Over hundreds of millions of years, the surrounding basement has been eroded more rapidly than the more resistant sandstone, lowering the surrounding landscape while the sandstone-capped areas persisted at higher elevations.

The result is the inverted-relief landscape characteristic of the tepui region: the highest points are the most resistant rock, surrounded by lower terrain carved from less resistant material.

Within the sandstone itself, the vertical cliffs form because the rock has specific fracture patterns — systems of joints and faults oriented at particular angles — that cause it to break in vertical planes rather than along slopes.

When water infiltrates these joints and freezes, or when the stress of erosion at the cliff base removes support, the rock falls in vertical slabs, maintaining the vertical character of the cliff face.