direct to the Pinnacles desert in Western Australia , and you might just believe you ’ve stumbled onto aStar Warsset , with a vast airfield of tower spikes of rock stupefy out from the dark yellow sand . But while they by all odds are n’t the remnants of moviemaking , exactly how and when these strange structure formed has long been the subject of argument .
Perhaps thedarkest theorycomes courtesy of the Yued people , who believe that the pillars are the manpower and digit of youthful man who were warned by elders not to figure the area , but did so anyway , and were wet-nurse up into the sand as a upshot . This is why you shouldlisten to your grandma , tribe .
Less spooky , but every bit interesting are thethree chief theoriesput forward in scientific debate , the first being that the karst pillar were forge by gradual , but panoptic weathering of Western Australia ’s Tamala Limestone . Though acidic water supply ( such as rainfall ) first made small , cylindrical structures shout answer pipe , these became bigger over time , leave behind us with the Pinnacles .
The 2d and third theories both involve works ; one suggests that they ’re the answer of buried tree diagram casts filled with Ca - rich limestone that then became exposed by confidential information erosion , while the other involves root casting , purport that plants accumulated calcium - robust limestone in their root word while alive and it remained after they died .
However , a newfangled bailiwick inScience Advanceshas append its own tailspin on be theories – and has also put forward a date for the formation of the pillars .
According to Dr Matej Lipar and fellow worker , the Pinnacles were work about 100,000 geezerhood ago during a particularly soggy part of this region ’s history . They were able-bodied to determine this from iron - rich nodules present on the column , which act like a geological time postage .
“ We found this flow was locally the wettest in the retiring half - million years , distinct from other regions in Australia and far removed from Western Australia ’s current Mediterranean climate , ” aver Lipar in astatement .
“ An abundance of body of water during this time caused the limestone to dissolve , forming the typical pillar of the Pinnacles and creating the ideal environment for the branding iron nodules to develop . ”
While a substantial finding , study co - source Dr Milo Barham toldABC Newsthat many question about the Pinnacles still remain unrequited , particularly as to what made the difference between a pillar forming and not dissolving like the limestone around it .
Was it random , or " was there some sort of social system above that was protecting unstable entry into that piece of limestone ? " he posed .
" These are some of the things that I pretend we still postulate to recover out . There ’s plenty of mystery left in the Pinnacles to search . "
