448 A. PADDISON. 
A NOTH ON DESERT SANDSTONE “ BLOWS..’’ 
By A. PADDISON. 
(Communicated by R. T. Baker, F.L.s.) 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. 8S. Wales, December 2, 1914.]} 
This peculiar geological formation known locally as 
**Blows”’ in the far north-west interior of New South Wales 
is described as follows by Mr. A. Paddison, who first noticed 
them in searching for precious opals.—|R.T.B. | 
The ‘Blows’ usually occur around the ‘brim’ or edge 
of the flat-topped sandstone hills of the interior, although 
they are sometimes found down the slopes. I know a 
place near New Angledool, about four acres in extent, 
only about two feet above the surrounding level country 
literally covered with them. They are saucer-shaped, 
ranging from six to nine feet in diameter, the centre 
being about one foot below the level of the rim. The 
sandstone within and around them is always broken in 
fragments about the size of bricks. The edges being 
sharp, showing very little weathering. 
A small shaft sunk in the centre of one of these ‘Blows’ 
revealed a small pipe or flue some four inches in diameter. 
The circumference of this flue was very smooth and as hard 
as a well-burnt brick. It was tolerably perpendicular and 
penetrated three feet six inches below the surface, where 
it joined a large fissure in the rock. The surface indicated 
plainly (in the writer’s opinion) that a gaseous explosion 
had taken place in comparatively recent times, in a 
geological sense. 
Opal of an exceptionally brilliant nature was found 
within a few feet of the pipe above described. The botanical 
species (Croton Maideni, R.T.B.), only grows in such 
‘Blows.’ 
ory. 
