PHYSIOGRAPHY OF THE SOUTHERN TABLELAND OF N.S.W. 345 



will be inconsiderable, except in the case of the larger 

 streams. Consequently we may expect to find a narrow 

 zone of youthful topography cut into the fault escarpment 

 and separating a higher and a lower region of mature topo- 

 graphy. The streams on the higher tableland will be wind- 

 ing sluggishly in mature valleys ; followed downstream 

 they plunge into relatively deep gorges with a steep grade 

 as the fault escarpment is approached, only to leave and 

 again meander in the mature valleys of the lower tableland. 

 All these features are well seen at the junctions of the 

 fault blocks in the southern tableland of New South Wales. 

 The Murrumbidgee fault-scarp between Bredbo and 

 Michelago has been but little modified in this way, but 

 appears as a great wall running approximately north and 

 south with the Murrumbidgee River flowing at its foot. 

 All the important tributaries which this stream receives 

 on its left side such as the Nass, Gudgenby, Cotter, and 

 Goodradigbee flow due north, parallel to the course of 

 the parent stream and do not cut across this fault 

 escarpment. The Murrumbidgee itself cuts across it 

 farther south, near Bunyan, and there it has cut a deep 

 gorge into the Berridale fault block. The Coolamatong 

 and Rhine Falls fault-scarps while not so large and impos- 

 ing as the one above referred to, are very typical and 

 striking examples. From a distance, of course, they look 

 like mountain ranges, and it is only when one passes over 

 them in ascending to the tableland above, that their true 

 nature becomes apparent. Where the larger streams cut 

 across these fault escarpments and particularly where the 

 difference in elevation between the two tablelands is con- 

 siderable, deep gorges have been excavated heading back 

 into the higher tableland, such as those of the Snowy and 

 Crackenback Rivers, where they head into the Kosciusko 

 tableland, the Goodradigbee where it heads into the 

 Kiandra-Murrumbidgee tableland, and the Tumut River 

 where it intersects the Yarrangobilly tableland. 



