Mount Augustus National Park
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| Mount Augustus National Park | |
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| IUCN Category III (Natural Monument) | |
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| Nearest town/city: | Meekatharra |
| Coordinates: | Coordinates: |
| Area: | 92 km² |
| Managing authorities: | Department of Environment and Conservation |
| Official site: | Mount Augustus National Park |
Mount Augustus National Park is located 852 km north of Perth, 490 km by road east of Carnarvon and 390 km northwest of Meekatharra, Western Australia. Mount Augustus itself, the feature around which the national park is based, is known as Burringurrah to the local Wadjari Aboriginal people.[1]
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[edit] Mount Augustus
Mount Augustus stands 1105 m above sea level, or approximately 860 m above the surrounding plain, and covers an area of 47.95 km². It has a central ridge which is almost 8 km long. Mount Augustus is widely claimed to be the “worlds largest monolith”,[2] but the claim does not originate from the geological literature, nor appears to be substantiated by any other scholarly research. The claim appears to have arisen out of long standing rivalry with Uluru, another unsubstantiated claimant for the title.
[edit] Geology
Mount Augustus is composed of sandstone and conglomerate, a formation known to geologists as the Mount Augustus Sandstone, which overlies older granite near its northern end.[3] The Mount Augustus Sandstone was deposited by ancient river systems and is somewhat younger than the 1.65 billion year old granite beneath. The originally horizontal sediments have been folded into an asymmetric anticline by later earth movements.
[edit] European history
Francis Thomas Gregory reached the summit on 3 June 1858 during his epic 107-day journey through the Gascoyne region, becoming the first recorded European to climb the mountain[citation needed]. Some weeks later he named the peak after his brother, Sir Augustus Charles Gregory (1819-1905). At the time Augustus was on his last expedition, an unsuccessful foray into western Queensland in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of Ludwig Leichhardt.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Naturebase WA Department of Environment and Conservation (accessed 10 April 2007)
- ^ "Mount Augustus - The largest monolith in the world" at www.smh.com.au (accessed 10 April 2007)
- ^ Muhling P.C. & Brakel A.T. 1985. Geology of the Bangemall Group — The evolution of an intracratonic Proterozoic basin. Western Australia Geological Survey, Bulletin 128, 266 p. GSWA download search
