The Formation of Australia
Although Australia has the least surface area compared to other continents, it does have a long geological history. Australia is formed by many geological elements resulting in the present-day Australia.
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents shifting (Appearing to be 'drifting') on Earth's surface. There have been many supercontinents, throughout history, which had existed on Earth's surface for millions of years. Supercontinents are a cluster of most or all of Earth's continents to from a single landmass, including Ur (Vaalbar), Kenorland, Protopangea-Paleopangea, Columbia (Nuna), Rodina, Pannotia and Pangea.
Australia was part of the supercontinent, Pangea, which consisted of Australia, …show more content…
Mountains are formed by the contact of plate tectonics and mountain building processes such as volcanoes, folding, faulting, igneous intrusion and metamorphism. There are five main types of mountains. The first type is the fold mountain. This is the most common type of mountain. When the plate tectonics come into contact, one plate is thrust downwards and the other is thrust upwards. This creates a thickened crust and represents a fold mountain. An example of a fold mountain is mount Kosciusko. Mount Kosciusko was formed by elevating and folding granite rocks. Currently, it is eroding.The second type of mountain is the fault-block mountain, also known as the block mountain. These mountains form when there are faults or cracks in the crust. The earth's crust is broken into sections and these sections move up and down, therefore creating a fault-block mountain. The third type of mountain is the dome mountain. Dome mountains form when a large amount of magma pushes to the earth's crust. It pushes the rock layers but never reaches the earth's surface. Therefore, the magma cools and forms solid rock. The fourth type of mountain is the volcanic mountain, also known as the fire mountain. When magma pushes its way to the surface, lava, rock, ash and volcanic gases are formed into rock, and therefore creating a volcanic mountain. The last type of mountain is the plateau mountain. Plateau mountains are formed by erosion. They are large areas of flat land pushed above sea level. Erosion is the wearing of soil, rock and other materials from the landscape. Transporting the material away to another location is also part of erosion. An example of a plateau mountain is the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters was formed by land
Although Australia has the least surface area compared to other continents, it does have a long geological history. Australia is formed by many geological elements resulting in the present-day Australia.
Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents shifting (Appearing to be 'drifting') on Earth's surface. There have been many supercontinents, throughout history, which had existed on Earth's surface for millions of years. Supercontinents are a cluster of most or all of Earth's continents to from a single landmass, including Ur (Vaalbar), Kenorland, Protopangea-Paleopangea, Columbia (Nuna), Rodina, Pannotia and Pangea.
Australia was part of the supercontinent, Pangea, which consisted of Australia, …show more content…
Mountains are formed by the contact of plate tectonics and mountain building processes such as volcanoes, folding, faulting, igneous intrusion and metamorphism. There are five main types of mountains. The first type is the fold mountain. This is the most common type of mountain. When the plate tectonics come into contact, one plate is thrust downwards and the other is thrust upwards. This creates a thickened crust and represents a fold mountain. An example of a fold mountain is mount Kosciusko. Mount Kosciusko was formed by elevating and folding granite rocks. Currently, it is eroding.The second type of mountain is the fault-block mountain, also known as the block mountain. These mountains form when there are faults or cracks in the crust. The earth's crust is broken into sections and these sections move up and down, therefore creating a fault-block mountain. The third type of mountain is the dome mountain. Dome mountains form when a large amount of magma pushes to the earth's crust. It pushes the rock layers but never reaches the earth's surface. Therefore, the magma cools and forms solid rock. The fourth type of mountain is the volcanic mountain, also known as the fire mountain. When magma pushes its way to the surface, lava, rock, ash and volcanic gases are formed into rock, and therefore creating a volcanic mountain. The last type of mountain is the plateau mountain. Plateau mountains are formed by erosion. They are large areas of flat land pushed above sea level. Erosion is the wearing of soil, rock and other materials from the landscape. Transporting the material away to another location is also part of erosion. An example of a plateau mountain is the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters was formed by land