Approximately 20,000 years ago, during the most recent ice age, the cycle of freezing, thawing, and re-freezing of snow on the plateau caused meltwater to filter into the cracks in the rock and enlarge them.

[1] Eventually, this resulted in large portions of the rock crumbling away, leaving the deeply eroded formations that now comprise the Bosque de Rocas.

The formations are sometimes compared to Shilin Stone Forest in China and Garden of the Gods in the US, as these locations are also dramatically eroded landscapes.

The rock forest is a major tourist attraction in Peru, for both hiking and sightseeing.

You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.This article related to a protected area in South America is a stub.