Rainbow Valley (Northern Territory)

Rainbow Valley is a sandstone formation south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, centered on a large sandstone bluff of the 350 million year old Hermannsburg Sandstone. The banded, rainbow like coloring of the rock comes from repeated cycles of heavy rain dissolving the iron rich sandstone followed by dry seasons that recement the dissolved minerals on the surface, staining it a deeper red, an effect most visible at sunset. The formation and the Aboriginal art, artifacts and sacred sites around it are now protected within the Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve.