Der Fluss, der bergauf fließt
The river that flows uphill. The Whitsunday Islands are part of the ria-coastline of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Numerous of these islands belong to a system of transgressed, meaning drowned, river valleys. About 100 m of sea level rise since the last ice age flooded these erstwhile river valleys. Today’s snow-white quartz and coral sands have sedimented the once V-shaped valleys. The rivers of these days ceased flowing. Instead, tidal motions of ebbs and floods reshape and sediment the ancient river beds. Today this turquoise paradise is dominated by tidal gullies and white beaches.
October 2006
Canon 20D, EF-L 24-105mm, f/5.6, 1/500sec, ISO 100