The Bungle Bungle Range is a major landform and the main feature of the

Purnululu National Park The Purnululu National Park is a World Heritage Site in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. The national park is located approximately south of Kununurra, with Halls Creek located to the south. Declared a World Heritage Site in 2 ...

, situated in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Formation

The distinctive

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

-shaped towers are made up of

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...

and conglomerates (rocks composed mainly of pebbles and boulders and cemented together by finer material). These

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic matter, organic particles at Earth#Surface, Earth's surface, followed by cementation (geology), cementation. Sedimentati ...

formations were deposited into the Red Basin 375 to 350 million years ago, when active faults altered the landscape. The combined effects of wind from the

Tanami Desert The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It has a rocky terrain with small hills, and cacti. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored b ...

and rainfall over millions of years shaped the domes. Bungle Bungles range

Description

The range is found on the plains fringing the eastern Kimberley region. The ranges consist of stacks of ancient seabeds with layers of

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

contained throughout them. A diameter circular topographic feature is clearly visible on satellite images of the Bungle Bungle Range.https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Australia&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=12&ll=-17.421408,128.444939&spn=0.128409,0.342636&t=k Google Maps image It is believed that this feature is the eroded remnant of a very ancient

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

impact crater An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact craters ...

and is known as the

Piccaninny crater Piccaninny crater is an impact structure, the eroded remnant of a former impact crater, situated in northern Western Australia in the Kimberley region. It was named after Piccaninny Creek and lies within the Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) National ...

. The unusual orange and dark grey banding on the conical rock formations is caused by differences in the layers of sandstone. The darker bands are on the layers of rock which hold more moisture, and are a dark algal or

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blu ...

growth. The orange coloured layers are stained with iron and manganese mineral deposits contained within the sandstone. The Bungle Bungle Range formation occupies an area of approximately . Purnululu2

History

The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the area are the Kija/

Gija people Gija, also spelt Gidja and Kija, alternatively known as the Lungga, refers to Aboriginal Australians from the East Kimberley area of Western Australia, about 200 km south of Kununurra. In the late 19th century pastoralists were fiercely re ...

. Aboriginal people have been living in the area for over 20,000 years and continue to maintain a strong connection to this ancient landscape. The national park is managed by the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation in conjunction with the traditional Aboriginal owners. The range remained largely unknown except by local Aboriginal people and stockmen until 1982 when film-makers arrived and produced a documentary about the Kimberley. The area was gazetted as a National Park in 1987 and was also inscribed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 2003.

References

External links

Purnululu National ParkBungle Bungle Range (Purnululu National Park) "Information Site"
including all relevant history, Photos and information about the local area...Kununurra, Halls Creek and surrounds {{coord, -17.4214, 128.4449, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Kimberley (Western Australia) Rock formations of Western Australia

Formation

Description

History

See also

References

External links