The Geologic Oddity in Australia; Uluru / Ayers Rock
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- čas přidán 4. 08. 2024
- One of the most recognizable formations in all of Australia is the towering monolith of Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock). This massive monolith began its formation more than 500 million years ago, and was associated with a series of 5,000 meter tall snow covered mountains. Through deformation, faulting, and folding, the beautiful Uluru and Kata Tjuta were constructed. This video gives a brief explanation of how each of these rock formations formed.
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Graphics of eruption dates are courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institute. volcano.si.edu/
Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers
This video is protected under “fair use”. If you see an image or video which is your own in this video or think me referencing a scientific paper does not fall under this doctrine and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at geologyhubyt@gmail.com and I will make the necessary changes.
Citations:
[1] Australia: The Land Where Time Began, M. Monroe
[2] Australian Government, Kata Tjuta & Uluru Geology
Thumbnail Photo Credit: Angelo_Giordano, Pixabay, Pixabay License, pixabay.com/photos/australia-...
Pixabay License: pixabay.com/service/terms/#li...
0:00 Uluru
0:24 A Tilted Formation
1:09 500 Million Years Ago
1:43 A Vast Mountain Range
2:28 Sandstone Deposition
2:54 Deformation & Erosion
Uluru / Ayers Rock is such a beautiful feature. I visited it in person around a decade ago! So, did you know that this feature is the result of the upward facing section of a fold?
Yes I did know that it is a fold feature. I visited this place as a teenager as part of a school trip many years ago and it left a deep impression on me. Thanks for the video.
Does Mt Conner have anything to do with these formations?
I did not know that. Thanks for another awesome video . . . I had not even thought of "Australia" being north of the equator. I confess I tend to watch y/t at 2x speed so especially appreciate you're graphic showing "550M years ago" as you said the same. Cheers. B-)
Cool vid! Im pretending you made it from my request a few weeks ago 😉
@@australien6611 What did you ask for mate? Melbornite here.
That would have been great to see Australia before all the erosion took place. Thanks for the information, very interesting!
Agreed! It would have looked similar to the modern Himalayas.
@@GeologyHub what would the pre-glacial landscape of Canada been like? This fascinates me as a Canadian. Hope you can do something here.
@@Thanksabunch I can give you a start on it. The area known as the Canadian shield was once one of the highest mountain ranges on the planet.
@@iancanuckistan2244 thought so. Living on the prairies one suspects it due to the fantastic amount of gravel, crushed rock and stone buried under us. Thanks! 👍
@@GeologyHub When you brought up that range, I thought for a minute you meant current height. I got lost in thought for a minute thinking of those high peaks being in the middle of the Australian outback. That would be a spectacular sight!
The length of time involved in geographic sculpting always leaves me with a sense of awe.
On an outback bus tour of Australia in 1985 I climbed that rock. If you can climb it now bring good tennis shoes or hiking boots. I saw one lady going up in high heels. One young woman in our group had a panic attack about 1/3 of the way up and I had to stay with her going most of the way down. I should find my pictures of it which includes of it raining when we were at the top. The rock got slippery, the wind picked up and I was afraid we were stuck there for a while. The rain actually made us cold from the wet.
You cannot climb it anymore
Thanks for sharing the story, a slice of reality and history. I would have liked to go there, but it's unlikely now.
It was a great hike. We were there in the summer so we got there early before dawn, and the sun rose over the desert as we climbed. There was a section where you had to haul yourself up hand over hand using this thick chain. It was very windy on top, and you could see so far into the distance. I'm glad I had the opportunity to climb it.
The lady in high heels would/could have been my mother, she climbed Ayers Rock/Uluru in high heels
You are not supposed to climb it. Its a great insult to the indigeonous ppl to do so
Thanks for that.
I'm pretty familiar with Australian geology in general but this was an interesting primer on a very famous rock.
Also, one little note. "Remote" barely begins to describe how far from anything Uluru is. 400km from Alice Springs does sound like a fair way, and it is, but Alice Springs itself is 1300km from either Darwin or Adelaide
I like it’s remoteness. The Outback of Australia calls to me in a way
Once one travels to the “outback” of Australia something within keeps calling you back. One of the other oddities of Oz. I hope you return, there is another similar structure in Western Australia that is supposed to be just as large and buried as you have explained. Thanks for the vlog.
Kata Tjuta is the Olga's for those that were lost like me and I live here.
