Which desert is uluru located in

Take it back million years, and the softer rocks that surrounded the fans eroded away. As they eroded, Kata Tjuta and Uluru were left standing. Today, these great monoliths are huge slabs of rock. Despite their significant size we can actually see very little of them, with each continuing up to 6km underground. Uluru itself is formed of a type of rock known as arkose. These flakes are actually tiny bits of rock that have been left on the surface after the decaying of the rock minerals, which is usually caused by water and oxygen erosion.

The red part is actually rusty iron, a chemical that is naturally found in arkose and is grey in its original colour. Plan your trip. Buy your pass. When to come. Getting here. About Ayers Rock Resort.

Latest news. Media centre. About us. Because the mountain ranges formed quickly and there was no plant life to slow erosion, materials were deposited quickly. Then, the transformation began. ABC Science explains:. After millions of years, Uluru is what's left from the constant erosion of the surrounding land and the rock itself. Because the rock that forms Uluru is so hard, it's more resistant to erosion than everything around it. Millions of years of polishing from wind and rain hav shaped Uluru into the iconic structure it is now.

While you know how Uluru was formed, you might be wondering how it got its amazingly vivid color. The rock that forms Uluru has a high iron content, so while the rock really has a grayish color, the oxidation that occurs with weathering turns the surface rust red.

Standing at 1, feet tall, 2. And yet most of Uluru is actually underground. Though it looks like it was set down on the landscape, Uluru isn't like a boulder that rolled into place and mostly sits above ground. Rather, the rock is more like an iceberg, with some of its mass above the surface but much of it remaining below. More than 1. According to Parks Australia :. If you can't travel to the outback to see Uluru in person, you can still see a significant amount of it thanks to Google.

The Street View Trekker is a camera system worn by hikers who are putting spectacular spots on our planet online, one step at a time. Uluru is the latest location to be put on Google Street View, where people can wander about virtually and explore what the site has to offer.

The Telegraph explains how the images come together:. You can hop online from anywhere in the world to explore the interactive map of Uluru an extrapolation of the video at top to stroll down the paths around it and listen to audio files from the Anangu people as they explain the site's cultural significance, how it was created, traditional law about the site and more.

In fact, visitors who explore the site this way may learn more about it and be more appreciative of its rich cultural and ecological significance thanks to the added interactiveness of the virtual map.

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