The Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point near Punakaiki are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes.
The foundations of the Pancake Rocks were formed 30 million years ago when minute fragments of dead marine creatures and plants landed on the seabed about 2 km below the surface.
Immense water pressure caused them to solidify into layers of more resistant limestone and softer, thin, layers.
Gradually seismic action lifted the limestone above the seabed where water, wind and salt spray eroded the softer layers leaving a pancake like stack of harder limestone.
Besides the layered pancake rocks, the other specialty of the place is the blowholes. Blowholes form from a mixture water and air escaping through the caverns below and being forced upwards and creating a huge wall of spray
The Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point near Punakaiki are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes.
The foundations of the Pancake Rocks were formed 30 million years ago when minute fragments of dead marine creatures and plants
Immense water pressure caused them to solidify into layers of more resistant limestone and softer, thin, layers.
Gradually seismic action lifted the limestone above the seabed where water, wind and salt spray eroded the softer layers leaving a pancake like stack of harder limestone.
Besides the layered pancake rocks, the other specialty of the place is the blowholes. Blowholes form from a mixture water and air escaping through the caverns below and being forced upwards and creating a huge wall of spray.
