All language subtitles for The Oldest Cave in The World + 2 Other Oddities in Australia

Beneath the surface of Australia lies a
story written in ancient stone, sculpted

by water, fire and time.

In this video we uncover three more of
the continent's most fascinating

geological wonders.

First we descend into the mysterious
depths of the Genolan Caves, a hidden

of twisted limestone chambers that may
be among the oldest cave systems on the

planet. Then we travel to the Pinnacles
Desert.

where thousands of bizarre limestone
spires rise from the sand like the ruins

a lost civilization.

Finally, we scale the surreal peaks of
the Glasshouse Mountains, volcanic plugs

left behind by a vanished firestorm
millions of years ago.

These formations aren't just stunning,
they're geological time capsules.

And in this episode, we crack them open
to reveal the ancient forces that shaped

them.

Deep in the Blue Mountains west of
Sydney, lies an underground wonderland

reveals the slow poetry of water in
stone, the Janolan Caves.

Hidden beneath a forested valley, this
extensive karst cave system twists and

turns for over 40 kilometers, with
subterranean rivers, cathedral -like

chambers, and a sparkling array of
limestone formations.

Stalactites hang from the ceilings like
stone icicles.

Stalagmites build from the floors,
sometimes meeting to form columns.

Delicate crystal shores and flowstones
drape the walls, their pure white

turning gold under flashlight beams.

The atmosphere is cool and hushed,
broken only by the occasional drip of

the very same force that built these
caves drop by drop.

Janolan is often hailed as the oldest
known open cave system in the world, and

indeed it is incredibly ancient.

When you descend into its depths, you
are effectively stepping into a realm

began forming hundreds of millions of
years ago.

Geologically, Janolan caves owe their
existence to a combination of very hard

rock and very persistent water.

The story begins around 430 million
years ago, during the Silurian period,

the limestone here first formed as a
coral reef or marine sediment in a

sea. That limestone, rich in marine
fossils like ancient corals, brachiopods

other sea life, was later uplifted as
part of the Great Dividing Range.

Over eons, the once horizontal layers of
limestone were tilted, fractured and

exposed to the elements.

Crucially, limestone is soluble in
slightly acidic water.

Fast forward to the past few million
years, rainwater seeped down through

in the rock, enriched by carbon dioxide
from the soil to form a weak carbonic

acid. Following these cracks and joints,
the water slowly dissolved the

limestone, enlarging hairline fractures
into tunnels and caverns.

Janolan's network of caves likely went
through multiple phases of formation,

some passages forming, then filling with
sediment, then being re -excavated by

new water flows.

In fact, researchers using radiometric
dating on cave clays have determined

parts of the Janolan system are about
340 million years old, making it the

oldest dated cave system so far.

This astonishing age suggests that some
cavities survived virtually intact since

the late Carboniferous period.

even as surface landscapes above were
worn away.

Over such a long span, the caves didn't
remain static.

Water continued to flow and reroute,
carving new chambers and abandoning old

ones. The subterranean Genolan River
still courses through some sections,

continuing the work of dissolution in
real time.

Meanwhile in the dry upper levels,
formation growth takes center stage.

Every stalactite and stalagmite in
Genolan grew from mineral rich water

or trickling in the dark.

As each drop of water evaporated or lost
carbon dioxide, it precipitated a tiny

ring of calcite.

Multiply that by millions of drops over
tens of thousands of years, and grand

formations result.

Some of Janolan's most famous features,
the shimmering ribbon stalactites, the

massive flowstone called Minaret, or the
eerily translucent shores in the Temple

of Baal cave, are the product of this
slow decoration process.

Geologically, they are evidence that the
cave has remained stable for a very

long time to allow such features to
grow.

Janolan caves thus represent a double
marvel.

They showcase one of the earliest
chapters of cave development on Earth,

the same time, they actively demonstrate
ongoing geological processes.

Walking through its chambers, one
traverses an underworld that has

mountains and oceans.

Where water and rock continue their
ageless dance, sculpting ever so slowly

hidden contours of the earth.

The Pinnacles in Western Australia
Rising from the golden sands of the

National Park, the Pinnacles Desert is
an eerie expanse dotted with thousands

limestone pillars.

These jagged spires range from knee
-high stubs to 5 metre monoliths,

long shadows across rippling dunes.

Their shapes are fantastically varied.

Some are sharp and conical, others
mushroom -like or stubby with rounded

creating an almost alien forest of rock
amid an otherwise barren landscape.

As the desert winds continually shift
the sands, the pinnacles appear and

disappear with time.

Local lore even recalls a time when they
were completely buried, only to be

gradually re -exposed by the migrating
dunes.

Walking among these silent sentinels
feels like stepping into a prehistoric

sculpture garden, their surfaces etched
by weathering and embedded with seashell

fragments that hint at their origin.

Belying their otherworldly appearance,
the pinnacles are a product of very

earthly processes, though geologists
still debate the exact sequence of

that created them.

