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Limestone and iron reveal puzzling extreme rain in Western Australia 100,000 years ago

Almost one-sixth of Earth's land surface is covered in otherworldly landscapes with a name that may also be unfamiliar: karst. These landscapes are like natural sculpture parks, with dramatic terrain dotted with caves and towers of bedrock slowly sculpted by water over thousands of years.

Karst landscapes are beautiful and ecologically important. They also represent a record of Earth's past temperature and moisture levels.

However, it can be quite challenging to figure out exactly when karst landscapes formed. In our new work published today in Science Advances, we show a new way to find the age of these enigmatic landscapes, which will help us understand our planet's past in more detail.

The challenge

Karst is defined by the removal of material. The rock towers and caves we see today are what is left after water dissolved the rest during wet periods of the past.

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Limestone and iron reveal puzzling extreme rain in Western Australia 100,000 years ago

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Limestone and iron reveal puzzling extreme rain in Western Australia 100,000 years ago

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