Blueys Beach

August 20, 2006

Blueys_beach copy

Provided by: Phillip Lachman
Summary authors & editors: Phillip Lachman

The photo shows features Blueys Beach, one of the many spectacular beaches on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. This view features the folded layers of sedimentary rock that form Charlotte Head, at the southern end of the beach. The eastern half of Australia was at one point entirely submerged. Australia's eastern coast formed by widespread island arc volcanics over a period 500 to 200 million years (Tertiary Period). During this time, there was widespread fault-block mountain building, uplift and erosion of the Eastern Highlands. Part of this uplifting produced the New England Fold Belt, which was affected by deformation during the Middle Devonian and the Middle to Late Carboniferous. The rocks exposed at Charlotte Head can be separated into two main types: well bedded units of alternating greywackes and argillites; and thick units of mainly coarse greywackes, containing large slabs and blocks of sedimentary material. Both types show evidence of widespread re-crystallization, which has resulted from burial metamorphism. Photo taken on July 22, 2006.

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