May 1, 2011

Interesting Sandstone Weathering at Cape Point

Posted by Evelyn Mervine

Gorgeous sandstone, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.

Back in January Callan Bentley over at Mountain Beltway posted these pictures of some rocks with interesting weathering patterns. In response, I posted pictures of some more rocks with similar weathering patterns.

A couple of days ago my fiance and I did a few hikes around Cape Point, South Africa. There is abundant sandstone all around the point– most of the sandstone around Cape Point and Cape Town is part of the Table Mountain Sandstone Group (TMG).

As we wandered around Cape Point, we noticed some interesting weathering features in the sandstone. Some of the weathering features are similar to the features Callan and I posted pictures of back in January.   Feel free to click on any of the pictures below for a larger version. In some of the pictures there is a 50c Rand coin (which is slightly larger than an American nickel) for scale.

Sandstone layers, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
View from the lighthouse, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Lizard hanging out on some sandstone, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Sandstone boulder with interesting weathering, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Close-up of interesting sandstone weathering, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Venus Pools 1, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Sandstone weathering at Venus Pools 1, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Sandstone weathering at Venus Pools 2, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Venus Pools 2, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.
Venus Pools 3, Cape Point, South Africa, April 2011.