Loop (Wonderland loop) in Grampians National Park, the most popular trail - Spectacular wonders at every turn.
Walking on these rock you feel like walking on the dinosaur back. To me it resembles White Pocket in Arizona (I know it from many photos here in Flickr) - similar metamorphosed sandstone, what looks like giant cauliflower (aka brain). Grampians rocks are much darker though, while White Pocket is much younger (Jurassic).
Geology:
The Grampians National Park is an outstanding geological spectacle - a dramatic land-form with sweeping slopes, craggy eastern peaks and massive sandstone cliffs that contrast with surrounding plains.
The distinctive cuesta landform of the Grampians consists of abrupt escarpments and generally west-dipping slopes. The sediments, which make up the Grampians, were deposited about 400 million years ago (Devonian period) and are approximately 3700 m deep. They are composed of layers of massive sandstones, siltstones and mudstones which were folded and tilted a few millions years later.
Some sources says volcanic activity occurred around 395 million years ago as well with granitic magma intruded into the Grampians sediments, resulting in deeply weathered batholiths, dykes and sills.