OVERVIEW
GZ will have you standing in front of a notice board on the Outback Way.
Attila, better known as Mount Conner, is an mountain located in the southwest corner of the Northern Territory, 75 kilometres southeast of Lake Amadeus at the border of the vast Curtin Springs cattle station. Its exposed area reaches 300 metres above ground level. Mount Conner is a flat-topped (mesa) and horseshoe-shaped inselberg. Attila has been termed one of the “three tors” an endearing term that links it to Uluru and Kata Tjuta and is part of the same vast rocky substrate thought to be beneath Uluru(Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta(Olgas). It has been known to be confused with Uluru, since it can be seen from the road to Uluru and Kata Tjuta, when approaching from Alice Springs.
Attila was named Mount Conner by William Gosse in 1873 after South Australian politician M. L. Conner.
If you can't afford the time to go on one of the tours of Attila then great views of both it and Lake Amadeus can be afforded from a lookout about 18 km east of Curtin Springs. Climb the sand hill on the north side of the highway very close to Monolith View. A fantastic view of Attila alone can be seen from Conner Cache
GEOLOGY
Although appearing to be quite geologically different Attila, Uluru and Kata Tjuta they have one thing in common, they were created from gravel and sand which was deposited about 500 million years ago when what is today central Australia lay below sea level, in what is called the "Amadeus Basin". Rivers dumped sand and gravels onto this sea floor. Parts of the Amadeus Basin began to change when underground forces and continental shifts compressed, pushed, folded and tilted the compress rock upward and the beginning of the three Tors was formed.
(Tors, in essence are the remnants of former landscape surfaces that have under gone long-term differential weathering and erosion which leads to the emergence of the more resistant rocks as tors.)
Over the next few million years the entire area was constantly being slowly eroded away, a few locations (Attila, Uluru and Kata Tjuta) survived above the surrounding areas.
Around 65 million years ago, the local climate got a lot wetter, rivers ran in the area, and sediments filled up the valleys between Mount Connor, Uluru and Kata Tjuta, smoothing out the landscape.
TO LOG THIS CACHE
You will need gather some facts from the information board at GZ and email us your answers to:-
1. How long ago did the underground forces and continental shifts begin to change the Amadeus Basin?
2. Although appearing to be quite geologically different Attila (Mt Conner), Uluru (Ayres Rock) and Kata Tjuta (Olgas) were all created from gravel and sand laid down in the Amadeus Basin. What is each of these Tors made up of?
3. If Attila, Uluru and Kata Tjuta are made up of the same underground rock formation why are they so geologically different?.
4. 500 million years ago this area was well below sea level. During this time dramatic geological changes have taken place. How far below/above sea level are you standing at GZ today.
REFERENCES:
Information collected at GZ
Wikipedia.