There have been a lot of things written about Alice Springs over the years. However, despite the many descriptions and opinions of the desert atmosphere, the scenery, the culture, the art, and the politics, the town’s ductile deformation is rarely mentioned. Which is too bad.
Look at the above rock, from an outcrop on Bath Street. Viewed end-on, it could almost be mistaken for a granite porphyry. But a simple rotation out of the plunge direction shows extensive linear deformation. With rocks like this, who needs
camel races?
It's a pure L-tectonite? Constriction?
ReplyDeleteThis structural geologist wants more of the story! (Especially because I've never been to Australia, and I don't even have a good mental model of the geologic history, apart from having really old rocks, way cool zircons, lots of ore deposits, and having been part of Gondwana.)