Small iron-rich formations found within Western Australia’s Pinnacles, which are part of the world’s largest wind-blown limestone belt spanning more than 1000km, have provided new insights into Earth’s ancient climate and changing landscape.
Small iron-rich formations found within Western Australia’s Pinnacles, which are part of the world’s largest wind-blown limestone belt spanning more than 1000km, have provided new insights into Earth’s ancient climate and changing landscape.
The new research found the pinnacles were formed about 100,000 years ago during what was the wettest period in the past half-million years for the area, and very different from the Mediterranean climate Western Australia experiences today.
Lead author Dr Matej Lipar, Adjunct Research Fellow in Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, now at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), said the spectacular finger-like stone pinnacles at Nambung National Park are a type of karst created by water dissolving rocks.
Read more at: Curtin University
The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park, where the research was done. (Photo Credit: Matej Lipar)
