Purnululu National Park World Heritage values
Purnululu National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2003. The World Heritage criteria against which Purnululu National Park was listed remain the formal criteria for this property. The World Heritage criteria are periodically revised and the criteria against which the property was listed may not necessarily be identical with future criteria.
Criteria
Natural Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features
The Bungle Bungle Range, within Purnululu National Park, is the most outstanding example of cone karst in sandstones anywhere in the world and owes its existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena. The sandstone karst of Purnululu National Park is of great scientific importance in clearly demonstrating the process of cone karst formation on sandstone. It also displays, to an exceptional degree, evidence of geomorphic processes of dissolution, weathering and erosion in the evolution of landforms under a savannah climatic regime within an ancient, stable, sedimentary landscape. These World Heritage values include:
- a 20 million year record of geomorphic processes and landscape evolution associated with the formation of mature karst in siliceous sedimentary rocks;
- extensive areas of cone karst formation that are unrivalled in their extent, size, and variety of shapes;
- exceptional development of cyanobacterial banding in the exposed sedimentary layers including extensive formation of biological surface crusts that are integral to the stabilisation of sandstone cone karst structures; and
- a diverse array of geomorphic features associated with the areas of karst including deeply-incised sandstone plateaux, towering cliffs and steep escarpments and gorges formed by the Ord River following the uplift of northern parts of the continent with the convergence of the Indo-Australian and Pacific Plates in the mid-Miocene.
Contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance
Purnululu National Park contains a natural phenomenon of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic value in its sandstone karst landscapes which are unmatched elsewhere in the world in terms of their scale, extent, diversity of forms and grandeur. These World Heritage values include:
- the dramatically sculptured arrays of sandstone towers, cones - 'the beehives' that dominate the karst landscapes;
- the extraordinary beauty and the majestic scale of the horizontal banding provided by the cyanobacterial crusts which dominate the vistas of karst landscapes;
- the high aesthetic appeal of the cyanobacterial banding against the orange sandstone, including its extraordinary seasonal variations and transitions from grey to other colour combinations such as shiny dark green hues after rain;
- the intricate maze of towers accentuated by the narrow, sinuous, sheer-sided gorges lined with Livistona fan palms. These and the high cliffs of the gorges are cut by seasonal waterfalls and pools.
- the diversity of landforms and ecosystems, providing a sympathetic visual buffer for the massif and diversity of colour, texture and form to the landscape. This diversity includes spinifex grassland, closed forests of northern monsoonal taxa in the moister gorges, Paperbark-Red Gum forests of the riparian zone, and the wide grasslands and open woodland of the plains.
Heritage values
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