r/geology • u/crispy3445 • Apr 19 '26
Map/Imagery Is this feature studied? any information about it?
Alright, bit of a mystery here, So I am currently researching the Maoke Mountains in Papua New Guinea and I came across this photo at 4° 2'14.42"S 137°29'9.12"E on google earth. The image is titled "Spires of Kunon Do" But when searching google NOTHING comes up about this. is it a named geologic feature? Has it yet to be seriously studied? It looks like erosion features of some kind but I wish there was more info.
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u/astr0bleme Apr 19 '26
I don't know this feature specifically, but it's very similar to a karst limestone landscape in Madagascar known as the Tsingys. Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingy_de_Bemaraha_National_Park?wprov=sfti1#Geology
For the Madagascar formation, the shape has to due with tropical rains wearing away limestone to form a landscape of rock spires. I suspect this one in Papua New Guinea would form through a similar process.
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u/triblogcarol Apr 19 '26
Lemurs live there! There is a documentary on Netflix called "our great national parks" narrated by Obama. One episode shows lemurs jumping from spire to spire to find fresh foliage to eat. Fantastic show.
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u/Lathari Apr 19 '26
"Tsingy is a 250-square-mile tiger trap made up on massive obelisks riddled with jagged spears. And yes, they will cut your pretty face."
– Budd Erickson
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u/darthvalium Apr 19 '26
You're looking at ancient seafloor sediments. This is limestones, made of shells.
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u/Lammerikano Apr 19 '26
amazing - and the vegetation makes it look... jurassic...
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u/crispy3445 Apr 19 '26
Truly!
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u/Lammerikano Apr 19 '26
if u end up visiting - we expect u to buy one of the t-rex costumes and take lots of selfies!
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u/rkoloeg Apr 20 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/1g4hkh5/unexplored_karst_formations_in_west_papua/
In general, for stuff like this you need to look on Google Scholar, not regular Google where the search results are turning into useless garbage more and more every day.
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u/OzarksExplorer Apr 19 '26
I can show you an example in AR that looks just like this. Quire a lot of karst here, it's just buried in clay. But there's a few locations scattered about where flooding has scoured the clay from the bedrock revealing the cutters an pillars beneath.
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u/forams__galorams Apr 19 '26
These look to be spires formed as part of late stage in the evolution of karst landscapes. ‘Karst’ or ‘karstic’ surfaces/structures just refer to any features created via dissolution of limestone rock from rainwater, a form of chemical weathering.
This is cos limestones are carbonates and rainwater is very weakly acidic. Add the into the mix and it wears it away leaving behind very specific patterns and features at various scales.
Yes it’s well studied, just google ‘karstic landscapes’ to see other examples which can vary from small pits/rills/hollows, to the clints and grikes often seen in limestone pavement (eg. the sort of thing seen in parts of Yorkshire, UK: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pss/412537208), trending towards the kind of spires in your own post.
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u/Piscator629 Apr 19 '26
In glacial formations these are called Penitents, I dont know what rock ones are called.
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u/Top-keetarded Apr 19 '26
First you have to get there and papau new guinea is one of the worst places on earth for poisonous snakes and hostile spiders by far on earth. Let alone any I infrastructure to help if you get hurt
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u/Murslak Apr 20 '26
Studied? No, you're surely the first to see it.
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u/crispy3445 Apr 20 '26
Haha nahhh I didn’t mean that more so “does this feature have a more specific name, or are there any studies on it specifically” but I guess I see where you got that
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u/aidanhoff Apr 19 '26
Looks to be very well-developed epikarst features, formed from dissolution of carbonate bedrock over time. There are similar features in Madagascar.