The Great Barrier Reef runs along the northeastern coast of Australia in the Coral Sea
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is, I believe, my fourth trip to Australia. \u00a0(Maybe my third. \u00a0I\u2019ve been trying to recall. \u00a0In any case, it\u2019s been a while since I was last here.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an interesting place. \u00a0In one sense, for somebody from the western United States, it feels very comfortable and at-home. \u00a0In another sense, it\u2019s wildly different.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m making some notes to myself so that I\u2019ll be more aware of what I\u2019m looking at while I\u2019m visiting.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, some geology:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australia lies on the Indo-Australia tectonic plate, which is evidently moving toward Eurasia at the rate of approximately six or seven centimeters annually. \u00a0That\u2019s actually fairly fast, geologically speaking; in fifteen years, Australia will be roughly a meter closer to the Eurasian landmass than it is now. \u00a0When I\u2019m down in Melbourne, maybe I\u2019ll see whether I can detect a wake.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Australian mainland has a rather stable geological history. \u00a0It has no active volcanos, for example, and relatively little seismic activity. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because it\u2019s all on one plate, while volcanos and earthquakes tend to appear at the turbulent intersections of tectonic plates. \u00a0It\u2019s also relatively low; the tallest mountain in Australia is about 7500 feet high, and the next tallest is only about 5300 feet.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is, however, strikingly \u201cprimordial.\u201d \u00a0Virtually all known types of rock can be found here, from all geological periods of Earth\u2019s history, extending back 3.8 billion years. \u00a0Only two pristine Archaean crusts have been identified on our planet, dating to between 2.7 and 3.6 billion years before the present. \u00a0One is the Kapvaal Craton, in South Africa. \u00a0The other is the Pilbara Craton, in the state of West Australia.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Australia has been part of all of the major geological-historical supercontinents identified in Earth\u2019s history. \u00a0It began to form when Gondwana broke up, separating what is now Australia from the African continent and from the Indian subcontinent. \u00a0Somewhat later, it drew slowly apart from Antarctica \u2014 as part of the same movement that still has it crusing toward the Eurasian landmass. \u00a0And then, at roughly 10,000 BC, when the last glacial period ended, rising water levels separated the Australian mainland from Tasmania by creating the Bass Strait. \u00a0Even more recently, between 8000 and 6500 BC, lowland areas in the north were flooded by rising sea water, separating what is now New Guinea from what we now call Australia.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This is, I believe, my fourth trip to Australia. \u00a0(Maybe my third. \u00a0I\u2019ve been trying to recall. \u00a0In any case, it\u2019s been a while since I was last here.) \u00a0 It\u2019s an interesting place. \u00a0In one sense, for somebody from the western United States, it feels very comfortable and at-home. \u00a0In another sense, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>