Gawler Ranges
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Basalt columns in the Gawler Ranges
The Gawler Ranges, a mountain landscape of Australia, located in the Gawler Ranges National Park in South Australia 350 km north-west of Adelaide.
Tectonics
It is one of the oldest volcanic landscapes of the Earth, which, for Gawler Craton counting arose about 1.5 billion years ago. The mountains and valleys extending 160 km from east to west in the north of the Eyre Peninsula to the south of Lake Gairdner. The highest mountain is Mount bluff with 475 meters. The mountain country was discovered in 1839 by Edward John Eyre on his first expedition and named after George Gawler ( 1795-1869 ), the second Governor of South Australia.
Mountains
The highest mountains of the Gawler Ranges and the nukey Bluff ( 457 m), Mount Fairview (452 m), Paney Hill ( 449 m), Eureka Bluff ( 431 m), Mount Double (428 m), Scrubby Peak ( 428 m), Conical Hill (424 m), Polturkinna Hill ( 409 m), Kododo Hill ( 402 m), Mount Sturt (392 m) and Mount Centre ( 387 m). The mountains are composed of granite and basalt. Some of the basalt deposits are formed columnar. The landscape is characterized by semi-arid vegetation with bushland, sand dunes and rocky mountains and with this typical flora and fauna. In the East, the so-called Middle Ranges, since the early 20th century, iron ore is extracted.
Parks
In the area of the Gawler Ranges is located
- The Gawler Ranges National Park and
- The Pinkawillinie - Conservation Park.
In this mountain area, there are significant cultural sites of the Aborigines, the Yantanabie Historic Reserve and the Yardea National Estate, a place with character Aboriginal porphyry.