A camp-fire, such a simple pleasure, second-nature to a lot of us, and yet a whole new experience for some people. Our Emu Run tour arrived in their private camp site near Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park, towards sunset. We had driven from Uluru for hours along dead-straight roads, flanked on either side by a… Continue reading Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
Tag: sedimentary rock
The Giant ‘Lake Manuherikia’ – an extinct lake from the New Zealand Miocene
Alexandra lies at the junction of the Clutha and Manuherikia Rivers. The usual translation of the Maori word ‘Manuherikia’ is that it means something like “cry of a tied bird” and records a scout tying a weka (a bird) to a stake to mark the crossing point of that river (Reed Dictionary of NZ Maori Place… Continue reading The Giant ‘Lake Manuherikia’ – an extinct lake from the New Zealand Miocene
The Marshall Paraconformity – a 30 year geological debate in New Zealand
Cut back to the late 1970s – I was a schoolboy and had found my way into the Burnside Marl Pit, Dunedin (southern New Zealand) and up to the unit of greensand that is exposed on the hill side at the far end. Greensand is an accumulation of grains of the mineral glauconite. This green… Continue reading The Marshall Paraconformity – a 30 year geological debate in New Zealand
Grumbling about Graywacke
When I was growing up in Central Otago (New Zealand) graywacke was a bane of my life, and certainly of my Dad’s too. The family lived on a section near the foot of an alluvial terrace dating back to glacial times. The loess soil was soft, but the impact of a metal fork on a… Continue reading Grumbling about Graywacke