Colette's Grand Detour

Despite the name ‘white stupa’ cliffs, Tsagaan Suvarga aren’t man-made stupas at all, but rather cliffs that resemble rows of ancient Buddhist stupas or the ruins of an ancient city when viewed from a distance. I couldn’t quite stretch my imagination far enough to see stupas, but regardless this is absolutely spectacular scenery with gorgeous red colors streaking across all of the rocks. The cliffs are actually an escarpment around 30-60m high and several hundred meters long. The alternating colored bands record millions of years of geological history.

Around 60-20 million years ago, this area looked completely different. Instead of the Gobi desert it contained shallow lakes, rivers, floodplains and occasional marshes. Over millions of years these environments laid down layer after layer of clay, silt, fine sand and limestone rich in calcium carbonate. Each layer represents a different climate or lake level.

Later the region was gently uplifted as distant mountain-building events (including the continuing effects of the collision between India and Asia) raised much of Mongolia. Once uplifted, water and wind began carving into these soft sediments. But why does it look like a giant cliff? Well, the White Stupa is essentially the edge of an ancient plateau. Rainwater running over the edge has gradually cut gullies into the soft rock, while frost, occasional flash floods and the Gobi’s strong winds widened them. Because the sediments have different hardness, softer layers erode quickly and harder more cemented layers stand proud. This is what creates the stepped appearance that resembles stacked temples.

The different colors visible in the rocks come from the minerals contains within the rock. Calcium carbonate provided the white colors that bleach the cliff, whilst the iron minerals oxidise to produce red, orange and yellow.

We drove up to escarpment and spent 45 minutes walking along the cliff edge admiring the fantastic colors and otherworldly shapes. And then we were off on our final day on the road.