Part of one of Australia's famous Twelve Apostles rock pillars has collapsed in front of stunned onlookers.
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| This combination photo shows two photographs taken less than one minute apart of the Australian tourist attraction known as the Twelve Apostles, about 220 kilometres (135 miles) south west of Melbourne, before and after one of the pillars collapsed yesterday. Part of the Twelve Apostles, one of Australia's most famous landmarks, has been reduced to a pile of rubble after one of the rock stacks collapsed. |
A 146-feet pillar that geologists say took 20 million years to form took just seconds to collapse into the Southern Ocean yesterday after witnesses said a large crack appeared in its side.
"Reports were it sort of shimmied and shuddered a bit, it fractured and sort of imploded in on itself and pretty much slid straight into the ocean," Victoria state park ranger Alex Green said.
"So we've gone from a 50-metre stack to a 10-metre pile of rubble."
Mr Green said the pillar's collapse was part of the natural process of erosion that had formed the rugged coastline along Victoria's Great Ocean Road, one of Australia's most popular tourist spots about 220 kilometres southwest of Melbourne.
Before Sunday's collapse, there had been nine of the imposing rock formations still standing just offshore.
The pillars were formed over millions of years as wind and waves eroded soft limestone cliffs, forming caves which then became arches as the limestone collapsed and then stacks isolated from the shore.
Part of another of the stacks, known as London Bridge, collapsed in 1990.