Mount Barney (Queensland)
Mount Barney is a mountain within the Scenic Rim Region in south-east Queensland, Australia. It lies 130 kilometres south-west of Brisbane, not far from the Queensland - New South Wales border, forms part of the McPherson Range, it is a popular destination for campers. Mount Barney is the sixth or seventh highest mountain in Queensland and is regarded as one of the most impressive parts of the Scenic Rim; the mountain consists of two main peaks, smaller subsidiary peaks. East Peak is the most popular destination for bushwalkers; the closest town is Rathdowney. Mount Barney is surrounded by other mountains including Mount Ballow, Mount May, Mount Ernest, Mount Maroon and Mount Lindesay. Logan River has its headwaters on the mountain; the dome-shaped mass is composed of granophyre that formed below the surface and subsequently intruded into the overlaying sandstone. Erosion has stripped away the sandstone leaving the mountain's twin peaks. Mount Barney is the remnants of the central complex of the Focal Peak Volcano which together with the Tweed Volcano covered much of South East Queensland and North East New South Wales with lavas referred to as the Lamington Volcanics In 1947, the Mount Barney National Park was established to protect the natural heritage surrounding the peak.
Mount Barney was included in the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves in 1994. The Antarctic beech can be found of the upper slopes of adjacent Mount Nothafagus and in the rainforest of nearby Mount Ballow. Important animal species found on the mountain include platypus, rock wallabies and Coxen's fig parrot. Heath vegetation on the mountain provides habitat for a colony of the endangered eastern bristlebird. Mount Barney has held a special significance for local Aboriginal people for millennia, it features prominently in a number of their stories. For Aboriginal people the peak has traditionally been regarded as a place to avoid. On 3 August 1828, explorer Allan Cunningham named the mountain Mount Lindesay. However, the New South Wales Surveyor-General Thomas Mitchell is believed to have renamed it in the 1840s to Mount Barney, after George Barney, a colonial engineer. Mitchell is believed to have assigned the name Mount Lindesay to the current Mount Lindesay; the first European to climb Mount Barney was Captain Patrick Logan, who reached the East Peak summit via the now named Logan's Ridge, during an exploring expedition in 1828.
Accounts of the climb were written by botanists Charles Fraser and Allan Cunningham, who accompanied Logan for part of the ascent. Historical records suggest that Europeans began bushwalking at Mount Barney for recreation in about the 1880s, when the region became more settled. During the first decade or so of the 20th century, the peak became popular with a small number of self-styled'mountaineers', such as Boonah school teachers Harry Johns and William Gaylard, Ipswich Technical College Principal R. A. Wearne, some of the selectors who lived close by, such as the Doherty family at'Lilydale'; however it was not until the early 1930s, with the formation of groups such as the National Parks Association, the appearance of a new breed of outdoor adventurers such as Bert Salmon, who made the first recorded ascent of Leaning Peak in 1932, Cliff Wilson and Arthur Groom, botanists such as Cyril White and Lindsay Smith, that bushwalkers began visiting the peak in numbers, then, much of Mount Barney remained unexplored until the late 1940s and early 1950s, when groups such as the University of Queensland Bushwalking Club, the Brisbane Bushwalkers began making regular bushwalking and camping trips to the peak.
There are a dozen or so established bushwalking routes up Mount Barney, however none of them are easy. All the routes require a reasonable level of fitness, many require advanced route-finding and rock-scrambling skills. Only South Ridge can be recommended to less experienced walkers. Whilst the steep route up Logan's Ridge to the East Peak summit is considered to be the most spectacular, all the routes have their attractions; as a rough guide, a trip to East Peak via one of the more direct routes will take 8–9 hours return when carrying a day pack. There is a flow of drinkable water in the creek at the saddle between East and West Peak, but elsewhere on the mountain, away from the creeks, water is difficult to find. In addition to the mountain itself, Mount Barney Creek and Cronan's Creek, the two main creek systems which ring Mount Barney, offer plenty of scope for walking and camping in the warmer months. Note though that the creeks are prone to flash flooding after heavy rainfall, that they are quite dangerous at times of high flow.
