Australian Tourism Quality Assured Accredited Tourism Business Eco Certified Australian Tourism Quality Assured Tourism Industry Council Tasmania Tasmania a world apart not a world away Eco Certified Advanced Ecotourism

Tasmania's Geology

Solomons Throne, Walls of JerusalemTasmania is also a geologist's paradise - it represents a rich panorama of evolutionary landforms dating to over one billion years ago; including some of the oldest Pre-Cambrian and Cambrian rocks in the southwest (greater than 500 million years ago) to the more recent Jurassic period (165 million years ago). 

The break-up of Gondwana enriched this panorama when it triggered massive dolerite intrusions over much of the island. (Dolerite is a dark-coloured igneous rock which defines much of Tasmania and is especially notable in its national parks and reserves). 

Visitors can also discover some of Australia's biggest and deepest limestone caves, some of which held particular significance for Tasmania's Aborigines, such as the Marakoopa caves.

Since these events, these landforms have been dramatically modified by erosion and glacial action, with the last of three glaciations finishing approximately 12,000 years ago.

The legacy of glaciated landforms is pervasive and dramatic

... with U-shaped valleys; tarns and highland lakes dammed by terminal moraines; deep cirques gouged from mountain sides; boulder "streams" of ice-shattered dolerite blocks; erratic boulders deposited far from their origins by glacier movement; and  "ice-plucked" mountain profiles (Frenchmans Cap).

Erosion and glaciations, together with natural earth movements, have shaped the current topography and contributed to the variety of soils and environments that provide such a rich source of the earth's evolutionary history.

On our tours, you can take the time to explore, absorb and wonder at this dramatic panoramic paradise! Contact us at Tasmanian Wilderness Experiences.

Phone: 1300 882 293 or Email: infoTasmanian Wilderness Experiencestwe.travel