DESERT TO B TO
S Like tombstones in a deserted
graveyard, these karstified limestone remains emerge from the
barren, yellow dunes of Nambung,West Australia. See also next
plate.
THE PINNACLES These are not megaliths, erected by an
ancient tribe to honor their gods, but natural limestone pinnacles in the yellow sand dunes of Nambung,West Australia. They
are the remains of limestone beds that were karstified, which
means they were leached out by water and further eroded. But
surely these pinnacles were, to the aboriginal people of
Australia, as sacred and significant as megaliths. Every striking
rock or rock formation in their homeland is considered a holy
and essential object, marking the songlines and dream paths
devised by their ancestors. Unlike ancient tribes in other parts
of the world, the Australian aboriginals felt no need to upend
or move rocks around in order to corroborate their beliefs.
CARRARA MARBLE Wandering among the marble quarries, in the Apuanian hills above Carrara. Italy, feels like walking
in a labyrinth of gigantic fridges. On Sundays, when no work is
done, an uncanny silence reigns, until a dog barks or a stone
falls. These sounds reverberate from all sides. for a long time.
The softly white marbles quarried here have provided for the
needs of builders and sculptors alike since classical times.
THE EMBRACE Those who cannot afford the works of
sculpture that they fancy, or who are unimpressed by what
artists make these days. can go to Harleville or several other
quarries in the area south of Paris. At the interface of certain
sedimentary beds one can find strange looking. rounded concretions of fine-grained. white sand. tightly cemented by past
diagenetic processes. To local quarrymen and geologists these
nodules are known as gogottes or poupees, names that are suggestive of the bulbous, if not lascivious forms that these natural
works of art can adopt. Actual height 350 mm.
A BURREN ONUMENT The Burren, on the Irish west
coast. is a remarkable land of bare limestone, scarcely overgrown, as rocky as can be. Ice Age glaciers first levelled this terrain out into large flat stretches and smoothly rounded hills.
The downpours and general wetness that are ageless in this
coastal region next made the limestone prey to intense leaching and karstification. These and other erosive forces trans25
formed the surface into endless stretches of highly fragmented
and fissured pavement. In spite of its stony crudeness, this
realm - since primeval times - has attracted people who have
managed to scrape a living from the inhospitable soil.The people of the Burren had a strange affinity with these rocks. They
used them not only for building their houses, but also heaped
them up in endless dry stonewalls and other constructions of
dubious functionality. Of no rock or heap of stones in the
Burren one can be sure whether it is in its natural position or
moved about by people, somewhere back in time. The same is
true for the upended chunk of karstified limestone seen in this
plate.
SVARTIFOSS Svartifoss is a legendary waterfall in Skaftafell
Park, southeastern Iceland. Svartifoss means 'Black Falls'.
Indeed, this damp setting, with its menacing black basalt
columns, always shrouded in a thin spray, with water trickling
all over, is strangely disquieting, as if it is not meant to be visited by ordinary mortals, let alone noisy tourists.
S Like tombstones in a deserted
graveyard, these karstified limestone remains emerge from the
barren, yellow dunes of Nambung,West Australia. See also next
plate.
THE PINNACLES These are not megaliths, erected by an
ancient tribe to honor their gods, but natural limestone pinnacles in the yellow sand dunes of Nambung,West Australia. They
are the remains of limestone beds that were karstified, which
means they were leached out by water and further eroded. But
surely these pinnacles were, to the aboriginal people of
Australia, as sacred and significant as megaliths. Every striking
rock or rock formation in their homeland is considered a holy
and essential object, marking the songlines and dream paths
devised by their ancestors. Unlike ancient tribes in other parts
of the world, the Australian aboriginals felt no need to upend
or move rocks around in order to corroborate their beliefs.
CARRARA MARBLE Wandering among the marble quarries, in the Apuanian hills above Carrara. Italy, feels like walking
in a labyrinth of gigantic fridges. On Sundays, when no work is
done, an uncanny silence reigns, until a dog barks or a stone
falls. These sounds reverberate from all sides. for a long time.
The softly white marbles quarried here have provided for the
needs of builders and sculptors alike since classical times.
THE EMBRACE Those who cannot afford the works of
sculpture that they fancy, or who are unimpressed by what
artists make these days. can go to Harleville or several other
quarries in the area south of Paris. At the interface of certain
sedimentary beds one can find strange looking. rounded concretions of fine-grained. white sand. tightly cemented by past
diagenetic processes. To local quarrymen and geologists these
nodules are known as gogottes or poupees, names that are suggestive of the bulbous, if not lascivious forms that these natural
works of art can adopt. Actual height 350 mm.
A BURREN ONUMENT The Burren, on the Irish west
coast. is a remarkable land of bare limestone, scarcely overgrown, as rocky as can be. Ice Age glaciers first levelled this terrain out into large flat stretches and smoothly rounded hills.
The downpours and general wetness that are ageless in this
coastal region next made the limestone prey to intense leaching and karstification. These and other erosive forces trans25
formed the surface into endless stretches of highly fragmented
and fissured pavement. In spite of its stony crudeness, this
realm - since primeval times - has attracted people who have
managed to scrape a living from the inhospitable soil.The people of the Burren had a strange affinity with these rocks. They
used them not only for building their houses, but also heaped
them up in endless dry stonewalls and other constructions of
dubious functionality. Of no rock or heap of stones in the
Burren one can be sure whether it is in its natural position or
moved about by people, somewhere back in time. The same is
true for the upended chunk of karstified limestone seen in this
plate.
SVARTIFOSS Svartifoss is a legendary waterfall in Skaftafell
Park, southeastern Iceland. Svartifoss means 'Black Falls'.
Indeed, this damp setting, with its menacing black basalt
columns, always shrouded in a thin spray, with water trickling
all over, is strangely disquieting, as if it is not meant to be visited by ordinary mortals, let alone noisy tourists.