monolith

thumb|Niapiskau island, limestone monoliths, Gulf of St. Lawrence, [[Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, Canada]] thumb|Uluru, [[Northern Territory, Australia, is often referred to as the biggest monolith. While the surrounding rocks were eroded, the rock survived as sandstone strata making up the surviving Uluru 'monolith'.]] thumb|Monolithos, Greece|Monolithos fortress on [[Rhodes, Greece]] thumb|Landsat 7 image [[Brandberg Mountain, Namibia]] thumb|Pedra da Gávea|Gavea Rock, a monolith next to the sea, near [[Rio de Janeiro, Brazil]] A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monoliths are volcanic plugs, solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano.

In architecture, the term has considerable overlap with megalith, which is normally used for prehistory, and may be used in the contexts of rock-cut architecture that remains attached to solid rock, as in monolithic church, or for exceptionally large stones such as obelisks, statues, monolithic columns or large architraves, that may have been moved a considerable distance after quarrying. It may also be used of large glacial erratics moved by natural forces.