The Unexplained Monolith Mystery

Reaching this vantage point felt like a proper expedition. The coastal section was long, wild, and tough going. And the final scramble around the headland to get here? Seriously tricky. Just as I was maneuvering around the rocks, this thing caught my eye – a dead ringer for that monolith from 2001, only a bit rougher around the edges. Everything around here is limestone and sandstone. This rock? A totally different color and feel. It was a real head-scratcher, especially standing so straight up like that.

My theory is that it is a weakly cemented sandstone/conglomerate layer. It’s likely to be a relatively temporary feature. Perhaps a larger section of the surrounding cliff recently collapsed or eroded away, exposing this block. Being crumbly, it might be eroding quite quickly and just happens to look like this monolithic stack right now. The dark colour could be a combination of iron oxides and/or finely dispersed particles of carbon, derived from decomposed organic matter.