Monolith

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

Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, is often referred to as the biggest monolith, but that is generally avoided by geologists. While the surrounding rocks were eroded, the rock survived as sandstone strata making up the surviving Uluru 'monolith'.
Monolithos fortress on Rhodes, Greece
Landsat 7 image Brandberg Mountain, Namibia
Gavea Rock, a monolith next to the sea, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In architecture, the term has considerable overlap with megalith, which is normally used for prehistory, and may be used in the contexts of rock-cut architecture that remains attached to solid rock, as in monolithic church, or for exceptionally large stones such as obelisks, statues, monolithic columns or large architraves, that may have been moved a considerable distance after quarrying. It may also be used of large glacial erratics moved by natural forces.

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

Geological monoliths

Large, well-known monoliths include:

Africa
  • Aso Rock, Nigeria
  • Ben Amera, Mauritania
  • Brandberg Mountain, Namibia
  • Sibebe, Swaziland
  • Zuma Rock, Nigeria
  • Mount Lubiri, Angola
  • Mount Poi, Kenya
  • Great Sphinx of Giza

Antarctica
  • Scullin monolith

Asia
Savandurga, India, from the northern side
Sangla Hill, Pakistan

Australia
  • Bald Rock, near Tenterfield, New South Wales
  • Mount Augustus (Burringurrah), Western Australia
  • Mount Coolum, Queensland
  • Mount Wudinna, South Australia
  • Pine Mountain, Victoria
  • Uluru, Northern Territory

Europe
Penyal d'Ifac, Spain

North America

United States
Beacon Rock, Washington, viewed from the west
El Capitan in Yosemite
  • Angels Landing, Zion National Park, Utah
  • Beacon Rock, Columbia River Gorge, Washington
  • Bottleneck Peak and Moon, Sids Mountain, Utah
  • Castle Rock, Pineville, West Virginia
  • Chimney Rock, Bayard, Nebraska
  • Chimney Rock, Chimney Rock, North Carolina
  • Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Bridgeport, Nebraska
  • Devils Tower, Wyoming
  • El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California
  • Enchanted Rock, Llano County, Texas
  • Frog Woman Rock, Mendocino County, California
  • Great White Throne, Zion National Park, Utah
  • Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California
  • Haystack Rock, Clatsop County, Oregon
  • Looking Glass Rock, Transylvania County, North Carolina
  • Morro Rock, Morro Bay, California
  • Scotts Bluff National Monument, Gering, Nebraska
  • Shiprock, San Juan County, New Mexico
  • Stone Mountain, Stone Mountain, Georgia
  • Tooth of Time, Cimarron, New Mexico
  • Wolf Rock, Linn County, Oregon
Stawamus Chief as seen from Valleycliffe neighborhood in Squamish, British Columbia

Canada
  • Stawamus Chief, Squamish, British Columbia

Mexico
  • La Peña de Bernal, Queretaro; claimed to be the world's third largest monolith.[1][2][3][4]

South America
El Peñón, monolith in Colombia, located in Antioquia
  • El Peñón, also known as El Peñol Stone or simply La Piedra, Colombia
  • Pão de Açúcar, Brazil
  • Pedra da Gávea, Brazil the world's largest monolith on the coastline
  • Pedra da Galinha Choca, Brazil
  • Torres del Paine, Chile

Extraterrestrial
  • Phobos monolith on Phobos
  • Mars monolith

Monumental monoliths

A structure which has been excavated as a unit from a surrounding matrix or outcropping of rock.[5]

See also
  • Bornhardt
  • Butte
  • Kigilyakh
  • List of inselbergs
  • Megalith
  • Menhir
  • Monadnock (or inselberg)
  • Monolithic architecture
  • Monolith (Space Odyssey)
  • Monolithos (Rhodes)

References
  1. López Domínguez, Leonor (May 2001). "Villa de Bernal and its Magic Mountain". México Desconocido #291. Archived from the original on 2015-03-13.
  2. "Peña de Bernal - Bernal - Queretaro" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 October 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  3. Raul Carrillo (2007). Northrop, Laura Cava; Dwight L. Curtis; Natalie Sherman (eds.). Let's Go Mexico: On a Budget. Macmillan. p. 370. ISBN 978-0-312-37452-5.
  4. Escobar Ledesma, Agustín (1999). Recetario del semidesierto de Querétaro: Acoyos, rejalgares y tantarrias. Conaculta. p. 75. ISBN 978-970-18-3910-2.
  5. "Glossary". Archived from the original on 2010-01-01.
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