Ayers Rock
The sediments from these ranges was laid down on the Amadeus Basin, and further earth movements about 300 million years ago and an erosion process that continues even now at a very slow rate, began to create the spectacular features we see today.
Consisting of Arkose, a course-grained sandstone rich in the mineral feldspar, Ayers Rock achieves its famous red colour and flaky surface from the chemical decay of minerals and mechanical erosion. The characteristic rusty colour of the exposed surface of these flakes is just that rust. It is caused by the oxidation or rusting of the iron in the arkose. The fresh arkose is a grey colour.
The sculptured shapes of the Rock are a combination of mechanical erosion and other events such as chemical changes caused by moisture.
Rising 862.5 metres above sea level (345 metres above the ground), Ayers Rock covers an area of 3.33 square kilometers. It has a circumference of 9,4 kilometres, a maximum width of 2,0 kilometres and a maximum length of 3,1 kilometres.
Ayers Rock is situated in the Uluru (Ayers Rock-Mount Olga) National Park, Northern Territory, Australia.
The approximate co-ordinates are:
7195000mN / 705000mE
131 degrees 02 minutes East / 25 degrees 20 minutes South.
The first white person to reach and climb the Rock was William Christie Gosse in 1873. He named it after Sir Henry Ayers, then Chief Secretary and later Premier of South Australia. Aboriginal people are believed to have lived around Ayers Rock for several thousand years, and their name for Ayers Rock, "Uluru" is simply a place name without any special meaning.
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