Alice Springs Orogeny

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The Alice Springs Orogeny was a major tectonic (mountain building) episode in central Australia responsible for the formation of a series of large mountain ranges.[1] The episode started at about 450 million years ago and concluded about 300 million years ago.[2][3] The orogeny was centred in an area that had previously been a marine sedimentary basin, and involved the thrusting up of the underlying metamorphic and igneous rocks of Proterozoic age. Sediment was eroded off the rising mountain belt to become incorporated into the remaining relics of the former sedimentary basin, becoming the Amadeus, Georgina and Ngalia basins that are preserved today. Ultimately all the sedimentary rocks in these basins became folded to become part of the growing mountain ranges. Today we see only the eroded remnants of these former mountains in the MacDonnell Ranges and other ranges throughout much of central Australia.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wells AT, Forman DJ, Ranford LC, Cook PJ (1970). "Geology of the Amadeus Basin, Central Australia". Bureau of Mineral Resources, Australia, Bulletin 100. 
  2. ^ Bradshaw JD, Evans PR (1988). "Palaeozoic tectonics, Amadeus Basin, central Australia". The APEA Journal 28: 267–282. 
  3. ^ Haines PW, Hand M, Sandiford M (2001). "Palaeozoic synorogenic sedimentation in central and northern Australia: a review of distribution and timing with implications for the evolution of intracontinental orogens". Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 48: 911–928. doi:10.1046/j.1440-0952.2001.00909.x.  Abstract


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