plateaus, and appears to be due to the intensity of activity 

 caused by conflicting earth forces in this angle. The 

 Australian Alps themselves are faulted plateaus which lie 

 on the western edge of the south-eastern highlands. This 

 heavy faulting dies away north and south in minor faults 

 and flexures (Fig. 2). A very heavy fault throwing north- 

 west occurs at the Buffalo Mountains. 



(2) Coastal and inland plateau slopes.— As a rule the 

 coastal slop.- of the plateau is more abrupt than the inland 

 one, but in the south-eastern portion of Australia the north- 

 western to western slope of the plateau is more abrupt 

 than the coastal fall. This is a most significant fact. 



(3) Convexity of plateau curves to the oceans.— The 

 highlands of eastern Australia "curve sympathetically" 

 with the coast line, and thus make a magnificent curve 

 convex to the Pacific Ocean. The Victorian highlands are 

 convex to the Southern Ocean (Fig. 1). 



(4) The Australian Alps, Bass' Straits and Tasmania.— 

 Tasmania is connected with the mainland of Australia by 

 the wide continental shelf. The Victorian Main Divide, 

 Bass' Strait, the northern shore line of Tasmania, and the 

 northern face of the Tasmaniau plateau are all parallel to 

 each other and appear to be definitely related to each other. 

 Tasmania appears to be a block against which closing 

 Tertiary forces came into conflict and Bass' Strait appears 

 to be a submerged flex (Figs. 1 and 2). 



(5) Tasmania appears to consist of a high central mass 

 traversed by block faults. The southern, eastern, and 

 western portions are strongly folded and faulted under the 

 sea. Both the famous "Tiers" and some of the lakes of 

 the central an-a :i ;m, <ar to )><■ duo to block faulting by a 



