Gatbawi Sea Cliff and Tafoni, Mokpo

Gatbawi Sea Cliff and Tafoni, Mokpo, stands at the mouth of the Yeongsangang River, where seawater meets fresh water, and is a tafoni, a hollow formed by weathering, shaped here by the combined action of weathering and marine erosion into the unusual form of a person wearing a gat, a traditional Korean hat. Such tafoni develop at points on an exposed rock mass, such as cracks, where moisture can easily penetrate the interior; the physical pressure created by changes in the volume of that moisture then causes the material making up the rock to break away more readily in granular form. Once a tafoni begins to form, the hollow is shielded from sunlight, allowing more moisture to gather and weathering to proceed faster, so that the hollow expands further into the rock. Gatbawi Sea Cliff and Tafoni, Mokpo, is a natural sculpture shaped entirely by natural weathering in a coastal environment, with no human intervention whatsoever, and possesses a rarity seldom found among tafoni elsewhere. The official designation name was formally updated by notification on 26 July 2021.

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Where it is

Region

Mokpo, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물