Rectangular blocks
Like tiles.
LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gary Houston — CC0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Tessellated Pavement is a flat rock shelf on the shore of Pirates Bay at Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania, about 51 km east of Hobart in a straight line. Eaglehawk Neck is a narrow isthmus about 400 metres long and less than 30 metres wide that links the Tasman Peninsula with the rest of Tasmania. The pavement is a famous example of a geological feature known as a tessellated pavement: a flat rock surface divided by regular fractures into rectangular blocks that look like the tiles of a mosaic floor, which gives it its name. The fractures form in beds of sedimentary rock, then waves, salt and erosion work along them, so the edges of some blocks rise while others sink. Grey square and rectangular blocks stretch across the shore as if laid by hand, with seawater pooling in the channels between them. Bright green algae grows on some, and Clyde Island and the peninsula's cliffs rise on the horizon. Visitors walk a short path and steps from the car park down to the shore. Low tide is the best time, when the whole pavement is exposed, and the algae makes the blocks slippery, so watch your step. The site is on the road to Port Arthur.
Like tiles.
Between the blocks.
On the horizon.
Pirates Bay Drive, Eaglehawk Neck, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia
At low tide.
Yes, because of the algae.