There are a few Class 4 hiking trails around the base of the mountain, including the Lower Portals, Cronan Creek Trails. A free iPhone GPS App is available to aid hikers in keeping to hiking trails within Mt Barney National Park. To date, Mount Barney has attracted only a small number of rock climbers due to the long walk in times and access difficulties. So far, local climbers have agreed that the peak should remain "traditional only"; the spectacular East Face was first climbed in 1966, over the years a number of other routes have been put up in the vicinity of Leaning Peak and Isolated Peak. More bouldering has become popular in Mount Barney Creek upstream from the L
Coolah Tops National Park
Coolah Tops is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 258 kilometres northwest of Sydney, established on 5 July 1996. It is managed by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, its World Conservation Union category is II. It is situated 30 kilometres east of Coolah on the Coolah Creek Road; the park features waterfalls. Giant grass trees and open forest with stands of snow gums shelter gliders, wallabies and owls. Camping and walking are the main recreational activities performed here. Views from the tops are possible over the Liverpool Plains; the sources of the Talbragar River and the Coolaburragundy River lie in the park. Protected areas of New South Wales
Hunter Region
The Hunter Region commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, extending from 120 km to 310 km north of Sydney. It contains its tributaries with highland areas to the north and south. Situated at the northern end of the Sydney Basin bioregion, the Hunter Valley is one of the largest river valleys on the NSW coast, is most known for its wineries and coal industry. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within 25 km of the coast, with 55% of the entire population living in the cities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. There are numerous other towns and villages scattered across the region in the eleven local government areas that make up the region. At the 2011 census the combined population of the region was 620,530. Under Australia's wine appellation system, the Hunter Valley wine zone Australian Geographical Indication covers the entire catchment of the Hunter River and its tributaries. Within that, the Hunter region is as large, includes most of the wine-producing areas, excluding the metropolitan area of Newcastle and nearby coastal areas, some national parks, any land, in the Mudgee Shire.
The Hunter wine region is one of Australia's best known wine regions, playing a pivotal role in the history of Australian wine as one of the first wine regions planted in the early 19th century. The success of the Hunter Valley wine industry has been dominated by its proximity to Sydney with its settlement and plantings in the 19th century fuelled by the trade network that linked the valley to the city; the steady demand of consumers from Sydney continues to drive much of the Hunter Valley wine industry, including a factor in the economy by the tourism industry. While the Hunter Valley has been supplanted by the massive Riverina wine region as the largest producer of New South Wales wine, it still accounts for around 3% of Australia's total wine production and is one of the country's most recognisable regions. For over 30,000 years the Wonnarua tribe of Aboriginal Australians inhabited the land, now known as the Hunter Valley wine region. Along with the Worimi to the north and the Awabakal to the south, the Wonnarua developed a trading route connecting the Coquun Valley to the harbour now known as Sydney harbour.
The wine-making history of Hunter Valley begins with the European settlement of the Sydney and the New South Wales region of Australia in the late 18th century as a penal colony of the British Empire. The Hunter River itself was discovered, by accident, in 1797 by British Lieutenant John Shortland as he searched for escaped convicts; the region soon became a valuable source for timber and coal that fuelled the steamship trade coming out of Sydney. Land prospector John Howe cut a path through the Australian wilderness from Sydney up to the overland area in what is now known as the Hunter Valley proper in 1820. Today, the modern Putty Road between the cities of Windsor and Singleton follows Howe's exact path and is a major thoroughfare for wine tourists coming into the Hunter Valley from Sydney; as previous plantings in the coastal areas around Sydney succumbed to the humidity and wetness, plantings to the west were limited by spring frost damage, northern reaches leading to the Hunter became by default, the wine region of the new colony.
The expansive growth of the Hunter Valley in the mid to late 19th century came directly from its monopoly position of the lucrative Sydney market. The provincial government of New South Wales had enacted regulations that placed prohibitive duties on wines from other areas such as Victoria and South Australia. Following World War I, many returning Australian veterans were given land grants in the Hunter Valley; this temporarily produced an up-tick in plantings but the global Great Depression as well as a series of devastating hail storms between 1929–30 caused many growers to abandon their vineyards. The Hunter Region is considered a transitional area between the Paleozoic rock foundation of the New England Fold Belt located to the south and the Early Permian and Middle Triassic period rock formations of the Sydney Basin to the south. Between these two geological areas is the Hunter-Mooki Thrust fault. At one time this fault was geologically active and gave rise to the Brokenback range that feature prominently in the Hunter region.
