![]() After all, anywhere with cliffs and a sea can create one over time, and eagle-eyed tourists can spot them on all seven continents. These are just a few of the breath-taking sea stacks that can be found around the world. Other stunning examples can be seen in South America (in the Galápagos), North America (Newfoundland, Canada), Asia (Phang Nga Bay, Thailand), and in and around the Arctic, such as Vik (Iceland) and the Faroe Islands. It has long attracted ambitious climbers, as it's much wider at the top than at its base. However, this rock is unstable and brittle, meaning that even gentle waves can start the erosion process.Īlso in Europe, there's the terrifying-looking North Gaulton Castle sea stack on the main island of Scotland’s Orkney Islands. For example, sea stacks in Lagos, Portugal, were created from sedimentary rock, with various natural materials combining to give them a beautiful striped effect. This slows down the inshore part of the wave and makes the wave ‘bend.’. The shallow part of the wave ‘feels’ the bottom first. Waves approach the shore at some angle so the inshore part of the wave reaches shallow water sooner than the part that is further out. Sea stacks can be found on all seven continents, and each highlights a subtle difference in how they are made. Wave energy does the work of erosion at the shore. Any stack could become a stump as the water breaks down its base, so stacks should be treated with caution by climbers. Over time, this too gets broken down, causing the stack to collapse, leaving what's known as a sea stump. Over many more generations, this arch also falls away, separating one part of the rock from the original cliff. Eventually, the wind and water break through to the other side, creating a cave or arch. When enough chips fall off, holes are created that extend from one rock outcrop side to the other. The force of the two creates cracks in the stone, and, little by little, cracks become chips, which fall off the main rock. Millennia of wind and waves hit the rock and break it down. All sea stacks start out as part of nearby rock formations. Thousands or even millions of years, in fact.Ĭoastal erosion or the slow wearing of rock by water and wind over very long periods of time causes a stack to form. ![]() How’s a sea stack formed?Īll you need is a cliff face, some water, and lots of time. Some of them are long and flat, while others are tall, thin, and pointy. Famous examples exist everywhere from Australia to Ireland, Iceland, and Russia. ![]() They can occur wherever there is a water body and a cliff. A sea stack is exactly as the name suggests: a large stack of rock in the sea that looks like a tall stone tower, separated from the main shoreline.
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