Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Glossary

Arkose

A sandstone containing unweathered feldspar, usually forme from granite.

Connate salt

Salt derived from the weathering of country rock.

Deflation

Erosion of fine-grained particles by the wind.

Grus (or gruss)

Literally, German for fine gravel, but used in the geological literature for disintegrated and possibly partially altered granite. The typical grus, or soil derived from granite. consists of fragments of quartz and feldspar with some clay.

Inselberg

An isolated hill or rock rising above a peneplain.

Massif

A section of crust demarcated by faults or flexures. Whenthe crust moves a massif tends to retain its internal structure, being moved as a whole. Also used to refer to a group of mountains formed by such a structure.

Palaeoflora mixta

The mixed flora of the Late Cretaceous and Early tertiary which had elements that have now been separated into subtropical/tropical and temperate types, and sclerophyll and mesophyll vegetation.

Playnology, Palynological

The study of pollen. Because pollen is extremely resistant to damage by natural processes it can be found and identified in fossilised sediments millions of years old.

Pediment

Smooth, gently-sloping plain developed in the piedmont zone and meeting the backing scarp in a sharp break of slope or piedmont angle (nick). Covered pediments carry a veneer of coarse introduced alluvial debris, mantled pediments a regolith in situ; in rock pediments or rock platforms country rock is exposed over most of the surface.

Peneplain

Land worn down by erosion almost to a level plain.    

Phratry

kinship division consisting of two or more distinct clans which are considered a single unit, but which retain separate identities within the phratry

Piedmont

The foot of the mountain, the zone of subdued relief at the base of a hill, mountain or massif.

Piedmont angle

Abrupt change of slope between scarp and pediment., also known as piedmont nick.

Piedmont glacier

Glacier developed at the base of an upland.

Piedmont zone

Area at the base of an upland or range, the scarp-foot zone.

Playa

A dry lake bed - salt lake

Regolith

Mantle of weathered rock plus any transported material covering the underlying fresh rock. See also grus, soil

Salina

Salina

Salt-(gypsum or halite) encrusted lake bed.

Saltation

Movement of particles in a series of jumps driven by the wind or in running water. .

Scarp

A steep rocky slope. Also termed escarpment.

Sources & Further reading