Geology Picture of the Week, April 26-May 2, 2009: Where (and What) is This?

Not going to make this easy

[21twelve]

What? You think I'm right!? If so, then perhaps it is a view from the northwest? And is that an old WW II bomber that I see smashed headlong into the cliff?

As far as geographically of interest - Carstenz Peak has a large (yet shrinking) glacier - and it is just 2 degrees south (?) of the Equator. Oh - I remembered the other name for it - Punjak Jaya or something like that. And if it ISN'T that mountain ..... it should be! (With regards to the clues.)

[dr_lew]

This is Siccar Point in Scotland, famous as an inspiration to Hutton, as I assumed cogitator was alluding to.
Sure looks like it, but I'm not sure where that view angle would be. Somewhere off to the left in this picture.
So, I could be wrong! as always. Note though, that in cogitator's image, the scale is modest, as you can see
by the structure of the "hump" on the right. ( left in this image, if it is indeed a match. )

[dr_lew]

Heh. I should have looked at the magnified image. The scale seems to be considerably larger than Siccar Point. Plus, the shape doesn’t quite match up, although the resemblance is quite seductive. Plus, the vegetation does appear tropical, as was remarked. Ah, me!

[JoeProBono]

[fnord]

southern France, outside of Marseille

[21twelve]

I did a fly over of Carstenzs Peak in google. There is no viewpoint that would give such a nice, sharp mountain peak. Oh well - fun to go do a little sight-seeing. Thanks for the diversion!

[rdl6989]

It sure does look like the other side.

[cogitator]

ANSWER: This was a toughie, because not many people have seen this place, and as I noted, that's because it's pretty remote. The name of the feature is Pico da Neblina, and it's the highest point in Brazil. It's on the Guyana Shield which also hosts the "tepui", which are the sandstone mesas in southern Venezuela and Guyana, the most famous of which is probably Mount Roraima, "The Lost World", and the second-most famous is likely Auyantepui, from whence stemmeth Angel Falls. However, Pico da Neblina isn't truly a tepui because it's a peak, not a mesa. Accordig to Wikipedia, "Pico da Neblina is a glaciated tor composed of a tilted block of sandstone overlying Precambrian metamorphic rocks."

Here's a truly "Lost World" image of Roraima:

The name "Pico da Neblina" means "Peak of the Mists"; I used the word "nebulous" in the actual post, as a clue. Told you it wasn't going to be easy.

[JoeProBono]

Who didn't know that? Used to camp there all the time;-}

[Boiling Pots]

First thought that came to mind was King Kong, Kauai.

[GregB]

It is where Obama came from the heavens.....

[Steve Van Doorn]

that was Vasquez rocks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasquez_Rocks