Uluru’s origin goes back about 500 million years which means it’s 250 million years older than the dinosaurs. It stands 318 metres above the surrounding desert and measures eight kilometers around. Uluru also extends at least 2.5 kilometres down into the ground. Rainwater flowed down the mountains, eroding sand and rock and dropping it in big fan shapes on the plains. The whole area became covered in sea. Sand and mud fell to the bottom and covered the seabed, including the fans. The weight of the new seabed turned the fans into rock. The sandy fan became sandstone while the rocky fan became conglomerate. 400 million years ago, the sea disappeared. Rocks folded and tilted as the earth’s tectonic plates shifted and Uluru tilted 90 degrees. Over the last 300 million years, the softer rocks eroded away, leaving the spectacular forms seen at Uluru today.
I tried to keep the above description as short as possible. Following are some pictures I took today (Friday).
This is an example where weathering eventually caused a whole section to fall off.
These are wall paintings made by ancient aboriginal people.
Tonight we watched the sunset and also a light show after dark. We were driven by bus to an open area for the light show. After visiting Uluru in 1992, English artist Bruce Munro, best known for immersive light shows, came up with the idea for the presentation we saw tonight. Leaving the bus we walked a short distance in the dark and then saw 50,000 square meters of lights all powered only by energy received from the sun during the day. We were allowed to wander along a dark, winding path with thousands of lights on both sides and glowing in various colors. While it’s hard to describe to give it due credit, I can assure you it was absolutely amazing seeing the lights as far as the eye could see. Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what my daughter and I saw.
My daughter Shannon enjoying this unique presentation
I especially liked this one because you can see the constellation Orion above the lights on the left. Look for the 3 stars going horizontally forming Orion’s Belt.
I hope you can at least get an idea as to how unique and beautiful this presentation was.
Sandi
is