Their story began roughly 500 ,000 years
ago, when this area was a shallow

coastal sea teeming with marine life.

As the sea retreated about 25 ,000 years
ago, it left behind masses of seashells

that broke down into calcium -rich sand.

These lime sands blew inland into dunes.

eventually hardening into a rock layer
known as the Tamala limestone.

The pinnacles themselves formed within
this limestone, and were later exposed

erosion. Exactly how they formed is an
ongoing mystery.

Scientists have proposed several
ingenious theories.

One idea is that acidic rainwater
dissolved the limestone into vertical

solution pipes, and the remaining
hardened material stands as the pillars

see. Another theory suggests the pillars
might have begun as casts around the

roots of ancient plants or trees that
were cemented by minerals, then unveiled

by wind erosion long after the organic
matter vanished.

A more recent proposal even points to
microorganisms, suggesting that microbes

helped cement the sand into these
columns.

In all scenarios, the key is that the
limestone pillars proved more resistant

than the surrounding sand, which was
gradually eroded away by wind and water.

Today, the pinnacles endure as remnants
of this complex interplay of marine

deposition, groundwater cementation, and
wind erosion, a process hundreds of

thousands of years in the making.

Standing amid them, one can't help but
marvel at how time and chemistry

conspired to turn an ancient seabed into
a surreal desert gallery.

The Glasshouse Mountains in Queensland
Judging abruptly from Queensland's

sunshine coast hinterland, The
Glasshouse Mountains are a collection of

domes and spires that rise above the
surrounding forests and fields.

There are 13 main peaks, each with its
own shape and character.

These mountains have a striking isolated
appearance.

Deep -sided and nearly bare of
vegetation on their upper slopes, they

the flat coastal plain like sentinels.

The unusual name comes from history.

When Captain James Cook sailed up
Australia's east coast in 1770, He

these peaks looked like the huge glass
furnaces or glasshouses of his native

Yorkshire, and thus dubbed them the
Glasshouse Mountains.

There is a familial similarity to the
summits. All are made of the same

rock, and many exhibit sheer cliffs or
vertical columnar structures on their

flanks. The Glasshouse Mountains have
long been sacred to the indigenous

and today are popular with hikers and
sightseers, offering panoramic views

their summits.

But to geologists, these peaks are of
special interest as windows into

Australia's volcanic past.

Unlike most mountains which form from
uplifted crust or accumulated layers,

Glasshouse Mountains are actually the
solidified cores of ancient volcanoes.

Their story began about 25 million years
ago, in the later Ligocene to early

Miocene, when this part of Australia was
geologically active.

At that time, the Australian continent
was drifting northward over a hotspot, a

plume of magma rising from deep in the
Earth's mantle.

As the continental crust passed over
this hotspot, volcanoes erupted through

overlying rocks, much like a blowtorch
burning holes through a moving sheet.

Dozens of small volcanoes would have
dotted southeast Queensland's landscape.

Then, around 26 to 27 million years ago,
a different phase of activity occurred.

Molten magma began pushing its way
upward more slowly, intruding into the

without completely breaking through with
a lava flow or eruption.

These intrusions formed dome -shaped
plugs and lachalyps beneath the surface,

essentially reservoirs of magma that
cooled and crystallized underground.

The Glasshouse Mountains are the
solidified remains of these magma plugs.

Over the millions of years that
followed, all the surrounding material,

volcano's outer cones and the softer
sedimentary rocks of the region eroded

away, leaving only the hard igneous
cores behind.

What we see now are those resistant
cores.

standing high as the landscape's softer
parts have been worn down to a plain.

The rock composing the peaks is mostly
rhyolite and trachyte, hard volcanic

rocks that cooled slowly enough to form
columns and vertical jointing. For

example, Mount Kudarin displays striking
organ pipe columns, a clue that they

cooled from a molten state in place.

Geologically speaking, each mountain is
like the exposed heart of an extinct

volcano, as rainfall, wind and time
peeled away layer after layer of

rock, the bones of these volcanoes
emerged.

This process has produced the dramatic
contrast we see today.

Lush subtropical lowlands punctuated by
bare rocky mounts.

The glasshouse mountains thus stand as
time capsules of Australia's fiery

origins. Their bold shapes forever
frozen reminders of volcanoes that raged

long before humans walked these lands.

Australia's landscapes are more than
just breathtaking, they are windows into

Earth's ancient past.

From the dripping limestone cathedrals
of Janolan Caves, to the eerie desert

spires of the Pinnacles, and the
volcanic monuments of the Glasshouse

these formations reveal a continent
shaped by unimaginable forces over

of years.

Each location tells a different chapter
of the planet's story, one written in

coral reefs turned to stone, lava frozen
in place, and rainwater carving caverns

through bedrock.

I hope you found this as interesting as
I did, and as always...

Thanks for watching.

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