This was a brilliant audio/video record of the formation of Ulluru or as the non indigenous Australians like to mistakenly call it Ayers/Airs Rock. No Australian Geologists have educationally recorded an information rich identifiable video out such as this beauty by @GeologyHub at any time. Thankyou so much. This now makes significant sense and your explanation of how Ulluru was formed will go along way educationally. Thanks Again. Fantastic 😊
I’m glad that you enjoyed this video segment :). The hardest part was figuring out exactly where Australia was on the planet several hundred million years ago.
Lily, if you are gonna have a dig about something, ay least make sure your own spelling is right, you can't even get the name right, you dullard.
Except for the 10 or so videos on the creation of Uluru on youtube?
@@teeanahera8949 GeologyHub isn't the kind of person to take his information from other CZcams videos. I think it's safe to assume that anything he talks about comes from scientific literature. (unless he explicitly states otherwise, e.g. when he puts forward his own theory on something)
@@teeanahera8949 no where near as detailed also without explanation of surroundings in conjunction with Ulluru
Australia is itself a geologic oddity. ❤️
waltrip at bathurst :)
Excellent video! I sometimes enjoy LONG docs, but today, I didn't have to spend 20 or 30 min waiting to find out how Uluru was formed, plus, it was super clear and concise. Loved it!
Can't wait to check out your channel!
A small correction, "Ayers" is pronounced like "airs".
He's not Australian.
@@jeffbrunswick5511 Did live here though, in Queensland. Like me calling it the Lincolon Monument.🤣
@@jeffbrunswick5511 I’m not, but I did live there for >12 months (Melbourne). I never correctly got every single pronunciation, but I attempted to!
@@GeologyHub You do great. At least you have travelled out of the states to live. You'd better know Warrnambool if you lived in Vic. 😅
Yes, as in the famous department store L. S. Ayres.
Thank you for doing an Australian video, hope to see more of this country.
Thank you for the great explanation of this monument and surrounding area. I was in a town called Whyalla, south Australia recently and it has an incredible volcanic history. The whole region was created by huge eruptions and pyroclastic flows 200+ million years ago. It's been a mining area since the early days of South Australian settlement. It would be great to see you do a breakdown and explanation of the region.
Thank you again for such an informative video. I’ve never heard of the Peterman range .. so interesting! 🙂
Please do a video on Tasmania, my island home, and a geologic wonder! 🥰
So cool! Love how I don’t need a degree in Geography to understand this stuff ⛰
Well, to be fair, this is not a channel about Geography but Geology.
Beautiful & useful summary. Thank you!
There is a second monolith (a super-large "floating" rock) called Mt Augustus, in Western Australia, which is larger than Uluru...
thanks... Near Ernie Dingo's country
Thanks, Peace, Love and Light
Excellent overview. Thanks for this. I remember soemone once called Uluru 'the biggest pebble on Earth' and I instantly recoiled in wonder at the possibility that it's base was somehow detratched, and rolled out from the basement material. At a streatch, I thought it might just be possible on the edge of a continental shelf, but doubted it none the less. Thanks for putting me straight. I particulally like the fact that an area of almost uniquitous flat, sandy, heated, redness; there once stood a mountain range of Himalayan proportions. Perfect Mr Hub... xxx :-)
Interesting and beautiful video. Thank you.
Amazing that geologists can sort out the very complicated, lengthy history of how these features come to being
The power of science
Thanks. I didn’t realise I needed to know that. And now I need to watch it twice
I remember reading a description years ago of the Tucson Mountains west of Tucson that descibed them geologically as the Tucson Mountains Chaos. I'd love to see your take on them.
It really is truly beautiful, never really thought to look it up, didn't know it was really that old. There's so much beauty on this earth.
Could you maybe do a video on Rhodope mountains in Bulgaria? Or the cenozoic rift in Central Europe?
Excellent video, i'm australian and in a few short minutes i've learnt more than school ever covered.
Always something to learn about Australia, an amazing and interesting country.
Excellent! Thanks!👏👍
Awesome to see. Dankie baie for the knowledge. As for suggestion, Pilanesberg National Park Alkaline Ring Complex is a beautiful place, ancient extinct volcano
As a child I climbed Uluru back in 1979 - shortly before the Azaria Chamberlain baby dingo incident. It was a long time ago but a wonderful experience which I still remember like yesterday. But I didn't know much about its geology or that Uluru is a remnant of a 5,000+ metre high ancient mountain range formed by a collision with India. Thank you.
Another amazing video man... I was wondering if you could make some videos about Mexico's geology, I would love to see my country's geology explored in your style of videos.
