Monolith

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Please improve this article if you can. (February 2007)
For other uses, see Monolith (disambiguation).

A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are most often made of very hard and solid metamorphic or sedimentary rock.

The word derives from the Latin word monolithus from the Greek word μονόλιϑος (monolithos), derived from μόνος ("one" or "single") and λίϑος ("stone").

Mount Augustus is often claimed to be the largest monolith on Earth
Mount Augustus is often claimed to be the largest monolith on Earth

Contents

[edit] Geological monoliths

The three largest on Earth are:

  1. Mount Augustus, in Western Australia - 860m
  2. La Peña de Bernal, in Mexico
  3. Stone Mountain, in Stone Mountain Park, Stone Mountain, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Others include:

[edit] North America

[edit] Europe

[edit] Africa

[edit] Asia

[edit] Australia

[edit] South America

[edit] Antarctica

Many of these have legends attached.

[edit] Monumental monoliths

Ellora Caves, temple in India
Ellora Caves, temple in India

A structure which has been excavated as a unit from a surrounding matrix or outcropping of rock.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Glossary. is a mountain that is made up of stone and clay.

[edit] External links

    • Regarding Uluru/Ayers Rock and earlier representations of it as the largest monolith -