Wave Rock is a natural rock formation that is shaped like a tall breaking ocean wave. The "wave" is about 14 m (47 ft) high and around 110 m (350 ft) long.
Hyden Rock, of which Wave Rock is part, consists of 2.63 billion year-old biotite K-feldspar porphyritic monzogranite that is part of the Yilgarn Craton.
Wave Rock is a spectacular example of what geomorphologists call a "flared slope." A flared slope is a concave-upward or -inward bedrock surface that is typically found around the base of inselbergs, bornhardts, and granitic boulders and also on their higher slopes. Flared slopes like Wave Rock are particularly well developed in granitic landforms of south-western and southern Australia. The flared slopes are argued to have formed by the concentrated chemical weathering around the base of an inselberg by groundwater.
|