London Arch

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Before the collapse
London Arch today

London Arch (German London Arch ; formerly London Bridge , German London Bridge ) is a natural rock arch in the Port Campbell National Park in Australia , not far from the Great Ocean Road .

The arch made of a Campbell limestone , which was formed in the Tertiary , is one of the many tourist attractions along the Great Ocean Road near Port Campbell in Victoria . The rock was worn away by natural erosion , so that it formed a double arch by 1990 . This formation reached the coast and was known at the time as London Bridge because of its appearance . Arches of this kind arise when rock formations made of rocks of different resistance are exposed to erosion, so that some areas weather faster than others and are eroded. The more slowly weathering areas then form the arches or the structures to be observed. However, these rocks are of course also subject to erosion, so that sooner or later it can be expected that they will collapse or be eroded. The structures exist only for a short time, viewed in geological time periods.

The inner arch - the bridge connection to the mainland - collapsed unexpectedly on January 15, 1990. Two tourists who were on the rock at the time of the collapse had to be rescued by helicopters. The formation was renamed London Arch after the event .

London Arch is one of a number of remarkable rock formations along this stretch of the Australian coast . Other local attractions include Pudding Basin Rock , Loch Ard Gorge , Island Archway , The Razorback , the uninhabited Muttonbird Island , Thunder Cave , The Blowhole , Elephant Rock , Bakers Oven , The Grotto and the Twelve Apostles .

In June 2009, another arch of rock along this coast collapsed, the nearby Island Archway .

Web links

Commons : London Arch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CD Woodroffe: Coasts: form, process and evolution . Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-521-01183-9 , pp. 156 ( google.com [accessed February 29, 2012]).
  2. ↑ smh.com.au : Archway no more: Victorian icon becomes two , June 11, 2009, in English, accessed March 2, 2012

Coordinates: 38 ° 37 ′ 25.4 ″  S , 142 ° 55 ′ 52.3 ″  E