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Emily Gap - EarthCache
The Emily Gap, or Anthwerrke in the Arrernte language, is a water gap in the MacDonnell Ranges of Central Australia and was an important sacred site for the Eastern Arrernte Aboriginal people. It contains interesting Aboriginal paintings and is part of the story line of the Three Caterpillars; Yeperenye, Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye which are ancestral beings for the Alice Springs area.
The area of Emily Gap is dominated by the Heavitree Range which comprises of steeply southward dipping Heavitree Quartzite.
Heavitree Quartzite is a very hard rock and it forms well defined upstanding ridges, resisting erosion better than the surrounding smaller layers of sediments laid down during geologic events. It's a quartz-rich sandstone with many grains cemented by quartz or partially re-crystalised to an interlocking crystal mass.
Emily Creek has widened two north-south vertical joint planes through this Heavitree Quartzite to form Emily Gap. Minor quartz veining and shiny striated fault surfaces suggest that faulting may have affected the quartzite during the Alice Springs Orogeny when the attitude of the quartzite was changed from horizontal to a very steep dip southwards. Heat developed when blocks under pressure slid against one other to form a shiny veneer of melted silica on striated slip surfaces. Quartz-filled tear and tension joints can be seen on the water-polished sandstone near river level in the Gap.
Questions to log this EarthCache
Q1 What event occured to change the attitude of the quartzite from horizontal?
Q2 Describe the Layers, colours and which direction do they run
Q3 In you own words decribe what the has caused the quarzite to dip southwards?
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