AUSTRALIAN BEDROCK SURFACES

Nearly 70 samples collected from a wide latitudinal range of sites in Australia demonstrate that that expose rock over much of the continent is eroding very slowly. Pictured here is an inselberg from the Eyre Peninsula of southern Australia where numerous analyses indicate that the exposed rock surfaces are eroding at a rate no greater than 50 cm per million years, extraordinary stability!

TOP OF PILDAPPA ROCK SHOWING SAMPLE SITES AND DECAYING SHEET STRUCTURE




TURTLE ROCK...THE LOWEST 10-Be EROSION RATE WE MEASURED IN AUSTRALIA, < 50 CM/MY.



A-TENT OR POP-UP ON MOUNT WUDINNA


For more information see


Bierman, P. and Caffee, M. (in review) Cosmogenic exposure and erosion history of ancient Australian bedrock landforms. Geological Society of America Bulletin.

Bierman, P. and Turner, J. (1995). 10Be and 26Al evidence for exceptionally low rates of bedrock erosion and the likely existence of pre-Pleistocene landforms. Quaternary Research, 44, 378-382.

Bierman, P. and Caffee, M. (1994) Cosmogenic erosion rate estimates for granite landforms; Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 26(7), A256. (National).

Research supported by NSF, CAMS, Livermore National Laboratory; Australian research Council; University of Adelaide. In collaboration with Marc Caffee and Rowl Twidale .