Wave Rock

Wave Rock is a granite rock formation near Hyden in the Western Australian Wheatbelt, notable for a curling, wave-like cliff face about 15 meters high and 110 meters long, carved from granite that crystallized deep underground roughly 2.7 billion years ago, among the oldest exposed rock in Australia. Its distinctive overhanging, curved profile is a product of a process called flared-slope weathering, in which chemical weathering by groundwater seeping along the base of the granite outcrop, before later exposure and further erosion by rain running down the rock face, undercut and rounded the lower part of the cliff while leaving the rock above less affected, producing the smooth concave curve that gives the formation its wave-like appearance. Alternating bands of color streaking down the rock face, caused by algae and mineral staining following the path of rainwater runoff, further reinforce the visual impression of a breaking ocean wave.