Rocks and Goose-Pimples
Submitted: Saturday, Jun 13, 2009 at 12:21
ThreadID:
69773
Views:
2892
Replies:
8
FollowUps:
11
This Thread has been Archived
Member - Klaus J (NSW)
Most travellers regard landscapes as backdrops. They see rocks as static, just sitting there.
But they don’t.
In the Blue Mountains, I stood close to
the spot Charles
Darwin stood at in 1836.
Darwin was awed by those enormous excavations into the ground. ‘Subsidence’ he concluded. But
Darwin was wrong. Weathering had changed a raised plateau into a skeletal landscape - threequarters of the original mass removed. Masses of
rock gone somewhere else. I became aware that geology is not about something static; and that rocks move. They move more than we do because they have more time to do so - 60 million years at the Blue Mountains.
The walls of Banded Iron Formation in the
Pilbara are oxidized layers of refuse when early life had learned the trick to eat via photosynthesis. One can almost hear the munching of those tiny critters. Again, geology is not about something static - it’s archived activity. That
rock has things to say.
In the ancient Macdonnell Ranges there are sheer cuts through
rock, billions of years old. An autopsy of old body Earth. Touch a
rock - it’s like touching part of the original package. These rocks are not alive, but not quite dead either - infused with the stuff of Earth’s memory.
And a connection to the beginning.
That’s when rocks give me goose-pimples.
Greetings - Klaus and Rusty
(Those ‘Blue Mountains’ have been inscribed on the World
Heritage List. If interested, have uploaded 2 short clips of them on my site).
Reply By: The Top End Explorer - Sunday, Jun 14, 2009 at 09:24
Sunday, Jun 14, 2009 at 09:24
2.5 Billion years ago, the foundations were laid that would support the oldest
rock formation on earth, this was in the form of a volcanic conglomerate
rock layer.
1.8 Billion years ago a large Kambolgie
sandstone formation started evolving, massive amounts of sand swept here over time, compressed into
rock in layers.
1.6 Billion years ago this formation was pushed up tectonically, It stood between 1.5 to 2 km high, it now covered an area of 30,000 square km.
Every 100,000 years it erodes 1 metre, it now stands with an average height of 350 metres high, it is
home to over 8000 Aboriginal art sites that have passed on knowledge for 1000 generations, it was formed before any living thing so there are no fossils, it provided shelter for 1000 of generations, it is also a world
heritage site and every day I have the privilege to live next to it and walk around and through it.
This is the Arnhemland Escarpment, I grew up in the blue mountains as
well, how lucky am I.
http://www.environment.gov.au/parks/kakadu/nature-science/geology.html
Cheers Steve.
AnswerID:
369888
Follow Up By: Member - Klaus J (NSW) - Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 14:57
Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009 at 14:57
Hi Steve, you are very lucky indeed. And I thank you for that interesting link to
Kakadu's/Arnhemland's geology. The Arnhemland Plateau and
Katherine Gorge are next on my list to do some research on. So that link comes very handy.
Cheers - Klaus and Rusty
FollowupID:
637639