Rock formations

This type of landmarks includes most unusual and interesting rock formations of the world.

It may sound simple but it isn’t: this group of monuments tends to grow and grow without end, encompassing diverse seemingly unrelated things. Thus – a very tall cliff is a rock formation, a natural arch – as well. But – in a way cave and waterfall are also rock formations – without solid rock, these landmarks would not exist.

Wondermondo includes in this category the following landmarks:

• Boulders – especially large or otherwise unusual fragments of rocks;
• Balancing rocks – boulders and other rock formations which seem to defy gravity;
• Cliffs – visually impressive and/or very tall natural surfaces of rocks. For most part these surfaces are vertical or very steep;
• Canyons and ravines – well, here are two natural rock surfaces, on both sides of existing or formed stream. Some canyons belong to world’s most impressive landmarks;
• Karst landscapes – outstanding relief forms which have formed by the dissolution of limestone, dolostone, gypsum.
• Monoliths or inselbergs and bornhardts – monolithic masses of rocks which form unusual, giant relief forms, sometimes similar to giant pillows;
• Natural arches – cliff formations with openings below them. Nature sometimes loves to play and these arches or bridges can get seemingly improbable shapes!
• Rock spires – natural, tall and often even very thin spires of rocks.

This classification does not include all kinds of rock formations – sometimes a landmark is too unusual and in its own “category”. Such landmarks are, for example, Eaglehawk Neck tessellated pavement in Tasmania or Richat Structure in Mauritania.

Some records

It is not easy to register the records of rock formations – here the types of formations gradually shift and there are no clear limits set – what is a cliff and what is just a steep rock face, what is a rock pyramid, and when is it narrow enough to be considered rock spire? Some records though can be measured:

• Highest vertical drop on Earth could be located on Mount Thor (Canada, Nunavut, Baffin Island). This cliff has even negative drop (105 degrees) and if something falls from it, it falls 1,250 m. There might be even taller drops in Baffin Island.
• World’s tallest near vertical cliff (you see – there is already indeterminate expression!) is Great Trango Tower in Pakistan, Gilgit Baltistan. This cliff is 1,340 m tall.
• World’s deepest canyon could be Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet, Nyingchi. It is up to 6,009 m deep, although medium depth is 2,268 m.
• World’s tallest volcanic stack is Ball’s Pyramid, Australia. It rises 562 m tall from the sea and is just 200 m wide.
• World’s highest natural arch could be Tushuk Tash (Shipton’s Arch) in China, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Its opening is just incredible: 360 – 370 m high!
• World’s widest natural arch could be Xian Ren Qiao – Fairy Bridge in China, Guangxi. It is approximately 122 m wide.
• World’s largest freestanding boulder could be Giant Rock in United States, California. This rounded boulder covers an area of 540 square meters.
• The largest balanced rock in the world could be Miracle Rock in United States, Colorado. This is some 12,000 tons heavy behemoth balancing on impossibly small foot.