Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

The Carnarvon Range is a spur of the Great Dividing Range. The sediments that became the soft sandstone, part of the Consuelo Tableland, of the Carnarvon Range were deposited between 230 and 200 Ma, then subsequently uplifted to form the range. About 25 Ma, during another period of volcanic activity and uplift, the range was capped with a layer of basalt. Since then, erosion has worked on the vertical joints in the rock to produce the many deep gorges with steep sides that are features of the national park. The sandstone comprising this range is an important aquifer for the intake of water that supplies the Great Artesian Basin. The impermeable shale layer beneath the sandstone allows the water to seep through the permeable rocks above this layer all the way to the arid interior of the continent.

Sources & Further reading

Helen Grasswill & Reg Morrison, Australia, a Timeless Grandeur, Lansdowne, 1981