Sail Rock, or Parus Rock (russian: скала́ Па́рус, ''skala Parus''), is a natural

sandstone 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) ...

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...

of late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

ageSail Rock at Praskoveyevka Environments
/ref> located on the shore of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

, in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of t ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It resembles the outline of a ship's

sail A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may ...

, hence its name. The monolith lies 17 km to the southeast of

Gelendzhik Gelendzhik (russian: Геленджи́к) is a resort town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Gelendzhik Bay of the Black Sea, between Novorossiysk ( to the northwest) and Tuapse ( to the southeast). Greater Gelendzhik sprawls for along t ...

, near the village of Praskoveyevka (which is about 500 m from the coast) and the farmstead of Dzhankhot (approximately twice that distance from the coast). Sail Rock has a sheer vertical slope confronting the shore of the sea, isolated from the mass of basic rock by geological forces. It is more than three-fourths revealed by the tide and lies perpendicular to the coast. What is most remarkable about this landmark is its proportions. While the cliff is only a little more than one metre thick, its height is about 25 m and its length about 20. Thus, the form of the cliff is described as resembling the outline of a quadrangular sail. An opening of unclear origin is located in the sail, approximatively 2.5 metres above the ground. Many guides state that the formation was a defence against mountain

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

during the

Caucasian War The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the R ...

. However, this version of the origin of the opening is under some doubt. In 1903, S. Vasyukov, who was investigating the Black Sea coast, wrote after the inspection of the cliff that it was " .shot from a

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

by seamen, they released 4 projectiles, but the wall remained firm, although the traces are noticeable, but they nowhere opened the rock ... The appearance of this unique formation is explained by the pounding of the sea on the land (

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

), as well as the different strengths of its constituent rocks. Sail Rock's status as a natural monument was declared November 24, 1971 by the administration of Gelendzhik. Protection of the rock was entrusted to the Divnomorskiy

rural council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...

. The surrounding

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

and its environs are a place for outdoor leisure and recreation, including nearby health resorts. President Putin has a large estate about 1.5 miles down the coast.

References

External links

Visitors' information about Sail Rock from the Hotel Parus

Sail Rock at Praskoveyevka Environments

{{coord, 44, 26, 19.1, N, 38, 11, 3.8, E, source:ruwiki, display=title Stacks (geology) Landforms of Krasnodar Krai Black Sea Geology of European Russia Rock formations of Russia Sandstone Cretaceous geology

See also

References

External links