374 Reviews — Geology of South Australia. 



2. — Reports on Geology of Country East of Farina and 

 Northward to Lat. 23° 10'. By Harry P. Woodward, 

 F.G.S., Assistant Government Geologist. With a Eoute-Map 

 from Farina Town through a portion of Queensland to Adam 

 Eanges in the Northern Territory. 



I^HIS consists of an itinerary, with jottings by the way for upwards 

 of 600 miles, during a trip to the North with the Queensland 

 Boundary Survey Party from Farina to about lat. 23'^ 15', showing 

 the route traversed by the party from December, 1883, to September, 

 1884. 



The country appears to be for the most part very uninteresting, 

 geologically speaking, consisting of stony flats, and stony plains, 

 varied by stretches of say 160 miles of nothing but sand-hills and 

 flats running north 20° west, about two to the mile, and from 50 to 

 100 feet in height. In other parts the sand-hills are varied by flat- 

 lopped table-hills, and occasionally wide tracts of flooded plains ; 

 then for variety more sand-hills, then more clay flats strewn with 

 stones of desert quartzite, and then again more sand-hills. 



A fine water-hole with sweet drinkable water seems to be the 

 highest luxury the country affords. Many of the wells and water- 

 holes are brackish, and nearly all contain so considerable a per- 

 centage of saline ingredients as to render them at first unpleasant to 

 the taste, and nauseous to the stomach. 



The Secondary formation found near Farina and the north end of 

 the range generally, continues north for about 150 miles from the 

 east and west Boundary line, and the rocks are mostly ferruginous 

 sandstones and quartzites, white felspathic quartzose sandstone, 

 pipe-clay, and blue clay, overlain by Tertiary table-hills of Jasper- 

 rock ("desert quartzite") with gypseous marls, marlstones, and 

 clay, also the newer or Post-Tertiary sandhills, drifts, and clays. 



The sandhills appear to derive their origin from the weathering of 

 the Tertiary and Jasper-rock, with which all the clay-flats are 

 strewn, most probably whilst this country was under the action of 

 waves in a shallow sea ; the salt also seems to point to the same 

 conclusion. 



The direction of the sand-hills is apparently governed by the 

 wind, as sand has always a tendency to form in ridges at right 

 angles to the prevailing winds, and generally travels before it, as 

 these hills are evidently doing, although very slowly, being very 

 steep on the east side, whilst the west rises with a gradual slope ; 

 their motion is, however, greatly checked by vegetation, which is 

 pretty thick on their slopes. This wind action is also the cause of 

 the height of the sand-hills, as the wind piles the sand from the 

 flats up the gently-rising western acclivity, but does not so rapidly 

 force it down over the eastern slope. 



In a second short " Report on the Mines, Hills, etc., of the Range 

 to the east of Farina and Leigh's Creek Railway Station," mention 

 is made of " Mount Babbage," etc., from whence the Cycadeau 

 remains recorded in our last number (Geol. Mag. July, pp. 289- 

 293, PL VII.) were obtained. 



