User:ReDiamond/sandbox

The GAP and The Natural Bridge
The Gap is an iconic tourist destination in Torndirrup National Park, Albany, Western Australia where the Southern ocean and ancient rock collide. The Southern Ocean has sculpted a Natural Bridge in the coastal granites and formed The Gap. In the Gap the ocean waves rush in and out with tremendous ferocity.

There are two distinctive rock types at The Gap and the Natural Bridge that resemble granite, a common rock on the South coast- Granodiorite and Gneiss.

When Australia and Antartica collided, parts of the crust melted and magma was formed. The magma was squeezed into the much cooler gneiss and solidified as flat lying sheets or sills of grandiorite. The Gneiss of the Torndirrup National park was probably originally an igneous rock such as granite, but slowly changed under extremes of temperature and pressure during the continental collision. It now displays a characteristic foliation - a repetition of alternating thin layers or bands of different minerals. The darker layers contain minerals with more magnesium and iron, whereas the lighter layers contains minerals with relatively more silica. The metamorphic process caused the very distinctive striped appearance of the surrounding rock pavements and in the walls of the sea cliffs.

Accidents
The Gap previously had 3 m wide platforms and narrow paths which failed to cater for 240,000 visits every year. The visitors endangered themselves seeking the perfect viewing angle and a heightened experience amid a site often characterised by rough oceans, high winds, sea spray and slippery gneiss and granodiorite rock subject to fall and collapse.

According to the Department of Parks and Wildlife, up to January 2016, there had been six deaths and five serious injuries at The Gap and Natural Bridge since 1973.

The Gap and the natural bridge upgrade
The Gap and the natural bridge was re-opened on 10 April 2016 with stainless steel walkways and cantilevered look out and the upgrade costed AU$ 6.1 million. The lookout structure, cut from Swedish steel, rises almost 40m above sea level and stretches 10m out from the precipice — 4 m of which is ­directly above the ocean. This look out allows visitors to venture over the precipice that was previously inaccessible and experience nature at its breathtaking best.