page_title: Flinders Ranges
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Flinders Ranges / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Flinders Ranges from space. Image courtesy of the Image Science &amp; Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center. North is left; south is right (see http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&amp;om=0&amp;ll=-31.297328,138.740845&amp;spn=2.651923,6.020508&amp;t=h&amp;z=8). Image was slightly color corrected to make features more distinct. Source for the original: http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS002&amp;roll=728&amp;frame=89. Mission: ISS002 Roll: 728 Frame: 89 Mission ID on the Film or image: ISS002 Country or Geographic Name: AUSTRALIA-SA, Features: FLINDERS RANGE, Center Point Latitude: -31.5 Center Point Longitude: 138.5 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude) Stereo: (Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same area)
context_page_description: The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about 200 km north of Adelaide. The discontinuous ranges stretch for over 430 km from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabited the range for tens of thousands of years.
  Its most characteristic landmark is Wilpena Pound, a large, sickle-shaped, natural amphitheatre that covers 80 km², and contains the range's highest peak, St Mary Peak which adjoins the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. The southern ranges are notable for the Pichi Richi heritage steam and diesel railway and Mount Remarkable National Park.
  Several small areas in the Ranges have protected area status. These include the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park near Wilpena Pound, the Mount Remarkable National Park in the south near Melrose, the Arkaroola Protection Area in the north, The Dutchmans Stern Conservation Park west of Quorn, and the Mount Brown Conservation Park south of Quorn. The Heysen Trail and Mawson Trail run for several hundred kilometres along the ranges, providing scenic long distance routes for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
context_section_description: The Flinders Ranges are composed largely of folded and faulted sediments of the Adelaide Geosyncline. This very thick sequence was deposited in a large basin during the Neoproterozoic on the passive margin of the ancient continent of Rodinia. During the Cambrian (about 540 million years ago) the area underwent the Delamerian orogeny, when this sequence of rocks was folded and faulted into a large mountain range. The area has undergone subsequent erosion resulting in the relatively low ranges today.
  Most of the high ground and ridgetops are sequences of quartzites that outcrop along strike. The high walls of Wilpena Pound are formed by the outcropping beds of the eponymous Pound Quartzite in a synclinal structure. Synclines form other high parts of the Flinders, including the plateau of the Gammon Ranges and the Heysen Range. Cuesta forms are also very common.
  The Ranges are renowned for the Ediacara Hills, south-west of Leigh Creek, where in 1946 some of the oldest fossil evidence of animal life was discovered. Similar fossils have subsequently been found in the ranges, including at Nilpena, with an application being made for World Heritage listing to help protect the sites. In 2004 a new geological period, the Ediacaran Period, was created to mark the appearance of Ediacaran biota.
caption: Flinders Ranges from space
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