Anyways keep doing your magic, I've always loved geology :)
Yours is perhaps the most fascinating channel I follow! Another excellent vid. I really appreciate the mix of topics (I am most interested in volcanoes, but REALLY enjoy the varied content)
(BTW - if you are interested and have time, perhaps a look at Pavlov's Sister would be a really cool video. I'd love to hear your take on that volcano and whether you believe it was active in the 1700s, perhaps losing part of its top and replacing it with a dome/plug - "the crater closed up")
EDIT/ADD: I see that you did Pavlov and mentioned the Sister. Still, if you ever have time, perhaps a comment of your opinion of the 1700s eruption of Sister. If it actually was "Her" then it would be a VEI 4 and stronger than any of the more recent eruptions of Pavlov (as well as long-lasting). If it was Pavlov, then it would become the most powerful of Pavlov's eruptions in the modern era
Retiring soon[I hope!],and central Australia is on my bucket list.
looks very cool, not a simple story! thank you ALL stay safe
Fascinating leaning,thanks
I climbed Ayers Rock as a backpacker many years ago, and the 4am start meant I needed a nap at the top, leaning against a rocky ledge. The surrounding area is flat and featureless, which adds to the dramatic photos, esp at sunset. A lot of other geologic features of central Australia involve red granite (Devil's Marbles, Devil's Pebbles, etc).
Loved it!
Ta the excursion!
Good of you to give a geological history with a geodynamic context.
There is another monolith in Western Australia named Mt. Augustus, which is less well known.
Lucky enough to have visited both, in the early 2000's. Augustus is not quite as dramatic as Uluru, but is probably double the size. It's as beautiful, more so I think, but maybe not quite as photogenic.
Very nice! I would enjoy seeing a similar treatment for the Gros Morne area of Newfoundland in eastern Canada.
Nice video I'm aussie but I have never seen either of them, thankyou. They are also of great cultural significance to the native Australians.
Very interesting 👍 .
Be interested to learn more about Kata Juta, first time I have heard of it. Thanks.
Very informative video. Just North of the San Gabriel mountains in California there is an alluvial fan that stretches from Wrightwood to El Mirage, a distance of about 17 miles. It's clearly visible on Google Earth. I'm curious about when and how it formed, but I have not been able to learn very much. Could you investigate and possibly do a video on it? Cheers!
commenting to raise your chances of being seen
The changes in the earth over millions of years is amazing. We truly live on a living planet
I'd be interested in the history of Montagne-Sainte-Victoire, near Marseille in France, which is interesting because while frequently labeled part of the Western Alps due to location, it's created from more recent paleogene limestone deposits (I thought it looked like a klippe at first) related to the Rhone rift and not the alpine orogeny. It's well-known from landscape paintings by Cezanne, and is also the location of the Cross of Provence and also significant deposits of dinosaur eggs.
Would you consider doing one video about Meteora in Greece? It would be really interesting to see how they came to be
More, please! xx
This was a cool video
Thanks from an Australian supporter
Even in the 21st century, much of Australia's interior is still unexplored at ground level. It's amazing to think what all may be out there waiting to be found.
Wow
Good morning.Watching from Greece.hi everybody in down under.I hope some day will be able to visit your incredible country.
You always ask for suggested topics. Being from Wisconsin, have you done anything discussing the Driftless Area, and/or Kettle Moraine, or even the Mesabi Range?
I might be able to find something to cover there :)
Any chance you could cover the glasshouse mtns or mt warning in the future?
Could you please do a video on Wilpena Pound in South Australia?
Could you make a video about the Iberian Peninsula in Europe? Thanks a lot, your works are awesome!!!!
Thanks for all you do. I'm in Park City at the moment. Would you consider a Lake Bonneville edition?
and the Great Salt Lake; and salt pans in Botswana.
He's already done a video on lake Bonneville. It was published about a month ago. Or, at least I think it was about lake bonneville. It may have just been featured in the video, I'm not sure. You'll have to go back through his videos and look and see.
Here it is. Yeah, it was about lake Bonneville and was published about a month ago.
czcams.com/video/n9mwjzZCMDE/video.html
@@BrilliantDesignOnline a Great Salt lake is a remnant of like bonneville. So if you know about lake bonneville, you know about the Great Salt lake.
@@BackYardScience2000 I may have missed it; I will go back and check.
I live in Atlanta and about 20 miles to the east is Stone Mountain It is very similar to Uluru and it would be great if you could explain how it was formed.
I have a question. It's seems (relatively) easy to spot continental plates that have collided or broken apart and even have moved apart by a large distance. But how is it possible to say with some confidence that e.g. at this time that continental plate was just north of the equator? Fixed magnetic fields?
