Event: Australia

The Pinnacles

When:	Daily
Where:	Nambung National Park

The Pinnacles is a remarkable natural landscape in Nambung National Park where limestone spires, up to five metres high, rise from the sand. Erosion has created this dramatic phenomenon, which in early morning or afternoon light creates an eerie "moonscape".

Although the formation of the Pinnacles would have taken many thousands of years, they were probably only exposed in quite recent times. Aboriginal artefacts at least 6000 years old have been found in the Pinnacles Desert, despite no recent evidence of occupation. This suggests that the Pinnacles were exposed about 6000 years ago and then covered up by shifting sands, before being exposed again in the last few hundred years.

This process can be seen in action today - with the predominantly southerly winds uncovering pinnacles in the northern part of the Pinnacles Desert but covering those in the south. Over time, the limestone spires will no doubt be covered again by other sand drifts and the cycle repeated, creating weird and wonderful shapes over and over again.