Ice Age in Australia.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1921, Page 3

Ice Age in Australia.

NEW SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. A bulky pebble, curiously scratche and furrowed by lines that to all ap pearance might have bsen made by ; steel comb, was among the weight; geological treasures brought to Mel bourne by Professor Sir Edgewortl David, of Sydney, who recently return od to Adelaide from a brief exploratory trip in the central plains of Australia , north of Oodnadatta. To the laymar , the pebble was not at all imposing The ordinary man would have jetti j soiled it from his luggage at the firsl convenient spot. But to the geologisi it presented features of tho greatest | interest. It was a link with thai period, millions of years ago, when vast masses of ice, similar to the lungs and floes of the Polar regions, lay over a ' greater part of tho continent, extending to its very centre and beyond; and the apparently insignificant scratches were the marks of grinding ice masses. Yet it was picked up in a plain whi<-' nowadays is often a centre of scorching heat and whirling hot sandstorms. The scientific party which accomplished the recent trip was composed of Professor David, Professor W. Howeliin (of Adelaide), and Captain S. A. White (ornithologist and botanist), the first two having been specially selected by bho Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to conduct the research work in connexion with the examination of these glacial phenomena and geological traces ol the ice ago. Reports that these phenomena were to he found were made some years ago by Professor Sir Baldwin Spencer, hut comparatively little was known of them. The deposits occur at Yellow Cliff and Dalliousie, and tho discoveries made by the research party will he of importance to geologists and scientists generally, as they promise to throw some now light upon the movement of the ice, and possibly upon the glacial period. Professor David, speaking of the expedition, described these ice-age phenomena as being of magnificent extent, and extremely imposing, especially in the neighbotirtood of Yellow Cliff. •‘Strailed,” or furrowed, boulders and rocks marked by ice were found by the party in plenty, while it was possible to see how vast masses of rock had been ploughed up by the moving ice. Altogel her the evidences of glacial action acre extraordinarily impressive, and Professor David declared that even on the South Polar explorations upon which lie and Sir Douglas Mawson were .engaged no evident of glacial action tins. he believed, seen on so great a wale a - that found on these Australian plains, which in the ages past most Altogether the results of the expedition are regarded as highly satistaetory, in view of the fact that it occupied only some three weeks, during,which period some 109 miles were covered in a waggonette.

During the trip special attention was also given by the party to the geological phenomena connected with tJie western portion of the great artesian basin. In the past there has l>ocn very considerable 'controversy regarding the source of the water which, lies below the plains in this basin, and which may be tapped by bores. -Some geologists, Professor David pointed out. maintain that the water which comes from the artesian bores and through natural outlets snch as mud springs is of deep-seated origin. Other geologists had argued that, the source of the water was rain which fell directly on the porous sandsfone around the margins of tlie basin, or which, in the form of creek or river water, drains over the surface of the porous heels and finds its way hv percolation into the deeper part of the basin. Evidence gathered l>v the geologists on the present trip was to the effect that tkoro was an extensive area of sandstone on the west side of the artesian basin, from the junction of tho Finke River with Gordon River. The fact that these sandstones were very soft and porous, and that largo rivers such as the Finke and Stevenson’s drained over their surface carrying great volumes of water after heavy rains, showed that important sources of supply to the western side of the artesian basin must come from those fivers. There could lie no doubt that very important feeders of water to the western side c ame in from the area between the Musgrnre and McDonnell ranges. Professor David considered that there could he no doubt that north of Charlotte Waters and towards Hergott Springs, now known as Mvte Springs, there were great possibilities of securing good supplies of sub-artesian water.

The fact that this water is of the greatest value in the growing of firstclass vegetables has been proved, and incidentally, the research party had the opportunity of seeing how these central plains recuperate and flourish when soaked with Nvjntjer. At Charlotte Waters, where the usual rainfall is about 3}in. per annum, there had been Professor David stated, no fewer than 29in> in eighteen months—a rainfall llmt had not been equalled in forty years. Plains which were normally were covered with grass and plant life, and sandhills were bound together by abundant and flourishing vegetation and by wild flowers which were gathered in Hundreds by the party for botanical purposes. Incidentally, Professor David referred to the fact that a true wild tobacco flourishes on these plains in great quantity, and this and a certain poison plant are the last of the plants to survive a severe drought, and are then often eaten by starving stock with dire results. Although th<» wild toba - co can be chewed by a human being, stock eating it die a. painful death. Melbourne “Age.”