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Ayers Rock & Outback Travel Guide - Geology

Why does Ayers Rock Change Color?

Changing Colors of Ayers Rock (Uluru), taken over 40 minutes.

Ayers Rock is famous for it's habit of apparently changing color? At sunrise and sunset, the rock appears to become a deeper red color, the explanation for this is actually quite simple.

It is the change in lighting conditions which makes the rock appear to change color, this is not a phenomenon reserved soley for Ayers Rock, anyone with an interest in photography will know that that the light at the beginning and the end of the day creates photographs with deeper colors. This is especially so in central Australia where during the middle of the day, the light is very strong and colors appear to be washed out. The vast majority of good landscape photographs you see are taken just after sunrise or just before sunset.

The reason that the colors of Ayers Rock change at sunset and sunrise is because the Sun is at such a low angle. The rays of light have to travel through a greater thickness of atmosphere, and the blue light is bent away, leaving behind the red light - which makes Uluru glow radiantly red.

The other factor at Uluru is that the landscape surrounding Ayers Rock is completely flat, this means that just as the sun dips below the horizon, the landscape is in shadow, but sunlight still shines on the rock, this contrast between the dark base and light rock, make Ayers Rock appear the glow in a spectacular deep red.

To be part of the Ayers Rock sunset experience, don't miss the seriously adventurous 4WD Expedition across Australia, the 10 Day Adelaide to Alice Springs Tour, or the 3 or 5 day Ayers Rock Tours departing from Alice Springs.