Take a walk off the coastline of the Port Campbell National Park in Australia and you will see isolated rock stacks. These are the “Twelve Apostles”. When viewed from a distance, the Apostles seem to be coming right out of the earth. Is this some kind of magic that nature throws at us? Located in the scenic Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia, the Twelve Apostles (only eight now) were formed due to the forces of erosion.
A popular tourist destination, the tall and independent rock stacks date back 15 to 20 million years. The rock stacks of 50 metres high that stand today were once part of the mainland.
Sole stacks
What caused this formation? Sea waves from the Southern Ocean and severe climatic conditions have been responsible for this geological structure coming into existence.
The coastal cliffs are made of limestone — a sedimentary rock. Over the years, the limestone forms layers and this is evident in the ridges on the cliff rocks. The layers are of different density — soft and hard at the same time. As the waves lash the coastal cliffs, the lower portion which is soft wears off due to erosion. With time, wind and rain, soft pieces of rock along the bottom wash away to form a cave. This process continues and with time, the cave becomes bigger forming an arch. In due course, as the top or headland of the arch collapses, tall isolated rock stacks remain.
Though the Apostles date back millions of years ago, the landscape of the rock structures as well as the cliffs along the coast are only a few thousand years old. This is because, new rock stacks are constantly being formed. For instance, originally there were Twelve Apostles, then in 2005 there were nine. In the same year, one more collapsed. Today, eight rock stacks remain though the present ones will disappear in future and new ones will continue to form.
Story of the stacks
In 1846, the Twelve Apostles were known as “Sow and Piglets”. The Sow was Mutton Bird Island located at the opening of Loch Ard Gorge and her piglets were what is now known as the Twelve Apostles. In 1922, this geological formation was renamed “The Apostles” and later came to be known as the Twelve Apostles despite that fact that only nine remained. In the earier times, people used to come over to watch the Loch Ard Gorge but now the rock stacks are a major tourist attraction.
Game: Wordsmith
Check out the slideshow and try your hand at the game we have for you.
