552 
In a “ Eeport on a Journey from Adelaide to the Hale Eiver ” * Mr. Brown 
refers to the prevalence of “ Cretaceous clays and shales overlaid by sand and Super- 
Cretaceous rocks in the form of tablehills and tablelands ” from Einnis Springs to Anna 
Creek, and from Anna Creek to Algebuckina on the Neales Eiver. “ Erom Mount 
Hutton northward to the vicinity of Mount Burrell, some two hundred and fifty miles, 
the whole country is occupied by the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations.” 
“The tableland, tablehill, sandhill, plain, and stony downs country presents a 
very similar aspect all over the area occupied by it. The jasper rock and porcelainite, 
or Desert Quartzite, forms the uppermost bed or capping of all, or nearly all, the flat- 
topped hills. This rock seems to have been formed by the infiltration of silica into the 
sands or sandstone and clay beds, which have been converted into jasper and porcelainite. 
The same will also occur in dykes in the sandstone and older rocks, and in many places 
has the appearance of having been deposited from springs. Travertine limestone and 
brown iron ore, which occurs as cappings to the flat-topped hills, and in large masses, 
have ap])areTrtly been deposited in this way, as they can be seen directly connected with 
the present springs, although to a limited extent. 
“Eragments of these rocks — viz., jasper, porcelainite, quartzite, and brown iron 
ore, together with flint, common opal, and opaline quartz — are scattered over the 
Cretaceous Clay plains and tablelands forming what are known as ‘ Stony Downs.’ 
The sandstone forming the lower parts of the tablehills also contains pebbles and 
boulders of quartz, quartzite, and other waterworn siliceous pebbles, which are also in 
many places thickly scattered over the Plains. The thickness of these Super-Cretaceous 
(or Tertiary) rocks varies greatly. They become thicker in going north.” 
It will be noticed that the Writer now refers to the “ Super-Cretaceous” as Tertiary* 
Mr. Brown, in a “Eeport on the Country between Port Augusta and Eucla,” t 
refers to “ horizontal beds of Desert Quartzite, grit, conglomerate, sandstone, and kaolin, 
identical with the beds constituting the table-hills of the Cretaceous Eormation,” seen 
capping the lower portions of the granitic and metainorphic Warburton Eanges.J 
Between Kingoonya and Coondambo (north of Lake Gairdener) red loams and 
sandy plains alternate with stony downs and tablelands of desert quartzite. 
Mr. Brown’s latest views on the Desert Sandstone, as develojred in South 
Australia, are given in a paper “On the Mesozoic Plains of South Australia, &c.,” read 
in Section C, at the Sydney Meeting (1888) of the Australian Association for the 
Advancement of Science. § After describing the “ Lake Eyre Basin ” and other regions 
consisting of the Eolling Downs Eormation, Mr. Brown says : — 
“ The tableland and tablehill country occupy a large area in many places, as in 
the north-east corner of the colony. The general elevation above the plains is about one 
hundred to two hundred and fifty feet, the upper bed is almost invariably a yellow flinty 
jasper I'ock, or porcclaiuized sandstone and quartzite, varying in thickness up to thirty 
or forty feet. Sometimes it is a conglomerate, and at other times a sandstone. It rests 
on sandstone, argillaceous sandstone, kaolin, and grit, with thin bands of a loose pebble 
conglomerate. The pebbles found in the conglomerate consist of agate, jasper, 
chalcedony, opal, coloured quartz, flint, white and crystallized quartz, and fossil wood, 
all showing a brilliant jmlish or glaze. 
“ As these tablehills generally have sharji, well-defined clifEs and escarpments, the 
stratification can bo easily studied. They are either of Upqier Cretaceous or Low'er 
Tertiary Age, and rest directly on the upper beds of the Cretaceous Eormation, in 
horizontal and sometimes gently inclined layers ; their composition and arrangement is 
* Adelaide : by Autliority : 1889. t South Australian Legislative Assembly Paper, 9th July, 1885. 
+ Approx. Lat. 30’ 50' S. ; Long. 134° 40' E. § Proc. Austr. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 18S8, i., p. 241. 