Strips of basalt found throughout the region bear witness to the volcanic activity that has occurred in the history of this fault. The Permian rocks in the central and southeastern expanse of the Lower Hunter Valley were formed when the area was underneath a shallow marine estuary; the remnants of this period has left an extensive network of coal seams that fuelled the early population boom of the Hunter Valley in the 19th century as well a high degree of salinity in the water table of much of the area. The further north and west, towards the Brokenback Range and the Upper Hunter, the more Triassic sandstone that can be found leading to the carboniferous rocks that form the northern boundary of the Hunter with the New England Fold Belt and the foothills of the Barrington Tops. Overall, the Hunter Valley has more soils that are unsuitable for viticulture than they have areas that are ideal for growing grapes; the soils of the Lower Hunter vary from sandy alluvial flats, to deep friable loam and friable red duplex soils.
In the Upper Hunter, the rivers and creeks of the region contribute to the areas black, silty loam soils that are overlaid on top of alkaline clay loam. Among the hills of the Brokenback range are strips of volcanic basalt that are prized b
Metamorphic rock
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The original rock is subjected to pressure, causing profound physical or chemical change; the protolith may be igneous, or existing metamorphic rock. Metamorphic rocks make up a large part of the Earth's crust and form 12% of the Earth's land surface, they are classified by chemical and mineral assemblage. They may be formed by being deep beneath the Earth's surface, subjected to high temperatures and the great pressure of the rock layers above it, they can form from tectonic processes such as continental collisions, which cause horizontal pressure and distortion. They are formed when rock is heated by the intrusion of hot molten rock called magma from the Earth's interior; the study of metamorphic rocks provides information about the temperatures and pressures that occur at great depths within the Earth's crust. Some examples of metamorphic rocks are gneiss, marble and quartzite.
Metamorphic minerals are those that form only at the high temperatures and pressures associated with the process of metamorphism. These minerals, known as index minerals, include sillimanite, staurolite and some garnet. Other minerals, such as olivines, amphiboles, micas and quartz, may be found in metamorphic rocks, but are not the result of the process of metamorphism; these minerals formed during the crystallization of igneous rocks. They are stable at high temperatures and pressures and may remain chemically unchanged during the metamorphic process. However, all minerals are stable only within certain limits, the presence of some minerals in metamorphic rocks indicates the approximate temperatures and pressures at which they formed; the change in the particle size of the rock during the process of metamorphism is called recrystallization. For instance, the small calcite crystals in the sedimentary rock limestone and chalk change into larger crystals in the metamorphic rock marble. Both high temperatures and pressures contribute to recrystallization.
High temperatures allow the atoms and ions in solid crystals to migrate, thus reorganizing the crystals, while high pressures cause solution of the crystals within the rock at their point of contact. The layering within metamorphic rocks is called foliation, it occurs when a rock is being shortened along one axis during recrystallization; this causes the platy or elongated crystals of minerals, such as mica and chlorite, to become rotated such that their long axes are perpendicular to the orientation of shortening. This results in a banded, or foliated rock, with the bands showing the colors of the minerals that formed them. Textures are separated into non-foliated categories. Foliated rock is a product of differential stress that deforms the rock in one plane, sometimes creating a plane of cleavage. For example, slate is a foliated metamorphic rock. Non-foliated rock does not have planar patterns of strain. Rocks that were subjected to uniform pressure from all sides, or those that lack minerals with distinctive growth habits, will not be foliated.
Where a rock has been subject to differential stress, the type of foliation that develops depends on the metamorphic grade. For instance, starting with a mudstone, the following sequence develops with increasing temperature: slate is a fine-grained, foliated metamorphic rock, characteristic of low grade metamorphism, while phyllite is fine-grained and found in areas of low grade metamorphism, schist is medium to coarse-grained and found in areas of medium grade metamorphism, gneiss coarse to coarse-grained, found in areas of high-grade metamorphism. Marble is not foliated, which allows its use as a material for sculpture and architecture. Another important mechanism of metamorphism is that of chemical reactions that occur between minerals without them melting. In the process atoms are exchanged between the minerals, thus new minerals are formed. Many complex high-temperature reactions may take place, each mineral assemblage produced provides us with a clue as to the temperatures and pressures at the time of metamorphism.
Metasomatism is the drastic change in the bulk chemical composition of a rock that occurs during the processes of metamorphism. It is due to the introduction of chemicals from other surrounding rocks. Water may transport these chemicals over great distances; because of the role played by water, metamorphic rocks contain many elements absent from the original rock, lack some that were present. Still, the introduction of new chemicals is not necessary for recrystallization to occur. Contact metamorphism is the name given to the changes that take place when magma is injected into the surrounding solid rock; the changes that occur are greatest wherever the magma comes into contact with the rock because the temperatures are highest at this boundary and decrease with distance from it. Around the igneous rock that forms from the cooling magma is a metamorphosed zone called a contact metamorphism aureole. Aureoles may show all degrees of metamorphism from the contact area to unmetamorphosed country rock some distance away.
