Rock of Gibraltar. Gibraltar. Spain.
N 36° 08.150 W 005° 20.800
30S E 288845 N 4001565
The Rock of Gibraltar - the most famous rock in the world.
Gibraltar is situated at the southern end of Europe with a land frontier to Spain on its northern front.
It rests at the crossroads of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
Waymark Code: WM3R47
Location: Gibraltar
Date Posted: 05/08/2008
Views: 185
The Rock of Gibraltar (sometimes called the Pillar of Hercules) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is 426 metres (1,396 feet) high.
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory. The geological formation was created during the Jurassic period some 200 million years ago, when the African tectonic plate collided tightly with the Eurasian plate. The Mediterranean became a lake that, over the course of time, dried up during the Messinian salinity crisis. The Atlantic Ocean then broke through the Strait of Gibraltar, and the resultant flooding created the Mediterranean Sea. The Rock forms part of the Betic Cordillera, a mountain range that dominates south-eastern Iberia.
Today, the Rock of Gibraltar forms a peninsula jutting out into the Strait of Gibraltar from the southern coast of Spain. To the north, the Rock rises vertically from sea level up to 411.5 metres at Rock Gun Battery. The Rock's highest point stands 426 metres (1396 feet) above the strait. The near-cliffs along the eastern side of the Rock drop down to a series of wind-blown sand slopes that date to the glaciations, when sea levels were lower than today, and a sandy plain extended east from the base of the Rock. Its western face is comparatively less steep.
Calcite, the mineral which makes up limestone, dissolves slowly in rainwater. Over time, this process can form caves. Since the Rock of Gibraltar is made of limestone, it is not surprising that it contains over 100 caves. St.Michael's Cave, located halfway up the western slope of the Rock, is the most prominent and is a popular tourist attraction.
Information supplied by Wikipedia.