Karijini

Declared in 1969, it is the second largest national park in Western Australia and protects a system of deep gorges cut into banded iron formation more than 2,500 million years old, among the oldest exposed rock known at the Earth's surface, formed when the first photosynthetic organisms began releasing oxygen into the primitive oceans, precipitating the dissolved iron in successive layers that can be read today like a geological book of that era. The surrounding Pilbara region holds some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world, creating a constant tension between the mining industry and the protection of the park and its crystal-clear gorge pools.