As you drive in to this remarkable area take note of the information panels.
Breakaways are lines of hard-capped rock and colour filled cliffs bounding flat topped tablelands. They are a notable and much loved feature of inland Western Australia.
These breakaways are situated in one of the oldest geological regions on Earth, the Yilgarn Block or plateau. The Yilgarn Block constitutes the bulk of the Western Australian land mass and is one of the most ancient landscapes preserved anywhere on Earth.
It is a block of crust, or craton, one of the original masses of rock that rose out of the sea in the Late Archaean, about 2700 mya, to form the original landmass of Australia. At this time the eastern part of Australia had yet to form. The Yilgarn Block has not been submerged since that time. It was one of the cratons which very much later joined together to form the present continent of Australia.
The Western Australian craton has been subjected to weathering processes for some 250 million years. There are many soil types in the region and those of any softness have gradually eroded through the ceaseless action of wind and water. Only the areas with a hard laterite top have resisted this constant grinding and reshaping.
Where the crust of these laterite layers has crumbled the hard top remains to forms a mesa while the continuing erosion of the softer soil and rock below forms an undercut, or a steep breakaway. Here the magnificent colours are a consequence of the varying soil types within the gently undulating, well-weathered plateau of the Yilgarn craton.
The stunning beauty of these breakaways is to be appreciated. The colours of the earth are displayed like artwork that is hewn from the eroding soil and rock formations.
Just for fun... there is a cairn at S32 16.678 E120 15.672 if you feel like adding to it.
Enjoy your visit to these Breakaways - stay away from the edges and please take care of this ancient but fragile environment.
You may log this Earthcache straight away but then please email your answers to the questions to the CO. We will contact you ONLY if your answers need extra work. Logs with no answers sent will be deleted.
1. Name a rock type that forms the laterite layers here.
2. Which individual soil types produce the reds, yellows and whites in the cliff faces?
3. Which of the three diagrams on information panel 2 (as you drive in) illustrates the feature at the cache coords? Describe how.
4. Please post a photo of the Breakaways (not at the coords) with your log if you wish. If you are in the photo that would be even better.