It’s a complex process. However, when rearranging tectonic plates it’s easy to see via fossil records what fauna lived in an area. This is merely one minor method which helps to determine the climate.
@Charles Richter kind of a silly method when the poles shift all the time.
Very cool
It's great people are using the local name for the monolith now
I have been there in dry weather but I would like to see it during heavy rain as water flowing on its surface is quite a sight.
Scrolling thru your work will you do Burke's Garden, Virginia aka gods thumbprint. Legend has it the Vanderbilt family tried to acquire the valley to build Biltmore and it would have taken Biltmore to a whole other level. This valley is an oddity that I don't think any one has settled on it's formation. I think it's a huge sinkhole considering I don't live too far and my subdivision at claypool hill sits on a giant sinkhole.
I would love to see you cover
The Bowen Basin, home to our Coal mines, majority being high grade coking coal for steel production i have personally seen rich seams of 1.7 metres through to 6-7 metres. Stranger still is the 1.7mt seams sits well above the latter yet is of much higher quality.
There are actually 3 monoliths in the complex Ayers Rock, The Olga's and Mt Conner. Not sure why Mt Conner gets missed, its just as big as the other two and is often mistaken for Ayers Rock as you are driving in.
Interesting thing about Ayers rock is that it is radioactive, I have used a Geiger counter to examine it and found readings several times higher than normal background radiation levels on the actual rock and in the caves. I was wondering if it was caused by radiation contamination from the 1950’s Atomic bomb testing at Maralinga or maybe more likely due to natural Thorium deposits in the original sediment deposits that make up the rock structure. Fascinating place and well worth a visit.
If I've understood correctly, he is saying that the Uluru arkose sandstone is made from eroded mountains that were made of granite. Granite can contain uranium.
@@jeffbrunswick5511 Certainly interesting rock structures, the Olgas are a conglomerate containing rounded river stones and Ayers rock structure is less coarse grainy consistency. I was surprised to discover a noticeable radiation reading on the actual rock, I am sure Geologists know about this and have done mineral content analysis of the rock material.
I never tested the piece for radioactivity, but it makes perfect sense if small sections of it are radioactive.
@Charles Richter That makes more sense. It looks like it is full of potassium feldspar.
Could you please do a geologic oddity video on pilot mountain in North Carolina? It’s an odd looking mountain. Pretty iconic shape.
A geologic history of Enchanted Rock would be interesting.
I was wondering if u can do some videos of volcanos in Idaho. Thank you
Can you do the Franklin mountains in El Paso Texas?
No longer allowed to climb the rock. The local Anangu people now have full control over access to it. Their main objections were the desecration of it as a sacred site, being part of their dreamtime culture, people relieving themselves on the top (It's a long way; can take a long time) leaving litter & even baby nappies & there have been a few people who have died climbing it, even during summer when temperatures can easily exceed 40 Celsius. The Anangu feel somehow responsible & say that the spirits of the dead inhabit the area.
As an aside, there's an even bigger, taller & much older rock in Western Australia called Mt Augustus. Ït doesn't look quite as impressive as Uluru, looking more like a small mountain range. You can climb this one & there are hiking trails on & around it.
Nice to hear the locals are getting back some control over their land.
Religion poisons everything it touches
@@eleSDSU Let them see how it is without tourist dollars in the middle of nowhere.
@@KB4QAA Pretty sure you can still visit without needing to climb it. Kinda like going to see the Vatican without being allowed to scale the walls…
@@KB4QAA Oh that would be sweet, but nobody banned tourist, they just can climb Uluru (or as you Gringos call it, Ayers Rock). The same way you can go to the Louvre and see exhibits but you cannot lick the Gioconda (you might know it as "Monna Lisa").
Edit: realized you were Muh'rican so I changed some words for smaller ones and added a couple translations.
I've waited long for this explanation! I knew long-lasting alluvial erosion had something to do, but was ignorant of the role of India.
I'd love to see complete history of north eastern Java basin
How DEEP does it go is my question... or is just laying on top of the ground? Is it "spherical" or ovoid? Is it all a single piece of rock?
There’s many places similar to Uluṟu in the outback. Please do the Bungle Bungles. Or Lake Eyre (pronounced the same as Ayres btw lol, us Aussies like to keep it simple) It’s one of the only places I haven’t been to in our truly ancient land. You’ll never truly understand it until you’ve spent time in the outback by yourself. There’s few places like it on earth…
Wow!
I live on Ischia in italy (Mt. Epemeo). The island is known for it's geothermal activity. I would love the know it's geologic history.
