These striped mountains hide microscopic inhabitants

The domes of the Bungle Bungle resemble giant hives surrounded by dark and orange bands. Their shape is carved in sandstone, but their color not only tells the story of the sediments. Part of the visible pattern owes its existence to tiny beings: cyanobacteria.

These microorganisms grow on the layers where moisture accumulates. The orange bands correspond to oxidized iron compounds, in areas that dry too quickly to allow this development. The contrast therefore also draws a difference in conditions on the surface of the rock, and not just layers of superimposed colors.

Erosion has shaped the domes over an immense period of time, from much older sandstone. Microorganisms did not build these mountains. They participate in their current appearance. Looking at this landscape of the Kimberley, we look together at slow geological transformations and a living presence almost invisible individually.