Alternate title ‘The Lost City’.
Composite images combined in Photoshop.

Sky image:

Volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere (higher than the wavy altocumulus shown here) accentuated the sunset colors seen and was observed globally for 2 to 3 years following the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. Taken at Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Feb 1992. Nikon F3, Fuji Velvia.

Ground image:

‘The Petrified Forest’, Cape Bridgewater, Victoria, Australia.

There are a number of theories about how this surreal landscape of calcified sediment was formed. One of these is that a forest was smothered by a large sand dune and water seeping down through the sand formed a crust of sandstone on the outside of the tree trunks. This process decayed the organic matter, leaving behind the ‘petrified trunks’.

Another theory says that they are Rhizoconcretions-calcrete structures caused by the filling of hollows in an ancient sand dune system.

The close spacing between them suggests to me that they were not trees – but an ancient petrified forest sounds more romantic and the name has become entrenched over time perpetuating perhaps a myth.

Rollieflex SL66

© Ern Mainka