I have an older video on ischia. You live on a volcano which is very active; although not as active as Vesuvius. Video link: m.czcams.com/video/Da-wcjxADiQ/video.html
@@GeologyHub Yes, I've seen it and enjoyed it, i wondered if there is a more recent history what covered the recent (geologically) earthquakes and magma movements. Thanks!!
I say “thanks” to India for bumping into us, come back again, we need more mountains.
can you please explain the formation of the western ghats range in india?
I'd love to know why the surface of Kata Tjuta looks like someone has embedded a whole pile of smooth river stones in concrete, then sliced neatly through it leaving the surfaces of different types of stones exposed and well aligned. Surely erosion couldn't cause this? Could it be shearing from ice?? I'd be happy to provide a photo.
I'd like to suggest something, the Deccan Flats and the K-Pg extinction event....if you can.
1:42 I'm so happy to learn that the earth has orogenous zones. 😀
Reminds me of Stone Mountain in Georgia in the US
Do Vottovaara in Karelia.
Would Love to see a video on the grand Tetons
That's ARMA III. Second time I've seen it used to describe...places!! lol
edit 070322: credit to Aussie map creator of that rotatable Uluru grapich from his ARMA mod map Australia. Awesome map!
That reminds me of that monolith by mt Garibaldi. Isn't it the 2nd biggest in the world?
I'd like to know more about the Appalachian Orogeny.
Me too!!
If only there were 16,000' mountains in central Oz now! Greetings from the NT, and by the way it's pronounced "Airs." Thanks!
Can we look at the deepest caldera? Not below sea level but just deepest
I visited Uluru 4 years ago. Since this was tilted layers of sedimentary rock, my question is, which side of Uluru is the oldest sedimentary layer. The guide couldn't say and the brochures did not have that info either.
Based on your diagram at 3:15, the oldest layer will be facing east. If it was the other side of the fold, it would then be facing Kata Juta. But I believe your diagram is based on the geological studies of the area. Thanks for the info.
We have similar vertical sedimentary rocks in Once Islas (Eleven Islands in Zamboanga City, 🇵🇭) but more of volcanic, not granitic, origin. I wish there was more info on it.
Can you do the strange outcroppings of Sharon conglomerate in NE Ohio?
because some people still haven't gotten the message, Uluru is not to be climbed. it's a sacred place and tourists are damaging it with their footfall and litter. it's a beautiful place that can be admired from the ground.
It is a natural geological feature and not sacred to me so if I ever go there I will climb it. Somebody else's mythology won't affect my choices. They see it as sacred...fine, don't climb it.
@@SMHman666 how would you like people going where they shouldn't and damaging what you hold sacred, taking bits off your family's gravestones or pissing in your church? you wouldn't like it but hey it's not sacred to them so who cares?
@@SAOS451316 If it was something I had built such as a church, grave, monastery then yes, fair enough but if I worshipped at a tree, river or rock (which is a natural feature and belongs to everybody) then I would cop it sweet. While the taxpayers cover the costs of these places then they are for everyone to enjoy. I agree that people should not litter and defile these areas but not because they are "sacred" but because you shouldn't bloody do that anyway!
@@SMHman666 Tourists like you are _precisely_ the reason Uluru needed to be closed off to climbing... did you think that maybe taxpayers don't need to spend as much on upkeep & insurance when we don't need to worry about tourists slipping, falling, getting heat stroke, leaving trash, pissing on one of our national monuments? On a site globally significant enough to be on the UNESCO World Heritage list? And just because something is paid for by tax payers doesn't automatically give you carte blanche to do whatever you like... good luck climbing Parliament House or the War Memorial. A little respect will take you a long way in life.
Admiral's eruptions is must
didn't take long to get off the subject of the "rock" & onto the subject of Australian geology
Don't you just love the place-name pronunciation and the downward lilting narrative delivery ?
Enchanted Rock, Texas
Oh that crazy Indian Plate, grinding its way around the crust making orogenies.
Himahleeuhs. The most wonderful mountain range.
These same looking rocks are in the middle of phx az.
What i know, belong Mt. Connor east of Uluru also to this geological formation.
The comment about ancient mountain ranges make me wonder if earth had taller mountains than mt Everest in our past? Or is Everest as tall as a mountain can get on Earth with our gravity and atmosphere?
There must have been taller, plate tectonics have been active on Earth about 10% the age of the universe. Our planet is ancient.
I swam in water holes on the top of Uluru in 1985 and almost died of thirst in the Kata Tjuta