Apakah MONOLITH itu? Siapapun yang telah melihat film 2001: A Space Odyssey mungkin akan akan menjawab bahwa monolith adalah mesin canggih yang dibangun oleh alien untuk mendorong manusia dalam kemajuan dengan perkembangan teknologi. Sebenarnya, kata monolit berasal dari kata Yunani "Monolithos", berasal dari mono ("satu" atau "tunggal") dan Lithos ("batu"). Dalam konteks ini, daftar ini mengacu pada fitur geologi seperti gunung, yang terdiri dari sebuah batu besar tunggal atau rock.
Problem untuk menemukan monolith terbesar adalah bahwa istilah "monolith" agak ambigu. Oleh karena itu Geologiwan sering lebih memilih istilah Monadnock atau Inselberg (harfiah "pulau gunung") untuk menggambarkan sebuah bukit terpencil atau sebuah gunung tunggal yang naik di atas daerah sekitarnya. Kebanyakan Monolith dalam daftar ini adalah inselbergs, meskipun tidak setiap inselberg adalah sebuah monolit. Misalnya, Gunung Augustus di Australia Barat sering disebut monolith tetapi sebenarnya merupakan monocline, sepotong batu yang menonjol milik lapisan bawah. Dengan kata lain monocline bukanlah sepotong batu meskipun perbedaannya tidak selalu jelas.
Masalah lain adalah bahwa banyak batu dan gunung yang disebut monolit terbesar di dunia tetapi klaim ini jarang didukung oleh informasi geologi dan mungkin didasarkan pada satu dimensi saja seperti tinggi atau lingkar kelilingnya. Selanjutnya, tinggi dapat diukur dari permukaan laut atau dari tanah sekitarnya.
Tapi bagaimanapun juga inilah monolith terbesar terbesar dan paling menarik di planet ini.
Pena De Bernal
Peña de Bernal (“Bernal Peak”) is Mexico’s largest monolith located in San Sebastian Bernal, a small town in the state of Queretaro. The rock rises 350 meters (1148 feet) above the town and was formed some 100 million years ago during the Jurassic period when it was at least three times higher than today.
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom on the southern coast of Spain at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea. The 426 meters (1,396 feet) high limestone monolith is the home of 27,800 Gibraltarians and 250 Barbary macaques, the only wild primates in Europe. In Greek mythology Gibraltar was one of the Pillars of Hercules which marked the edge of the Mediterranean and the known world.
El Capitan, Yosemite
One of the most famous sights in Yosemite National Park, the granite monolith El Capitan rises almost 910 meter (3,000 foot) vertically from Yosemite Valey. It is is a favorite challenge among expert rock climbers. In 1958, Warren J. Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore were the first to climb the Nose of El Capitan using ropes, pitons and expansion bolts.
Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine is a national park in the Extreme South region of Patagonian Chile and features mountains, lakes and glaciers. The centerpiece of the park are the three Towers of Paine; spectacular granite monoliths shaped by the forces of glacial ice. The highest peak is about 2,500 meters (8200 feet).
Ben Amera
Mauritania’s best kept secret, the Ben Amera lies hidden in the desert waiting to be discovered by mass tourism. According to some sources it is the second largest monolith in the world after Uluru. Ben Amera is located 5km from Tmeimichat, a small village on the route of the desert train between Nouadhibou and Zouerate.
Devils Tower
Rising 386 meters (1,267 feet) above the surrounding terrain, Devils Tower is the core of an ancient volcano exposed from erosion. It is located in the Black Hills in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming and was declared a United States National Monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The mountain became world famous in 1977 when it was chosen as the location of the alien-human rendezvous point in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar winning science fiction film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Sigiriya
Sigiriya is a spectacular 370 meter (1214 foot) high ‘Lion rock’ fortress overlooking the green jungle surroundings. It is one of Sri Lanka’s major tourist attractions. The Sigiriya rock is a hardened magma plug from an extinct and long-eroded volcano, similar to Devils Tower. From about the 5h century BC it was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery and later turned into a rock fortress by King Kasyapa.
Sugarloaf Mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain (Portuguese: Pao de Acucar) is one of the most commonly recognized and sought after tourist attraction in Rio de Janeiro. Situated on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean, the mountain rises 396 meters (1,299 feet) above sea-level. A cable car brings visitors to the peak of Sugarloaf Mountain where spectacular views of Copacabana and other beaches can be admired.
Zuma Rock
Nigeria’s answer to Australia’s Uluru, Zuma Rock lies north of Nigeria’s capital Abuja and is easily observed by driving the main road from Abuja to Kaduna. Although only one-third as wide as Uluru, Zuma Rock is more than twice as high, rising an impressive 725 meters (2378 feet) above its surroundings. According to some observers a person’s face can be recognized in the white part at the center of the rock.
Uluru/Ayers Rock
Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognizable natural icons, located 335 km (208 miles) south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs. It is the largest monolith in the world. The world-renowned sandstone formation stands 348 meter (1,142 foot) high and measures 9.4 km (5.8 miles) in circumference. The rock undergoes dramatic color changes with its normally terracotta hue gradually changing to blue or violet at sunset to flaming red in the mornings as the sunrises behind it.
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