Marlong Arch, Mt Moffatt Station, Carnarvon National Park
This is in an area of bold sandstone cliffs and gorges in which recent aboriginal memory and archaeological investigations have revealed a very long history of indigenous occupancy. Artwork, tools, middens, cave floor accumulations and burials are found in many places both on the plains and in the gorges.
There are three major sandstone layers (Hutton, Evergreen, and Precipice) which display different structures, resistance to weathering and colours resulting in different assemblages of landforms in each. (These three beds form the major intake aquifers for the Great Artesian Basin.)
Above all the sandstone is a younger series of basalt flows which allow infiltration of rainfall and below the sandstone are shale beds (eg Moolayemba formation) which are impervious and cause the groundwater in the sandstones to weep and feed the streams in the sandstone gorges. This permanent water in the gorges provides for vegetation including moss and fern gardens, macrozamia communities, tall palm forests and sclerophyll forests.
The Hutton Sandstone has been eroded by the upper catchment of Maranoa River. Sandstone domes, ridges and isolated remnants scatter the plain. Marlong Arch is one of these remnant sculptures.
Marlong Arch, Mt Moffatt Station, Carnarvon National Park
This is in an area of bold sandstone cliffs and gorges in which recent aboriginal memory and archaeological investigations have revealed a very long history of indigenous occupancy. Artwork, tools, middens, cave floor accumulations and burials are found in many places both on the plains and in the gorges.
There are three major sandstone layers (Hutton, Evergreen, and Precipice) which display different structures, resistance to weathering and colours resulting in different assemblages of landforms in each. (These three beds form the major intake aquifers for the Great Artesian Basin.)
Above all the sandstone is a younger series of basalt flows which allow infiltration of rainfall and below the sandstone are shale beds (eg Moolayemba formation) which are impervious and cause the groundwater in the sandstones to weep and feed the streams in the sandstone gorges. This permanent water in the gorges provides for vegetation including moss and fern gardens, macrozamia communities, tall palm forests and sclerophyll forests.
The Hutton Sandstone has been eroded by the upper catchment of Maranoa River. Sandstone domes, ridges and isolated remnants scatter the plain. Marlong Arch is one of these remnant sculptures.