2. What is Uluru?
Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a massive
sandstone monolith in the heart of
the Northern Territory’s arid "Red
Centre".
The nearest large town is Alice
Springs, 450km away. Uluru is sacred
to indigenous Australians and is
thought to have started forming
around 550 million years ago.
It’s within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National
Park, which also includes the 36 red-
rock domes of the Kata Tjuta
(colloquially “The Olgas”) formation.
3.
4. Where is Uluru?
Uluru is located in
the southwestern
corner of
Australia’s
Northern Territory.
Some geologist say
that Uluru is close
to the centre of
Australia.
Uluru is best
accessed from the
town of Alice
springs.
5.
6. How tall and
wide is Uluru?
• Uluru rises 348m above the plain, more
than 860m above sea level.
• The monolith(stone) is oval in shape,
measuring 2.2 miles (3.6 km) long by 1.5
miles (2.4 km) wide, with a circumference
of 5.8 miles (9.4 km).
8. What is Uluru made of?
Uluru is made of arkoses, a coarse grained sandstone rich
in the mineral feldspar. The sandy sediment,
which hardened to form this arkoses, was eroded from
high mountains composed largely of granite.
9. Formation of
Uluru
Uluru and kata Tjuta are massive rocks that have been standing for millions of
years. There are different philosophies of how they were formed, but here is
how geologists approach this question.
The geologists theory is that Uluru and Kata Tjuta once was a massive
mountain. The formation of Uluru and Kata Tjuta(as both were formed at the
same time) began over 550 million years ago. It existed in the center of
Australia. After time, the effects of weathering and erosion took its toll. The
mountain, after a long period of time, the gargantuan mountain divided it into
two. One is Uluru, the other Kata Tjuta. Uluru and Kata Tjuta are therefore the
visible tips of huge rock slabs that spread out far beneath the ground.
At this time the big crustal blocks that form the Australian continent coming
together. A block called the Musgrave Province pushed up from the south
creating mountains — the Petermann Ranges — in an event called the
Petermann Orogeny (an orogeny is a mountain-building event.)
11. Climate: The climate in Uluru is extreme,
meaning that it is either very hot or
very cold. In winter, the daytime
temperatures can be lovely and nice
but at night time it can drop below
zero. In the summer, the
temperature gets really high. It can
reach as much as 45 Celsius.
13. Why is Uluru
red colour?
Uluru is red due to the
oxidation or….
The rusting of the iron-bearing
minerals within the rock as it
has sat there in the desert air
for a long-time(hundreds of
thousands of year).
19. Key features
of Uluru
There is not much thing to say about the key
features of Uluru. You can climb Uluru, there is a
hiking path where you can hike, there is Kuniya
walk which leaves from the Kuniya carpark and
takes you to the Mutitjulu waterhole, home of a
wanampi(an ancestral water snake). Kuniya walk
is an awesome walk to do after rain, and great for
birdwatchers. You can also see some rock arts in
the caves. The walk is very short and is 1km in
length. At the top of Uluru, you can take nice
pictures of the surroundings. Uluru is surrounded
by one main road called Uluru Rd. It is also
surrounded by trees and bushes but are of the
land are plain dry land.
21. What can people do in Uluru
The people
can use the
landscape for
lots of things
like…
Field of Light
(night show
where they
lots fields of
light on the
plain. This
experience
can only be
seen ones in
a lifetime.)
Restaurant
Uluru
(Australia’s
most
spectacular
open-air
restaurants
set under the
brilliant skies
of the
Southern
Hemisphere
with
magnificent
views of
Uluru.)
Thrill &
Adventure
(thrill
adventures
are also in
Uluru like
riding Harley
or choosing a
view of Uluru
from the
skies with a
scenic Heli
tour or
skydive).
Wish Upon A
Star (There
are a
number of
tours that
will take you
on a guided
journey
explaining
the stars,
planets and
ancient
mythologies)
Witness An
Uluru
Sunrise (Rise
early to join
one of the
Uluru
Sunrise Tours
or watch the
spectacle
from one of
the
designated
viewing
areas inside
the Park.)
Learn About
Anangu
Culture (pay
a visit to the
Cultural
Centre in the
National Park
for a great
introduction
to local
Indigenous
culture &
traditions.)
Camel riding
(There are a
number of
tours that
will take you
on a guided
journey
explaining
the stars,
planets and
ancient
mythologies)
22. What changes have taken place because of
people?
People relieving
themselves caused a
certain type of
shrimp extinct.
People leaving
rubbish behind has
killed some animals
that live near the
area.
Erosion caused by
tourist have eroded
the walking track on
Uluru.
23. Extinction of a type of shrimp
caused by people relieving
themselves on top of Uluru.
This has impacted the environment
negatively as people killed off this shrimp.
Shrimp are susceptible to enrichment of
the pools water. There are no toilets on
Uluru, human excretion gets washed off
the rock and into water holes, polluting
the water that a certain kind of shrimps
live in. People urinating on Uluru has
contaminated the pool water which the
shrimps live in. To protect the shrimps,
the draft management plan for the
national park was released
recommending the park be eventually
closed and also, they should have toilets
so that people don’t just urinate on Uluru
but also be clean.
24. People leaving rubbish
behind
“People leaving rubbish behind "is one of
the main issue that happens in Uluru.
Tourists leave a huge amount of rubbish in
Uluru including in the water holes. This can
have a negative impact on the animal that
lives near that area. There are no toilets on
Uluru, human excretion gets washed off
the rock and into water holes, polluting
animals drinking water. Limiting climbing
on Uluru, rubbish bins, and adding more
controlled rubbish disposal systems will
limit the amount of human pollution,
rubbish and would also support the
animals that lives in that area.
26. Erosion
caused by
human traffic
Uluru has been damaged by a certain type of erosion
caused by human traffic. More than 250,000 foreigners
and Australians travel to the centre of Australia to have a
great experience of Uluru's beauty and to learn about the
people that lived there, which is the Anangu
people(traditional Aboriginal owners of Uluru). This has
effected the walking track negatively as it has been
damaged by millions of climbers and Uluru itself has been
badly eroded. We can protect Uluru from this human
erosion by introducing varieties of different activities for
the tourists which can draw away the attention of climbing
Uluru or the management could permanently stop tourists
from climbing Uluru.
