Pinnacle (geology)

A pinnacle, tower, spire, needle or natural tower (German: Felsnadel, Felsturm or Felszinne) in geology is an individual column of rock, isolated from other rocks or groups of rocks, in the shape of a vertical shaft or spire. is a natural geomorphological shape and a structural denudation shape of the relief. It is about an isolated, tall and often also slender column or prism, reminiscent of a tower in its shape. A specific type of rock tower is the rock needle.^[1]

Rock towers at  Adrspašské rocks

Formation

Tower of Babel in the Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs, US)

The rock tower was created as a result of mechanical erosion, namely the gradual breakdown and destruction of a flat plateau or a rocky mountain ridge.^[2] Its shape is the result of mechanical weathering and the attitude of the rock, or the subsidence of the slope. On the sea coast, rock towers are created by abrasion and isolation of the more resistant parts of the worn and abraded coast (cliff).^[3]

Distribution

Rock towers are found in various parts of the world. They are found on the edges of high mountains and tabular plateaus, such as the buttes in arid regions, or on heavily disturbed rocky coasts. However, they are most often found in the area of sandstone rock towns.^[4]

Examples are the summits of the Aiguille du Midi in the Mont Blanc massif in France, the almost 43-metre-high Barbarine on the south side of the Pfaffenstein hill near Königstein in Germany, or the Bischofsmütze, the Drei Zinnen and the Vajolet Towers in the Dolomites, which are rich in such towers. An area of limestone formations within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia, is known as The Pinnacles.

Gallery

• 
  Cerro Torre 3,133 m (south flank ~2,150 m), Patagonia, Argentina/Chile
• 
  The Barbarine (43 m high), Saxon Switzerland, Germany
• 
  The Vajolet Towers 2,790 m (main tower 120 m high), South Tyrol, Italy
• 
  Khao Ta Pu (known as James Bond Island) off Khao Phing Kan, Thailand
• 
  The Pinnacles, Nambung National Park, Western Australia
• 
  Small sandstone rock pinnacle at Yaverland, Isle of Wight, UK, formed as a result of cliff erosion
• 
  Top of the Rock Golf Course Limestone Pinnacles (excavated to a depth of 60 m in areas), Branson, Missouri, USA
• 
  Debre Sema'it rock church on the top of a pinnacle in Ethiopia

See also

• Hoodoo
• Kigilyakh
• Pinnacles National Park
• Pyramidal peak
• Stack (geology)
• Totem pole (Monument Valley)
• Trango Towers