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Geomorphological development of the eastern margin of the Australian Craton
Author(s) -
Twidale C. R.,
Campbell E. M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/esp.3290170411
Subject(s) - geology , gondwana , craton , cretaceous , paleontology , denudation , marine transgression , plateau (mathematics) , massif , foreland basin , silicic , sedimentary depositional environment , geomorphology , aptian , structural basin , volcano , tectonics , mathematical analysis , mathematics
The denudation chronologies of five uplands of contrasting geological structure located at the eastern margin of the Australian Craton are examined. They are the Isa Highlands, MacDonnell Ranges and Flinders Ranges (fold mountains, orogenic setting); the Arcoona Plateau (dissected plateau, platform setting); and the Gawler Ranges (massif of old silicic volcanics, cratonic setting). In each, surfaces of Mesozoic age, many of them exhumed and of pre‐Cretaceous age, are preserved. Each also appears to have been uplifted recurrently. Each was either overwhelmed or bordered by the Early Cretaceous (Neocomian‐Aptian) sea. Tectonism associated with the break‐up of Gondwana probably allowed this important marine transgression. Thereafter, thalassostatic and erosional/depositional isostatic responses have maintained the uplands as uplands and the intervening basins as negative topographic and structural units; the pattern of topography has been constant for the last 60–100 Ma.