The formation of important ore minerals may o
Orogeny
An orogeny is an event that leads to both structural deformation and compositional differentiation of the Earth's lithosphere at convergent plate margins. An orogen or orogenic belt develops when a continental plate crumples and is pushed upwards to form one or more mountain ranges. Orogeny is the primary mechanism; the word "orogeny" comes from Ancient Greek. Although it was used before him, the term was employed by the American geologist G. K. Gilbert in 1890 to describe the process of mountain building as distinguished from epeirogeny; the formation of an orogen can be accomplished by the tectonic processes such as oceanic subduction or continental subduction convergence of two or more continents for collisional orogeny). Orogeny produces long arcuate structures, known as orogenic belts. Orogenic belts consist of long parallel strips of rock exhibiting similar characteristics along the length of the belt. Although orogenic belts are associated with subduction zones, subduction tectonism may be ongoing or past processes.
The subducting tectonism would consume crust, thicken lithosphere, produce earthquake and volcanoes, build island arcs in many cases. Geologists attribute the arcuate structure to the rigidity of the descending plate, island arc cusps relate to tears in the descending lithosphere; these island arcs may be added to a continental margin during an accretionary orogeny. On the other hand, subduction zones may be reworked at a time due to lithospheric rifting, leading to amphibolite to granulite facies metamorphism of the thinned orogenic crust; the processes of orogeny can take tens of millions of years and build mountains from plains or from the seabed. The topographic height of orogenic mountains is related to the principle of isostasy, that is, a balance of the downward gravitational force upon an upthrust mountain range and the buoyant upward forces exerted by the dense underlying mantle. Rock formations that undergo orogeny are deformed and undergo metamorphism. Orogenic processes may push buried rocks to the surface.
Sea-bottom and near-shore material may cover all of the orogenic area. If the orogeny is due to two continents colliding high mountains can result. An orogenic event may be studied: as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, as a chronological event. Orogenic events: cause distinctive structural phenomena related to tectonic activity affect rocks and crust in particular regions, happen within a specific period In general, there are two main types of orogens at convergent plate margins: accretionary orogens, which were produced by subduction of one oceanic plate beneath one continental plate to result in either continental arc magmatism or the accretion of island arc terranes to continental margins. An orogeny produces an orogen, but a range-foreland basin system is only produced on passive plate margins; the foreland basin forms ahead of the orogen due to loading and resulting flexure of the lithosphere by the developing mountain belt. A typical foreland basin is subdivided into a wedge-top basin above the active orogenic wedge, the foredeep beyond the active front, a forebulge high of flexural origin and a back-bulge area beyond, although not all of these are present in all foreland-basin systems.
The basin migrates with the orogenic front and early deposited foreland basin sediments become progressively involved in folding and thrusting. Sediments deposited in the foreland basin are derived from the erosion of the uplifting rocks of the mountain range, although some sediments derive from the foreland; the fill of many such basins shows a change in time from deepwater marine through shallow water to continental sediments. Although orogeny involves plate tectonics, the tectonic forces result in a variety of associated phenomena, including crustal deformation, crustal thickening, crustal thinning and crustal melting as well as magmatism and mineralization. What happens in a specific orogen depends upon the strength and rheology of the continental lithosphere, how these properties change during orogenesis. In addition to orogeny, the orogen is subject to other processes, such as erosion; the sequence of repeated cycles of sedimentation and erosion, followed by burial and metamorphism, by crustal anatexis to form granitic batholiths and tectonic uplift to form mountain chains, is called the orogenic cycle.
