Glacial River Bed I
Now we come to two very telling photographs of the ancient geological history of this place. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, a small ice-cap existed on Ben Lomond, which was the only plateau in the north-east to be glaciated. The Pleistocene Epoch is typically defined as the time period that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until just over 11,000 years ago.
The most recent Ice Age in Tasmania ended about 14,000 years ago and the glacier crust on this mountain melted away (and contributed to the sea level rise that filled what we now call Bass Strait).
As I've mentioned before this mountain was formed at least 180 million years ago through dramatic volcanic activity. Australia is a very ancient continent, far older than most of Europe or North America. Most of its mountains have worn down through millions of years of erosion and glaciation. The highest mountainous regions of the world are actually the most recent.
So here we look out on what amounts to a dry glacial riverbed. You can imagine the glacier once moved very slowly carving out a path which we can still see.
Glacial River Bed I
Now we come to two very telling photographs of the ancient geological history of this place. During the Pleistocene Ice Age, a small ice-cap existed on Ben Lomond, which was the only plateau in the north-east to be glaciated. The Pleistocene Epoch is typically defined as the time period that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until just over 11,000 years ago.
The most recent Ice Age in Tasmania ended about 14,000 years ago and the glacier crust on this mountain melted away (and contributed to the sea level rise that filled what we now call Bass Strait).
As I've mentioned before this mountain was formed at least 180 million years ago through dramatic volcanic activity. Australia is a very ancient continent, far older than most of Europe or North America. Most of its mountains have worn down through millions of years of erosion and glaciation. The highest mountainous regions of the world are actually the most recent.
So here we look out on what amounts to a dry glacial riverbed. You can imagine the glacier once moved very slowly carving out a path which we can still see.