For example, the Caledonian Orogeny refers to a series of tectonic events due to the continental collision of Laurentia with Eastern Avalonia and other former fragments of Gondwana in the Early Paleozoic. The Caledonian Orogen resulted from these events and various others that are part of its peculiar orogenic cycle. In summary, an orogeny is an episode of deformation and magmatism at convergent plate margins, during which many geological processes play a role at convergent plate margins; every orogeny has its own orogenic cycle, but composite orogenesis is common at convergent plate margins. Erosion represents a subsequent phase of the orogenic cycle. Erosion removes much of the mountains
Goobang National Park
Goobang is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, 296 kilometres northwest of Sydney. It protects the largest remnant forest and woodland in the central west region of the state, where interior and coastal New South Wales flora and fauna species overlap. Named Herveys Range by John Oxley in 1817, the area was reserved in 1897 as state forest because of its importance as a timber resource, was designated a national park in 1995; the park contains a camping ground and a hiking trail, Burrabadine Peak Walking Track, a 3.6 km round trip moderate hike. Goobang National Park is in a temperate to semi-arid zone experiencing hot summers and cool winters with temperatures ranging from 4 to 15 °C in winter and 17 to 32 °C in summer; the heaviest rain fall is in the summer and can range from 645 millimetres on the east side of the ranges to 564 millimetres west of the ranges. There are 459 species recorded in several that are threatened. Tylophora linearis is listed as vulnerable according to the TCS ACT 1995 and endangered according to the EPBC ACT 1999.
Eriostemon ericifolius is vulnerable based on TCS ACT 1995 and Astrotricha linearis only known record west of the Great Dividing Range. Pomaderris queeslandica endangered TSC ACT 1995 and Philotheca ericifoia vulnerable EPBC ACT 1999. There are 135 ecological communities in the South West Slope bioregion, most are considered poorly protected. There are 11 ecological communities in the park; these include red stringybark woodland found on siliceous hillslopes of the Hervey Range. Red stringybark, long leaved box black cypress pine, hummock grass, shrubby low woodland found on siliceous volcanic and sedimentary ranges. Red ironbark in association with black cypress shrubby woodland found on shallow sandy soils derived from sandstone. Red ironbark, red stringybark tumbledown gum heathland found on siliceous ridges and scribbly gum dominated open forest in association with black cypress pine and red ironbark. A further four communities that are protected in Goobang are considered to be of significance.
Mugga ironbark, black cypress, red stringybark, Blakely's red gum and red ironbark woodland which are found on hillslopes and in valleys on the ranges. Buloke and white cypress pine. Riparian Blakely's red gum, apple box, yellow box and inland grey box, with shrub and grass tall open forest in valleys. White box, with black cypress and red gum shrubby woodlands in the hills. Fires are an intrinsic feature of the Australian bush, to ensure continual biodiversity prescribed burns are carried out at the appropriate times within the park. Wildfires at Goobang have occurred due to dry lightning strikes in the hot summer months. There have been 52 wildfires recorded since 1942. There are 31 species of reptiles, 14 species of frogs and 31 species of mammals recorded in the park including echidnas, kangaroos and bats as well as exotics such as rabbits, foxes, goats and dogs. Threatened species include carpet python, Sloane's froglet, brush tailed rock wallaby, grey-headed flying-fox, yellow-bellied sheathtail bat, Corben's long eared bat (Nyetophilus corbeni and New Holland mouse Rabbits pose a threat to the survival of tree seedlings competition with native herbivores.
Weeds such as blackberry are significant as far as causing havoc within the natural environment forming large thickets blocking creeks suppressing native ground covers and providing a hiding spot for feral animals such as rabbits. Exotic grasses and weeds have replaced native undergrowth in most of the scattered white box communities. Grazing in and around remnant woodlands. Clearing of native vegetation that might act as connective corridors between the park and any other patchy native landscapes. Species that require specialized niches and or cannot disperse and colonize suitable habitat will be affected if this current
Nangar National Park
Nangar is a national park in located New South Wales, Australia, 252 kilometres west of Sydney. The park is located in the Nangar-Murga Range between Canowindra, it features Nangar Mountain, which rises to 778 metres AHD . Trees consist of eucalyptus, scribbly gum and ironbark. Shrubs include spider flowers, thyme spurge, nodding blue waxlip orchids. Birds recorded include wrens, falcons, peregrine falcons and glossy black cockatoos. Eastern grey kangaroos and grey and swamp wallabies are common; the park was established in 1983 when 1,550 hectares of bushland were declared a national park. "Dripping Rock" was added to the park in 1988 and, in 1994, the Nangar State Forest was added to the park to expand its size to 9,196 hectares. "Dripping Rock" was a grazing property established in 1928 and named after a local seasonal waterfall. The original "Dripping Rock" homestead was converted to a shearing shed and a new homestead, built in 1935, was destroyed by a bushfire in September 2009. Protected areas of New South Wales Page on NPWS official site
